Our second stint in Quito was planned with the Diez de Agosto celebrations, and Huecafest, Ecuador’s Taste of London equivalent. Of course, things never quite turn out the way you think they do.
When guests came in on our final day in Cotopaxi, they came with disturbing news form the capital. Presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, who was fourth in polling, was assassinated after a political rally in north Quito. Ecuador is now in a state of emergency.
Without wi-fi or any cell service in Cotopaxi, we were clueless what the social climate would be when we returned. We were planning on attending a Diez de Agosto party with our tour guide, Edwin, in a Quito suburb that evening. Was that still going to go on? Did we need to leave Quito the next day? Ecuador? We love this country, we don’t want to go.
Full steam ahead said the people of Ecuador. The show will go on. There’s more of a police presence everywhere, but there’s no curfew. Alright, lets celebrate. We got dinner, had a quick rest, then got ready for our evening.
We got in our cab, and it started to go the wrong way. We think what occurred is that when we said San Vincente neighborhood, he interpreted that as restaurant, and went the wrong way even though we showed him a map and gave him the address. After pleading three times to reverse course, eventually we just told the taxi driver to take us back to the hostel. It was literally on the way to our intended destination. I’m not kidding when I say we were literally on the opposite side of the city from where we wanted to be.
One stressful hour later, we were back in the hostel. We gained headaches on the way, and coupled with our six hour hike up Pasachoa that morning, we were in no mood to make it out again. Its really unfortunate, as from the video’s we received from Edwin, we missed out on a really good time. People in traditional dress all dancing to a live band on a neighborhood soccer pitch, sparklers, overall a good time. This may be one of our biggest regrets on the trip by not making a second effort for this event. The worst part was there was a DJ event at the hostel so music was blasting until 11:30pm, which was not fun.
The next day was a simple one. Rest, and go to Huecafest. Huecafest is a food festival, similar to Taste of Edmonton or Calgary or London. Multiple restaurants from around the city come by to cook hefty portions for you to eat, with many other booths trying to sell you something. We went in with empty stomachs and an unlimited budget.
Our first impulse buy were these candies filled with sweet alcohol. We had many free samples, and then grabbed a dozen of them to snack on later. We were running out of Yumbo’s chocolate, we needed a new snack. At least that’s the excuse.
Many of the stalls consisted of some form of grilled meat. It all looked really good. There were some traditional Ecuadorian meals like empanada’s with morocho (a hot spiced corn beverage, like horchata) that we jumped on (its Cam’s favourites). We had a large Columbian grilled meat plate, a chicken shawarma that we somehow ordered with no veggies, some slushy cocktails, and a candy apple for desert. The Columbian plate was definitely the winner of the bunch.
The free samples that we had were fantastic too. Ecuador’s liquor game seems to be on point. We had a cocoa wine, made without grapes, in rose and sparking form that was delicious. They don’t deliver to Canada though, we checked. There was a fava bean coffee that was nice. Many different sauces for meats and breads, and some limoncello. The artisan products were of a quality comparable if not better to that of Taste of London.
The music there was lovely. We saw two bands, and the local music is great. Drum’s, bass, acoustic and electric guitars, and pan flutes were the instruments of choice. There were dancers too! The songs tended to go on for long times as well. The first band had a lot of people dancing.
Huecafest was a big success, even if Diez de Agosto didn’t end up turning out the way we would like. Oh well, there’s always next year!
That’s pretty much it for Quito and the surrounding area. We’re off to new destinations around the country, as we explore a bit more!
Kudos for yourselves fully engaging w the local culture, often the best part of travelling. Ecuador isn’t in the media here so much anymore, probably a good thing. Stay cool.
I can’t believe what you are experiencing! Did you ‘lug’ your winter jackets with you?? But you keep smiling!! How great!
They’re with us all the time!
Hi Graham and Camryn. Judy reporting from Toronto. I didn’t really realize what experienced travelers you already are. Great blog…wonderful pictures. Be safe. Love, Judy
Hi Judy! Yeah, lots happening so far
We had a similar experience in Bangkok where a taxi tried to take use somewhere we did not want to go. His brother in laws jewelry store. Always exciting when you don’t speak the language and they pretend not to know any English. All good.