October 8- Some Views about Quito

In my previous post, I neglected to mention some of the fellow Expats we met at Finn McCools. This pub is located in an area of Quito that has many many hostels. All looking clean and rather inviting if you are in your 20's.
So consequently, our fellow clientele at the pub were not the usual Gringo old farts like ourselves, but many young North Americans ( and probably Europeans & Australians).

I struck up a conversation with a young woman and her friends sitting next to us at the bar. She is a teacher from Michigan, who after working at home for two years, relocated to Venezuela and taught English there for 1 1/2 years. She travelled all over that country whenever she had time off, met her boyfriend from Wisconsin there and has now moved to Quito to teach here with him. WOW, it's nice to know that the new generation is as adventurous or even more so, than us old folks!

So now for some views on our current city, Quito. This is the capital of Ecuador , located high in the northern mountains of Ecuador with a population just slightly less than our previous home cities of Phoenix and Toronto. There are many neighborhoods, the historical district where we currently live, La Mariscal ( affectionately called Gringolandia-LOL) and the downtown business district where we went to a very modern Mall with many expensive stores- out of these retirees' price range.

 

 

This Mall is huge- 3 stories and 260 stores plus a very extensive food court which along with the usual KFC, PIZZA PIZZA etc even has a Sushi Bar.

 

The Ecuadorian people are equally as polite and friendly as those in Cuenca and Salinas . In the trolleys, as I had mentioned previously , are usually packed tighter than sardine cans, people actually get up to offer seats! You really know you are getting old when a young Ecuadorian woman offers you her seat.

 

As far as meeting other Expats- nada! We've seen maybe 2 other couples our age so obviously Quito has not the same organized Expat community as Cuenca and Salinas. We are getting lots of practice with our Spanish.