QUITO HIGH AND MIGHTY

History is part of everyday life in Ecuador’s vibrant capital. Explore the Andean city where ancient traditions and colonial architecture are equally cherished

Discover Quito

When Simón Bolívar, the great liberator of South America, first marched in with his victorious troops, he called San Francisco de Quito “a monastery” – before, in characteristic style, seducing the city’s most renowned beauty, Manuela Sáenz. Walking round Quito’s Old Town today, his remark makes a lot of sense: the legacy of the Spaniards’ 16th-century city, built on the site of an ancient Incan capital, is a treasure-trove of religious architecture.

A colonial cache
In 16th and 17th-century South America, the Church probably enjoyed more power than the Crown. In Quito’s historic heart alone, 40 churches and chapels, 16 convents and monasteries and 12 council rooms and atriums extend over more than 320 hectares. Ecuador’s capital boasts the largest and best-preserved colonial quarter in the Americas – prompting UNESCO to name it a World Heritage Site in 1978, the first city (along with Krakow in Poland) to receive the accolade.

Bolívar loved Quito. Nestled into a valley amid the high Andes, the Ecuadorian capital has seen its share of natural disasters down the centuries but, despite these calamities, the city’s historic heart remains remarkably intact. ‘The Reliquary of the Americas’, as it’s known, has been transformed over the past decade by the city authorities, yet Bolívar would recognise much of what one sees today.

On Sundays, the entire historic quarter is traffic free; events are held in the squares; mansions have been restored and cultural spaces opened up. Museums have been inaugurated, and cafés and restaurants have spread across the city. Four and fivestar boutique hotels and bijoux B&Bs have opened their doors; an ex-hospital now houses the not-to-be-missed City Museum; and the Bishop’s Palace on the handsome Plaza de la Independencia (also known as Plaza Grande) boasts a top-notch restaurant called – with a side order of irony – Mea Culpa.

At night the city’s churches and squares are bathed in spotlights; take a night-time tour or hop on a horse-drawn carriage for a trot around the cobbles. The Old Town is packed with little, bustling shops, full of street hawkers and curios, intriguing courtyards and olde-world commerce, with beautiful vistas of emerald-sloped mountains framing the buzzing streets below.

Solar power
The hills surrounding the Old Town all had significance for the pre-Hispanic and pre- Incan peoples who inhabited the valley, as did the sun – not surprising, given the proximity of the equator. The influence of sun worship on the layout of the Spanish city is only now coming to light. The Old Town’s cluster of central churches is laid out in the form of a crucifix, and they all face the rising sun. On the equinox, light penetrates one window of the Church of San Francisco and is reflected upwards to illuminate the virgin on the main altar.

Festivals revolving around the solar calendar were numerous before the Catholics arrived, but the modern syncretism of cultures is still fascinating. Quito’s largest celebrations are held during Semana Santa (Holy Week), when Quiteños take to the streets for processions on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Festivities commemorating Quito’s founding take place in early December, when you can enjoy outdoor concerts, cultural events and traditional pastimes: watch go-karts hurtle downhill, cuarenta card games and – this being Latin America – beauty pageants. Bolívar would have approved of the latter.

Highland ways
The Liberator spent much of his life careering from one part of northern South America to the other, first defeating the Spanish, then trying to keep his dream of a unified Gran Colombia from unravelling. When travelling between Quito and the north, he stayed at a hacienda which has in recent years opened its historic doors to guests. Hacienda Pinsaquí, just 5km north of Otavalo, has been in the same family for five generations, passed from one Pedro Freile to the next. Pinsaquí is a fantastic base from which to explore the surrounding countryside on fine steeds, or to visit the largest handicrafts market in South America at Otavalo (Saturday and Wednesday).

Otavalo’s native population retains many traditions, most obviously its costume. The people also keep alive their veneration for the sun and Pachamama (‘Earth Mother’), particularly at the solstices, celebrated with lively festivities. These provide a captivating insight into the culture of the highlands; just like the great Liberator, who was a mix of African, Andean and European, it’s a wedding of the Iberian and the Andean: the essence of Latin America itself.