Metropolitan Touring has launched four new cultural tours in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The tour operator is refreshing its portfolio of popular excursions in Old Town Quito with guided, full-day offerings complete with hands-on activities and behind-the-scenes access to local artisans and healers.
Known as the largest, best-preserved, least-altered historic center in Latin America, Quito sits in a thin valley in the Andes Mountains. The center has undergone a revival in the last few months since the inauguration of an impressive new Metro system, forming a welcome backbone to Quito’s public transport system at the affordable rate of 45 cents per ride.
Metropolitan Touring has unveiled four itineraries exploring Quito, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. Led by local bilingual guides (Spanish and English), these include:
- A Taste of Old Town Quito – Settings include San Francisco Market, the oldest market in the city, brimming with fresh produce, traditional foods and generational healers performing cleansing rituals; Agua de la Vida, a small establishment in the San Roque neighborhood known for healing herbal drinks prepared from medicinal plants. Just off Plaza de San Francisco, visit Chocolatería Yumbos with a workshop for guests to shell, grind, and mold their own chocolate bars, while the Archbishop’s Palace at Independence Square will offer mistelas, or candies filled with liquor, and other sweets. Take in the beauty of La Compañía Church before concluding the day with a cocktail class on the rooftop terrace of Casa Gangotena.
- Art and Culture in Historic Quito – Sites include El Panecillo, a scenic overlook of the statue of the winged Virgin of Quito standing more than 147 feet tall and assembled from 7,000 pieces of aluminum; Santo Domingo Church and Convent, whose religious museum displays works from the Quito School of Art; and La Compañía Church, where Yolanda, one of the few female gold-leaf artisans in the city, will demonstrate her craft and guide guests in applying gold leaf. Following lunch at Casa Gangotena, continue on to Casa del Alabado Museum in one of the oldest buildings in Old Town, now perfectly renovated, for insight into pre-Columbian art and social developments of pre-Hispanic Ecuador.
- Iconic Quito – Stops include the Middle of the World monument and museum marking the equator; the neo-gothic icon Basilica del Voto Nacional, arrayed with gargoyles, stained-glass windows and towers with the best views in Quito; and La Compañía Church. Explore Independence Square, busy with vendors purveying traditional delicacies and surrounded by the Presidential Palace, Archbishop’s Palace, Municipal Palace and the Cathedral of Quito. Also, visit Casa del Higo, which dates back to 1650, with original volcanic stone construction and a fig tree in the main courtyard, declared a Patrimonial Tree of Quito.
- Quito Crafts and Treasures – The exploration begins at the San Francisco Market to meet traditional healer Rosita Lagla, one of a long line of women who’ve practiced with medicinal plants. Visit the workshop of Gonzalo Gallardo, a fourth-generation artisan who, with his wife, has spent more than three decades restoring religious figures and being sought out by locals for a secret recipe of pigments and oils to heal rashes, cuts and wounds. At La Compañía Church, can work with Yolanda to learn the techniques of her craft. Plant geraniums in collaboration with De Vuelta al Centro, a local NGO that promotes connection with the city’s history and people. Finally, following lunch at Casa Gangotena, stroll past pastel-colored houses on Junin Street to reach the art workshop of Bolivar Araujo, who will open his Colonial-era house and invite guests to create their own masterpieces.
Metropolitan Touring’s cultural tours start at $176 per person, with all fees for artisan and artistic experiences, meals and entrance to local sites included.
For more information, visit www.metropolitan-touring.com.
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