Travel Casserole Stats Thus Far in 2008

I was just checking out some Google Analytics reports and was a little surprised to see that visits to this blog yesterday included people from 10 different countries. This isn't something I check regularly, but that has to be a record for this lil' blog. Intrigued, I broadened the time range to year-to-date to see what was what. Here's what I found:

Travelogue: Velada Libertaria, Quito, Ecuador

When I booked our trip to Ecuador for the second week of August last year, I knew we would be there for Primer Grito de Independencia, an important holiday when Ecuadorians celebrate their country’s independence. (I’m no historian, but an approximate U.S. analog for this event might be the Batte of Lexington & Concord that kicked off the Revolutionary War. It was a key milestone on the path to national independence but wasn’t yet the point where true independence was achieved.)

I certainly hoped we would stumble into some interesting experiences by virtue of being in the right place at the right time, but I had no way of knowing just how cool and unique of an event we were in for.

During the day of August 9th an energy and vibe of anticipation was palpable throughout Old Town – everyone was getting ready for the evening’s festivities. Every plaza, from the big (Plaza de la Indpendencia, Plaza de San Blas, Plaza de San Francisco, Plaza de Santo Domingo) to the small (Plaza Sebastian de Benalcàzar – the one right outside our apartment) had something going on – Music, street performers, food and artists. These ranged from the formal, official and impressive …



… to the very much unofficial, impromptu and charming.



Our night kicked off by hearing the band playing in Plaza Sebastian de Benalcàzar, which is maybe 100 yards up the street.



The place we rented had a great open loft layout and a wall of French door windows, which were all open. As the sounds of music followed by the crackle and smoke of fireworks filled the apartment, the sensation was almost of being suspended in the air floating along on the city’s energy. Just an incredibly unique and exhilarating experience to be so close to and immersed in this celebration.

With that inspiration to get out into the thick of the action, we headed into the streets and literally let the flow carry us.





The entire scene was a wave of festivity spectacularly set: thousands of people – proud families, blissful couples, wandering travelers – filling the streets as the magnificent colonial architecture was floodlit to amazing effect and the illuminated hills that roll out from the city provided a stunning backdrop to it all.





Everywhere you turned there were street performers entertaining adults and mesmerizing children. These guys on stilts got a lot of my attention.







As we wound our way back to the apartment, we started thinking about food, not unlike the folks we saw taking a break to grab sausages from street carts.



We weren’t quite brave enough for that, but we found a nice little family run place and sat down for a couple of empanadas. I didn’t get a shot of it until the next day – not sure why. Perhaps it was camera fatigue after taking a few hundred pictures already that night. But this is a look at the place from the next day.



All in all it was a very cool way to spend our last night in Quito. If you are considering a trip there in the summer and can arrange your schedule to be there for Velada Libertaria, I would highly recommend it. And I am personally keeping Quito in the consideration set for 2009’s summer vacation – the bicentennial celebration of Primer Grito de Independencia should be something special.

*****
Some additional Quito / Ecuador resources and links:

- El Comercio a web site with news and information about Quito, Ecuador, Latin America and beyond. Also the source behind this video vignette from Velada Libertaria 2007 that I found YouTube:



- And a couple of books I found helpful during my trip to Ecuador:

Mini Review: Cafe Mosaico, Quito, Ecuador

Working from the recommendations in our Moon Handbooks Ecuador guide, Judy and I went to Cafe Mosaico on our first real night in Quito last summer. As recommended, we tried to get there early, arriving with maybe 30 or 40 minutes of fading daylight left. We were lucky enough to get a table on the balcony, though it wasn't one of the few along the perimeter railing. Nonetheless, the views were phenomenal and if I could do it over I would have made certain I got there even earlier to really savor the sinking sun over a couple of hours rather than just catching its final fall.



I didn't have my act together in terms of properly operating my damn camera, so I only got a few decent pictures. The one below isn't one of them, but I'm including it anyway because you can still get some sense of the interesting ceiling this place had -- rows of empty wine bottles converted into simple, cool light fixtures. A very chill effect.



This one, too, is a bit blurry, but if you can make it out (or better still, click through to Flickr and check out a larger version of it), what you're seeing is view of the balcony tables from inside the restaurant.



I remember having a pretty good burger and some average red wine. It wasn't super cheap, but it wasn't a rip off, either. Especially when you factor in the setting. Our server was pleasant, too, so I'm not sure what these people are talking about, because it sounds like they had a very different experience than I did.



One thing that I can easily see becoming annoying is the stream of people moving out onto the balcony to get a look and take some pictures. We saw a few people hog the scenic viewpoint a bit longer than was polite, which then creates a traffic jam around the tables while folks are trying to eat. And you can probably bank on at least one photographer who thinks he's better than he is being a bit ostentatious and boorish about 'capturing his vision', nevermind if his ass is pressed uncomfortably against someone's shoulder for a few beats. So you should probably recalibrate your expectations regarding personal space before you head over here, otherwise you could be setting yourself up for a little frustration. But if you're prepared to take it in stride and soak in the setting, I would highly recommend a late afternoon / early evening visit here for the view.



Other links and notes:

*Frommer's has a brief write up on Cafe Mosaico you can check out.

* For some sunset photos, do check out the Cafe Mosaico web site

* Or check out the 68 photos currently on Flickr

UPDATE 8/10/08: I found a video clip I took during out meal at Cafe Mosaico and am embedding it below.