Quito, Ecuador

Quito, Ecuador

Our family recently returned from 10 days in Ecuador, a beautiful, clean and safe country. Round trip air fare directly from Ft Lauderdale to Quito is $338.00. Ecuador uses the Dollar so there is no monetary exchange, but the Dollar goes farther in Ecuador than in the US. Voltage is the same so one can charge cell phones and cameras, and use of laptops and IPads is convenient in all of Ecuador with their country wide free Wi-Fi.

That Ecuador is 85% Catholic is obvious. Catholic churches are everywhere (more about those in a few days), rosaries hang from taxi rear view mirrors with Divine Mercy stickers on windshields. Public busses likewise bear testimony to the Catholic Faith with Jesus painted on one side of the front of the bus, the Blessed Mother on the other. However the strongest example of Catholic visibility is the enormous amount of large families, children, pregnant mothers and young couples.

People on the street wore scapulars, crosses or rosaries, dressed modestly, bore no tattoos, no ear plugs, sported no cleavage, wore no obscene short skirts, no short shorts and there is absolutely no obesity problem in Ecuadorian society at large as there is here in the US. (To keep citizens healthy, free Zumba is provided in all cities.)

Quito from the Blessed Mother's viewpoint

It was refreshing to see human beings act courteously, friendly, to be kind and helpful, smiling. Even at the Otavalo textile market when trying to wheel and deal with the sellers, they were always smiling…but perhaps that was because they exhausted me so much that I just wanted to pay them and get the transaction over with, thereby giving them a Dollar or two more than they expected.

The food was amazingly fresh, great coffee, and bottled water was available for $1.00 at every grocery (at least one on every block). B & B accommodations were affordable and spotlessly clean. Quito’s new airport was modern, bright, and efficient (and had the most amazing gift shop).

Our Mother dancing on the Devil

In Quito’s old section the Panecillo – the Virgin of the Apocalypse – stands on Bread Loaf Hill 3,016 meters above sea level. It’s comforting to be walking down a street, round a corner, look up, and see Our Mother watching over us. If the Panecillo were here in the US, the ACLU would have it viciously removed.

In subsequent posts there will be more on Ecuadorian life with comparisons to life here in the US, for at times I felt that people are more free there than here. Of course it was good to return home to the US, but still...