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.

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