Quito

Quito
City
San Francisco de Quito
File:Quito North.jpg
Flag Seal
Nickname:  Luz de América (Light of America)
Map of Ecuador showing location of Quito
Country	Ecuador
Province	Pichincha
Canton	Quito
Foundation	December 6, 1534
Founded by	Sebastián de Belalcázar
Named for	Quitu
Urban parishes	List of cabildos Argelia, La Belisario Quevedo Carcelén Centro Histórico Chilibulo Chillogallo Chimbacalle Cochapamba Comité del Pueblo Concepción, La Condado, El Cotocollao Ecuatoriana, La Ferroviaria, La Guamaní Inca, El Iñaquito Itchimbía Jipijapa Kennedy Libertad, La Magdalena Mariscal Sucre Mena, La Ponceano Puengasí Quitumbe Rumipamba San Bartolo San Juan Solanda Turubamba
Government
• Type	Mayor and council
• Mayor	Paco Moncayo (ID)
• City council	List of council members Augusto Barrera Luis Caicedo Fernando Carrión Margarita Carranco Luz Elena Coloma Sergio Garnica Carmen Elena de Janón Indira Medina Gonzalo Ortiz Patricio Alejandro Ubidia Pablo Ponce Ramiro Pérez Patricia Ruiz Andrés Vallejo Macarena Valarezo
Area approx.
• City	324 km2 (125 sq mi)
• Water	0 km2 (0 sq mi)
• Metro	4,204 km2 (1,623 sq mi)
Elevation	2,850 m (9,350 ft)
Population  (2001 Census)
• City	1,397,698
• Density	4,300/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
• Metro	1,842,201
• Metro density	440/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
	Decadal national census by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC)
Time zone	UTC-5 (ECT)
Postal code	EC1701 (new format), P01 (old format)
Area code	593 2
Demonym	Quiteño(-a)
Website	http://www.quito.gov.ec

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With a population of approximately 1,397,698 according to the last census (2001), and, as estimated by the municipality, approximately 1,504,991 in 2005, Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador, after Guayaquil. It is also the capital of the Pichincha province and the seat of Quito Canton, which since the 1993-12-27 passage of the municipal law known as "Ley de Régimen para el Distrito Metropolitano de Quito" is also known as Metropolitan District of Quito. The canton had 1,842,201 residents in the 2001 national census. In 2008 the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations.

The elevation of the city's central square (Plaza de La Independencia or Plaza Grande) is 2,850 m (about 9,350 ft), making Quito the second-highest administrative capital city in the world (after La Paz, Bolivia), and the highest legal capital (ahead of Sucre, also in Bolivia, and Bogotá, Colombia).

Quito is located about 25 km (15 miles) south of the equator. A monument and museum marking the general location of the equator is known locally as la mitad del mundo (the middle of the world), to avoid confusion, as the word ecuador is Spanish for equator.

History

Pre-Columbian

Quito's origins date back to the first millennium, when the Quitu tribe occupied the area and eventually formed a commercial center. According to Juan de Velasco's 1767 book Historia del Reino de Quito, the Quitu were conquered by the Caras tribe, who founded the Kingdom of Quito about 980 CE.

Colony

Indigenous resistance to the Spanish invasion continued during 1534, with Diego de Almagro founding Santiago de Quito (in present day Colta, near Riobamba) on August 15 of that same year, later to be renamed San Francisco de Quito on August 28. The city was later moved to its present location and was refounded on December 6, 1534 by 204 settlers led by Sebastián de Benalcázar, who captured Rumiñahui and effectively ended any organized resistance. Rumiñahui was then executed on January 10, 1535. On March 14, 1541, Quito was declared a city and on February 14, 1556, was given the title Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de San Francisco de Quito ("Very Noble and Loyal City of San Francisco of Quito"). In 1563, Quito became the seat of a royal audiencia (administrative district) of Spain and became part of the Viceroyalty of Peru with its capital in Lima (see Real Audiencia de Quito).

Main doorway to the Cathedral

The Spanish promptly established the Catholic religion in Quito, with the first church (El Belén) built even before the city had been officially founded. In January 1535, the San Francisco Convent was constructed, the first of about 20 churches and convents built during the colonial period. The Spanish actively evangelized the indigenous people and used them as slave labor for construction, especially in the early colonial years. The Diocese of Quito was established in 1545 and was elevated to the Archdiocese of Quito in 1849.

In 1809, after nearly 300 years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of about 10,000 inhabitants. On August 10, 1809, a movement was started in Quito that aimed for political independence from Spain. On that date, a plan for government was established that placed Juan Pío Montúfar as president with various other prominent figures in other positions of government. However, this initial movement was ultimately defeated on August 2, 1810, when Spanish forces came from Lima, Peru, and killed the leaders of the uprising along with about 200 inhabitants of the city. A chain of conflicts concluded on May 24, 1822, when Antonio José de Sucre, under the command of Simón Bolívar, led troops into the Battle of Pichincha. Their victory marked the independence of Quito and the surrounding areas.

