PARQUE METROPOLITANO, GUANGUILTAGUA

One of the loveliest things we do as a family, sometimes early Sunday morning, is head up to Quito and have a walk in Parque Metropolitano. The City Park in Quito. The idea perhaps brings to mind Hyde Park, or some other big, 'green' space in a city. Not a bit of it! Parque Metropolitano is a vast swathe of mostly wild forest and open land, lying on the eastern escarpment of the city, at some 3000 metres altitude. The 40 kilometre length of Quito stretches north-south between, on the west, the mountain of Pichincha and its family of smaller summits, and on the east, the steep escarpment overlooking Tumbaco and Cumbaya, some 600 metres below. The 550 hectares of Parque Metropolitano occupy much of this length on the eastern side of the city, and also much of the steepest parts of the escarpment. This wild area is riven with deep gorges, very difficult to drop down into, and completely impossible to get back out of. It is easy enough to get lost in the park and early Sunday mornings it is quite likely that you can walk for an hour and encounter no more than grazing llamas. The park is described as an ecological reserve and is a water holding and treatment zone, but provides Quiteneans with a wonderful place to walk, run, mountain bike, picnic, enjoy staggering views, get lost, camp and in some of the more accessible and managed areas, play sports or get together with martial arts groups and the such.

Sunday April 1st was John's birthday and also, according to the vet, the most probable day on which Toby Thomas was born two years ago. So early on what was a misty morning we loaded Toby into his space in the Toyota, and set off.

There is a sequence of fascinating constructions in one area of the park and this is where we headed first this morning.

Robbie, with Toby and the tortoises.

Here is Maia atop a huge stone chair.

Maia riding a tortoise. Behind Maia is a rock encased in a weird gazebo thing. For all purposes this rock could be a meteor! Down the hill in the background you can see the next of the monolithic structures. That one is some 40 huge stepping stones which arrive at the white stone towers. This part of Parque Metropolitano is very well cared for and at weekends there can be even thousands of people around here, yet a few 100 metres to either side, you can be lost in eucalyptus forest.

Toby often behaves like a lunatic when we are in Parque Metropolitano! In the long grass he races around, chasing his tail until he falls in a heap, gasping for air. Here he is digging for water! Seriously! He found a filthy hole with some water in it and decided that this was his watering place. Toby is now very good with other dogs. All he wants to do is play. As soon as we have moved on a few metres, he abandons his new-found playmates and straightaway is back with us.

This was a dog training school, we came across on our way back to the car. Dogs are very much part of life in and around Quito, but the huge majority are not properly looked after and are not trained. Around Tumbaco, street dogs are many, many and there is not one house or garden which does not have its seriously barking dogs. Toby Thomas came to us as an abandoned dog, wandering the roads around John's school.

Our Sunday morning excursions to Parque Metropolitano often finish in the Corfu coffee bar, in Avenida Portugal down below the park, where we can get a truly healthy breakfast. Here Robbie and Maia are finishing off their French toast. John's bowl of granola and yogurt was finished for him by the children but he was recompensed by their two cups of coffee - all part of the breakfast deal.




So that was our morning in Parque Metropolitano. Later in the day we shared an ice cream Black Forest Gateaux - John's birthday cake - and played at home. After the end of a busy term, and the birthday fiesta parties which Robbie and Maia went to on Friday afternoon and on Saturday, this was the best way to spend Sunday April 1st.