What we do in Quito/Cumbayá

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Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I have, I’m still I’m still MDC from the block

Well I don’t really come from a block but from Quito and all the rocks I own are minerals BUT one thing I never forget is where I’m from and that’s ECUADOR! If you follow my Instagram account, you might have notice we went to Ecuador over Christmas. Now that I am obsessed with photography I started to really see the beauty of my country, on a deeper level if you will. Oh, and for those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram:

For us it’s crucial to go back once a year. Believe it or not every time we’re there we realize we tend to forget certain cultural things, so it’s very important to refresh your roots. So what to do while in Ecuador? I will be telling you some tips and tricks as to where to eat, where to travel and where to enjoy la vida.

Our first Christmas activity was meeting school friends and baking us some Navidad cookies (more than cookies we made cocktails but this story I will tell you later on). The objective was to be able to breakfast (and get rid of the cocktail-hangover) some Navidad cookies with fresh brewed Ecuadorian coffee like this:

That beautiful mountain in the back is the Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest volcanoes. Cotopaxi means “Neck of the moon” and is one of Ecuador’s most active volcanoes, so we all fear and respect him. On the first few days in Quito we try or better said we must take it easy because Quito is veeeery high, 2,850 metres above sea level to be exact. If you get too excited you might get “soroche” (altitude sickness) and that’s no bueno. Since sports are out the window we go and do what we do best: eeeaaaaaaaat!

A curious activity we Quiteños have is to hang out in malls, so first stop “La Scala Mall”. Upstairs you have a cool view of the Cumbayá valley and all the yummy food there is.

The first thing I ALWAYS eat is the famous “Pan de Yuca” or manioc bread with cheese. You eat this with yoghurt and good company. Might be you eat so much that you need something sweet to get over the fantastic taste of pan de yuca, so do try the “Queso de coco” or coconut flan. This is a typical latin dessert, so good that I can’t put it in words, but I can give you the recipe here.

After this we always take a walk around Cumbayá city trying to absorb all the sunlight we can. You’ll find cool places to take urban photos and nice little parks full of colors.

For lunch one of our favourite places is “Lucía“. Order some typical Ecuadorian food there while you work on your tan.

Around the “cafecito” time, it’ll probably rain. Quito’s weather is bipolar but predictable. You’ll have sun every day, but you gotta be ready for some heavy rain that’ll last for about an hour. It gives you time to heal from all that tanning during the day. After it passes you may head home, cozy up to a good “telenovela” and prepare for the next aventura.

PS: If you have the chance take your tripod and go take pictures during the night. It’ll be worth it. Buenas noches!