Gran Colombia

Just days after the Battle of Pichincha, on May 24, 1822, the leaders of the city proclaimed their independence and allowed the city to be annexed to the Republic of Gran Colombia. Simón Bolívar went to Quito on June 16, 1822, and was present at the signing of the Colombian Constitution on June 24, 1822. When the Gran Colombia dissolved in 1830, Quito became the capital of the newly formed Republic of Ecuador.

Republican Era

In 1833, members of the Society of Free Inhabitants of Quito were assassinated by the government after they conspired against it, and on March 6, 1845, the Marcist Revolution began. Later, in 1875, the country's president, Gabriel García Moreno, was assassinated in Quito. Two years later, in 1877, Archbishop José Ignacio Checa y Barba was killed by poisoning while he was giving mass.

In 1882, insurgents arose against the regime of dictator Ignacio de Veintemilla. However, this did not end the violence that was occurring throughout the country. On July 9, 1883, the liberal commander Eloy Alfaro participated in the Battle of Guayaquil, and later, after more conflict, became the president of Ecuador on September 4, 1895. Upon completing his second term in 1911, he moved to Europe. When he returned to Ecuador in 1912 and attempted a return to power, he was arrested on January 28, 1912; thrown in prison; and assassinated by a mob that had stormed the prison. His body was dragged through the streets of Quito to a city park, where it was burned.

In 1932, the Four Days' War broke out. This was a civil war that followed the election of Neptalí Bonifaz and the subsequent realization that he carried a Peruvian passport. Workers at a major textile factory went on strike in 1934, and similar unrest continues to the present day. On February 12, 1949, a realistic broadcast of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds led to citywide panic and the deaths of more than twenty people who died in fires set by mobs.

In recent years, Quito has been the focal point of large demonstrations that led to the ousting of presidents Abdalá Bucaram (February 5, 1997), Jamil Mahuad (January 21, 2000), and Lucio Gutiérrez (April 20, 2005).

Geography

File:Quito volcan.jpg

Quito and the Pichincha volcano

Quito is located in the northern highlands of Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin. The city has been built on a long plateau lying on the east flanks of the Pichincha volcano. The valley of Guayllabamba River where Quito lies is flanked by volcanoes, some of them snow-capped, that can be visible from the city on a clear day. Some of the volcanoes on the Central Cordillera (Royal Cordillera), east of Quito, surrounding the Guayllabamba valley are Cotopaxi, Sincholagua, Antisana, and Cayambe. Some of the volcanoes of the Western Cordillera, to the west of the Guayllabamba valley, are Illiniza, Atacazo, Pichincha, and Pululahua (which has the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve).

Nearby volcanoes

Quito's closest volcano is Pichincha, looming over the western side of the city. Quito is also the only capital in the world to be directly menaced by an active volcano. Pichincha volcano has several summits, among them Rucu Pichincha at 4700 metres above sea level and Guagua Pichincha at 4794 metres. Guagua Pichincha is active and being monitored by volcanologists at the geophysical institute of the national polytechnic university. The largest eruption occurred in 1660 when more than 10 inches (25 cm) of ash covered the city. There were three minor eruptions in the 1800s. The latest eruption was recorded on August 23, 2006, when a few puffs of smoke and a large amount of ash were deposited on the city. Although not devastating, the eruption caused significant disruption of activities, including closing of the international airport. It is unlikely that any serious activity will occur in the near future, and the topography of the volcano is such that, even if a major eruption were to occur, lava flows would head into the almost-unpopulated areas west of the volcano, sparing Quito, which lies to the east.

Activity in other nearby volcanoes also can affect the city. In November 2002, after an eruption in the volcano Reventador, the city was showered with a layer of fine ash particles to a depth of several centimeters.

Climate

Because of its elevation and its proximity to the equator, Quito has a fairly constant cool climate, Spring-like weather year-round. The average temperature at noon is 19°C (66°F) with a normal night-time low of 10°C (50°F). The annual average temperature is 15°C (64°F). The city experiences only two seasons: dry and wet. The dry season, June through September (4 months), is referred to as summer; the wet season, October through May (8 months), is referred to as winter.

Climate data for Quito
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source: Weatherbase

Demographics

Population

See also: Cantón Quito

, also officially known as Distrito Metropolitano de Quito

These are numbers for the city proper only, not the whole canton, which also includes surrounding rural parishes (parish seats and their surroundings), which are separate from the city.

