Still awaiting my 3 day bike excursion, I headed out for another long walk to the old part of Quito to visit the Museo de la Cuidad (Museum of the City), which has been highly recommended. The building housing the museum is an old hospital that has been preserved to recognize its own history as well as the history of Ecuador. There were lots of very interesting dioramas depicting life in the region from indigenous times through the Spanish colonization and up to more recent times. There were also displays of how the hospital was set up with cramped infirmary wards and the horrifying surgical and medicinal tools used during the period.
Afterwards I had a local feed of chicken, rice, and beans at a nearby family restaurant. I think Ecuador is probably the first country I have ever visited in which I have been perfectly content eating only local food. I usually will have at least one local meal every day and alternate with more familiar fare, but perhaps I have just grown too comfortable with South American food.
