New Town

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017--Quito

Quito weather is following a pattern my guidebook described.  The day begins cold and sunny.  By 10:30 or so it is getting warm enough to remove layers.  For a couple of hours in the afternoon (between about 12:30 and 14:30), there is rain.  Then the city remains cloudy or mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. 

Because of that pattern, I delayed breakfast this morning and went out earlier than usual.  My goal was to see the National Museum of Ecuador which I read had extensive collections and which closes for a couple of hours in the early afternoon.  My guidebook said it had been temporarily closed for restoration but was reopening in 2016.  Unfortunately, when I got there, it was still closed and looked to be far from a reopening date.  It is one of the top things to see in the city, and I have missed it.

While there, I was able to see two art exhibits, an exhibit of musical instruments, and a small ethnographic exhibit in part of the building that has remained open during the remodeling.  Almost all of the art was uninteresting to me.  The musical instruments, especially the pre-colombian ones were special.  Many were flutes in unique shapes, especially shapes of animals.

While in the area, I wanted to see what New Town is like.  It has modern high-rise office buildings, the large chain hotels, hostals where backpackers stay, franchise restaurants, apartment buildings, expensive souvenir shops, etc.  It is also the location of the entertainment district with lots of bars over an area of several blocks.  I wouldn't want to stay in the area; it is too similar to fairly new sections of cities all over the world.

Back home about noon, I cooked breakfast.  By 12:30, the rain was beginning with lots of thunder.  I just stayed inside the rest of the day.