Get Thee To a Nunnery

If you are new to Quito, you may not realize that there is a whole spiritual world awaiting you via gluttony and debauchery handmade by, and purchased from, cloistered nuns.


To raise money for their churches and various charities, the nuns make all sorts of products which visitors can purchase either directly from the cloistered nuns themselves through a revolving door that keeps the nuns hidden, or in a front reception area.You can spend many a hour visiting the various nunneries around old town and sampling their homemade goodies.



The best things, in my opinion, are from Monasterio de Carmen Alto conveniently located a few blocks from my house on Calle Rocafuerte and Garcia Moreno.




They sell anise flavored liquor, cookies, de-soured lemons filled with caramel crème, wine, bee pollen, tiger balm, rose water, soap, hand and foot lotion, and many, many other culinary and body delights. The best thing about Monasterio de Carmen Alto is that they package everything beautifully and put their own little nun label on the front so everything here makes for a really good gift.




Around town you can find these religious bottle covers that are made to perfectly enclose the liquors and wines made by the nuns.



Tips: The nuns at Carmen Alto don't mess around with their liquor. This stuff is strong! Watch yourself.

The coca leaf tea is sold at natural food stores and isn't made by the nuns, but it is another great thing to try while you are here.

The Best Coffee In Quito

I'm a lethargic, angry, mean person without coffee and the thing they serve you here in Ecuador that is supposed to be coffee, but is actually Nescafe with hot water and milk, just doesn’t do it for me and it probably doesn’t do it for you either.

As a person who made a latte a part of her morning ritual before she entered high school and who has spent most of her free time since then socializing and writing in coffee shops, chosen apartments based on their proximity to a good java joint, and converted her tea drinking boyfriend into a coffee fiend, the little brown beans that we all know and love are almost a part of my self identity. Who am I without coffee? I don’t really want to know and I can assure you that my boyfriend definitely does not want to find out.

Of course you can find great, real coffee in the Mariscal, but I don’t live in the Mariscal - I live half an hour away by trolley and that is much too long a commute without coffee first - hence the dilemma. After sampling the java in a two block radius all around my house in Centro Historico and always being served Nescafe, I finally decided that I needed to make it at home to make it how I want it. Since then I have tried numerous coffee brands and had almost settled on the organic Mindo Cloud Forest when the sweet, rich aroma of roasting beans lured me into this little tienda near Plaza Grande where my coffee dreams were realized.






They have dark, medium, and light roast, but like a true junkie I went straight for the strong stuff and bought a bag for $5.50.



This morning I sampled it for the first time and it is good! Strong, bold, rich with an earthy flavor and enough caffeine to wake me up after a single cup, but not so much that I’m shaking after two. I can say, hands down, this is the best coffee I have had in Ecuador. Café Aguila de Oro is located directly behind the President’s house on Benalcazar between Chile and Espejo.

Wired in Quito

These photos were taken near Parque Carolina in the North of Quito.





They are just too crazy to keep for myself.




Believe it or not these people are discussing a future lunch date and not the very real threat of electrocution or imminent death.

Los Animales de Ecuador

Running from Tourists in Guapulo

Surfing in Canoa

Hanging with the laundry in Mindo

Sleeping on the Stairs in Mindo

Guarding the Gate in Peguche

Sunday services

Living in Quito: Top Ten Things You Should Know

10. Dish soap is solidified and comes in plastic tubs




Weird, right? But so much better, I swear it!



9. Milk comes in a bag




In a plastic bag. Don’t try to just cut one corner and use some and then roll it down and close it with a clothes pin. Don’t do it! It will spill in your fridge and you will be sad. Instead, buy a plastic pitcher with a sealable lid and pour it in that. Problem solved.


8. All movies are sold in large video stores comprised entirely of bootleg cds for $1




This is awesome! Just enjoy. (Yes, that is Conan The Barbarian and I don't want to hear a word about it!)


7. Wine in a box




That’s right, I drink wine in a box. What’s it to ya?


6. There are no emissions laws

Oh, there must be some, you say. No, no there’s not. Buses shoot something out of their exhaust pipe that can only be compared to what happens to tourists who eat at the local food stalls. It’s a pure black endless stream that lingers in the air for 20 minutes and will kill you eventually.


5. Panama hats are from Ecuador and you can buy a nice one for $15 dollars that will make you look really cool when you get back home.




If you wear them while in Ecuador you look like a stupid gringo. I learned this the hard way.


4. You can only use small bills and coins

If you try to pay for something that costs $4 with a $5 bill they will look at you like you just did something as horrible and ostentatious as showing a paraplegic beggar a $100 bill and saying you really want to give him a dollar and you will if only, does he possibly have change?


3. All those Sacajawea coins are down here and people use them!




I'm not going to go into why I think they were unpopular in the United States and why I think they are so popular down here, but think about it.


2. This country is gorgeous.

You can climb Andean volcanoes, sunbathe at the beach, sail the Galapagos, explore the Amazon, visit indigenous villages, zipline above cloud forests, sample delicious new foods, and generally do what you do all in Ecuador without breaking the bank.


1. All is fair in love and war and apparently while riding the trolley.

The same people who just walked you 25 minutes out of their way to show you where the cigar shop is, will trample you, your mother, your blind child, and everyone else without batting an eye while on the trolley. If you are trying to get off the trolley, God help you, because as soon as those doors open the 10,000 people on the platform will rush you without allowing any passengers, especially a foreigner like you, off. If you happen to have a seat and kindly stand up and aside so that the man who looks close to 175 can sit down, both you and he will be trampled by every other single person on the trolley clamoring to get your seat. My advice is to take an old sweatshirt and sew spikes and nails to the outside.