• Population: 1,399,378
• Number of households: 419,845
• Illiteracy rate: 3.6%
• Unemployment rate: 8.9%
• Underemployment rate: 43.8%

Topographical zones

Quito is divided into three areas, separated by hills:

1. The center houses the colonial old city.
2. The southern part is mainly industrial and residential, and a working-class housing area.
3. The northern part is modern Quito, with high-rise buildings, shopping centers, the financial district, and upper-class residential areas and some working-class housing areas. It is the location of Mariscal Sucre International Airport.

Politics

Governance

Paco Moncayo, former mayor of Quito

Quito is governed by a mayor and a 15-member city council. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and can be re-elected. The position also doubles as Mayor of the Metropolitan District of Quito (the canton).

Recent mayors

Start	End	Name	Political party
1940	1944	Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño
1956	1960	Carlos Andrade Marín
1960	1968	Julio Moreno Espinoza
1968	1972	Jaime del Castillo Álvarez
1972	1980	Sixto Durán Ballén	PSC
1980	1984	Álvaro Pérez	PLRE
1984	1988	Gustavo Herdoíza
1988	1992	Rodrigo Paz Delgado	DP
1992	1998	Jamil Mahuad	DP
1998	2000	Roque Sevilla	DP
2000	2009	Paco Moncayo Gallegos	ID
2009		Andrés Vallejo Arcos

Urban parishes

In Ecuador, cantons are subdivided into parishes. These subdivisions are called parishes because they were originally used by the Catholic Church, but, along with the secularization and liberalization of the Ecuadorian state, the political parishes were spun off the ones used by the church. Parishes are called urban if they are within the boundaries of the seat (capital) of their corresponding canton, and rural if they are outside of those boundaries. Inside Quito (the city proper), the way in which the city is subdivided into urban parishes depends on the organizations which use those parishes (e.g., the municipality, the electoral tribunals, the postal service, the Ecuadorian statistics institute). The urban parishes of different types are not necessarily coterminous nor the same in number or name.

Municipal/administrative urban parishes (cabildos)

As of 2008, the municipality of Quito divided the city into 32 urban parishes. These parishes, which are used by the municipality for administrative purposes, are also known as cabildos [1] since 2001. Since the times of the Metropolitan District of Quito, parishes of this type are also grouped into larger divisions known as municipal zones (zonas municipales). These parishes are as follows:

File:Parroquias Urbanas de Quito.jpg

Urban parishes of the Metropolitan District of Quito

1. Argelia, La
2. Belisario Quevedo
3. Carcelén
4. Centro Histórico
5. Chilibulo
6. Chillogallo
7. Chimbacalle
8. Cochapamba
9. Comité del Pueblo
10. Condado, El
11. Concepción, La
12. Cotocollao
13. Ecuatoriana, La
14. Ferroviaria, La
15. Guamaní
16. Inca, El
17. Iñaquito
18. Itchimbía
19. Jipijapa
20. Kennedy
21. Libertad, La
22. Magdalena
23. Mariscal Sucre
24. Mena, La
25. Ponceano
26. Puengasí
27. Quitumbe
28. Rumipamba
29. San Juan
30. San Bartolo
31. Solanda
32. Turubamba

The municipal zones into which these parishes are grouped are as follows:

• Sur: Chillogallo, La Ecuatoriana, Guamaní, Quitumbe, Turubamba
• Centro Sur: La Argelia, Chilibulo, Chimbacalle, La Ferrovaria, La Magdalena, La Mena, San Bartolo, Solanda
• Centro: Centro Histórico, Itchimbía, La Libertad, Puengasí, San Juan
• Norte: Belisario Quevedo, Cochapamba, La Concepción, El Inca, Iñaquito, Jipijapa, Kennedy, Mariscal Sucre, Rumipamba
• Centro Norte: Carcelén, Comité del Pueblo, El Condado, Cotocallao, Ponceano

Electoral urban parishes (CNE/TEP)

Rep. del Salvador Avenue Skyline Quito.

Electoral urban parishes are used by the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) (until the 2008 Ecuadorian constitution known as Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE)) and by the Tribunal Electoral de Pichincha (TEP) in order to distribute vote ballots and count electoral votes. Unlike rural parishes, urban parishes do not have and do not elect a junta parroquial (parochial committee/junta). Within each of these parishes, there are one or more schools in which elections take place, typically on Sundays. As of the 2008 Ecuadorian referendum, there were 19 urban parishes of this type, as follows [2]:

1. Alfaro
2. Benalcázar
3. Chaupicruz
4. Chillogallo
5. Cotocollao
6. El Salvador
7. González Suárez
8. Guápulo
9. La Floresta
10. La Libertad
11. La Magdalena
12. La Vicentina
13. San Blas
14. San Marcos
15. San Roque
16. San Sebastián
17. Santa Barbara
18. Santa Prisca
19. Villa Flora

Later in 2008, the relatively small González Suárez parish was removed from the list [3], prior to the 2009 elections.

