Exploring Quito: Day 2

 

There is not so much to  tell about our explorations today. We got a late start after catching up on things back home in the morning.

 When we finally headed out, we took a taxi to Quicentro - a shopping mall. Not really our style, but two friends had independently recommended the Crepes and Waffles restaurant on the third floor of the mall. The food was very good. Michael and I both got a savory crepe, then shared the "dulce" crepe pictured to the right.  Michael also got a mango juice that might as well have been a dessert! After a quick stop at the ATM, we walked across the street to Parque La Carolina. It is a very large park, and the above picture is taken from the middle of it facing the buildings lining its east side. Our adventure to the mall and this park was very different from the rest of our experience in Quito, because most of our experience up to this point has been in Oldtown. It was good to see the different neighborhood and have a more complete picture of Quito and Ecuador. Also, we had fun just wandering in the park and enjoying the entertainment it offered us. We swang on the swing (swang is the past tense of swing?) and looked at the old airplane on display. Michael said it is one of the first plane models to be designed to carry passengers. Now, it is all painted as an art display.. why didn't i take pictures?! oh.. maybe because it was surrounded by a chain link fence.

The park also had a large paved oval that I think must have been for running work outs. There were meters marked off every hundred. At another place they had made something like a canal/moat system for people to take out paddle boats. Somewhere along our walk, we saw a boy crying and calling for his mom - he was maybe 3 or 4. At first we were appalled and worried, as we couldn't see anyone that might be his mom. Then we spotted a couple hiding behind a tree. As we walked past, the came out and called the boy to them. Maybe they were teaching him a lesson to not wander? It made me think of times when I had been so busy in my own world, reading or watching people that when I looked up I couldn't see anyone in my family.. very scary. Ha! And thinking about being left behind - I remember when we were little, if mom started the van before Liz was in it, she would start crying.

Overall, it was a relaxing day. Relaxing vs. Exciting... a vacation should have some of both, right? Tomorrow we plan to take a 2 hour bus ride to Mindo. It will just be a day trip, because tomorrow night we take the bus all night to Lago Agrio to start our jungle trip.