Ecclesiastical urban parishes

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quito divides the city into the following urban parishes, which are grouped in zones [4]. Zones 10 to 15 are not listed because they are rural. Zones 4, 6, 16 and 17 also include some rural parishes, which are not listed here.

Zone 1 (western part of the city center)

1. El Sagrario
2. San Roque
3. Santa Bárbara
4. San Juan
5. La Merced de El Tejar
6. San Diego
7. Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, la Basílica del Voto Nacional

Zone 2 (eastern part of the city center)

1. San Blas
2. San Sebastián
3. San Marcos
4. Santo Domingo
5. Cristo Rey - La Tola
6. Corpus Christi
7. Santo Domingo Savio - Tola Baja

Zone 3 (southwest part of northern Quito)

1. Santa Clara de San Millán
2. Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro
3. La Santísima Trinidad
4. Cristo Redentor de Pambachupa
5. Santo Tomás de Aquino - Las Casas
6. La Dolorosa del Colegio San Gabriel
7. La Inmaculada Concepción de Iñaquito
8. Santa María Madre de la Iglesia
9. Nuestra Señora del Rosario del Pichincha

Zone 4 (southeast part of northern Quito)

1. Santa Prisca - El Belén
2. Santa Teresita
3. Santa Marianita de Jesús - La Floresta
4. La Vicentina
5. Nuestra Señora de Guápulo
6. Nuestra Señora de La Paz
7. María Auxiliadora - El Girón
8. Purísimo Corazón de María
9. San Pedro y San Pablo
10. Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de El Batán
11. Nuestra Señora de Fátima de El Batán

Zone 5 (northern part of southern Quito)

1. San Juan Apóstol y Evangelista de Chimbacalle
2. Cristo Salvador - El Camal
3. San Pablo Apóstol - Ferroviaria Baja
4. San Martín de Porres - Ferroviaria Alta
5. Virgen Peregrina de Puengasí
6. La Medalla Milagrosa
7. Señor de la Buena Esperanza - Villaflora
8. San Pedro Apóstol de Luluncoto
9. El Espíritu Santo - San Bartolo
10. San Antonio Maria Claret - La Argelia
11. Santa Cruz de Monjas

Zone 6 (central part of southern Quito)

1. La Magdalena
2. San José de La Libertad
3. Santa Ana
4. Chilibulo y Marcopamba
5. La Santiago
6. Cristo Resucitado
7. Nuestra Señora de la Anunciación
8. Santa María del Calzado
9. Santa Anita de Barrionuevo
10. San Ignacio de Loyola
11. Santa Rita de Casia
12. San Andrés Kim
13. San Cristóbal de Guajaló
14. Santa María del Inti

Zone 7 (southernmost part of southern Quito}

1. Nuestra Señora de la Nueva Aurora
2. Santiago Apóstol de Chillogallo
3. Santa María del Camino
4. San Antonio de Padua
5. Santo Hermano Miguel de La Ecuatoriana
6. Nuestra Señora de La Merced de La Arcadia
7. Verbo Divino de Caupicho
8. Jesús Sembrador de la Palabra
9. Santo Angel de Guamaní
10. Santa Bárbara de Chillogallo
11. El Buen Pastor de Turubamba

Zone 8 (northeast part of northern Quito)

1. La Concepción Inmaculada de María Santísima
2. Nuestra Señora de Fátima de Andalucía
3. Nuestra Señora del Rosario
4. Sagrados Corazones de San Carlos
5. San Isidro de El Inca
6. San José de El Inca
7. El Carmelo
8. San Juan Bosco - La Kennedy
9. San Leonardo Murialdo
10. La Sagrada Familia de la Rumiñahui
11. Santuario del Divino Niño Jesús
12. Nuestra Señora de El Cisne
13. Santa Catalina de Siena de Monteserrín
14. San Carlos Borromeo
15. Virgen del Quinche y Jesús del Gran Poder
16. Jesús del Buen Pastor de la Kennedy

Zone 9 (northwest part of northern Quito)

1. San Juan Bautista de Cotocollao
2. Nuestra Señora Reina del Mundo
3. San Lucas Evangelista
4. San José Obrero
5. San Francisco de Asís
6. San Juan Eudes
7. San José de El Condado
8. Madre del Redentor
9. Santa Cruz de Casitagua
10. San Joaquín y Santa Ana
11. Cristo Luz del Mundo
12. San Judas Tadeo
13. María Estrella de la Evangelización
14. Santa Cruz de la Esperanza
15. La Sagrada Familia de El Condado

Zone 16 (private parishes)

1. San Miguel Arcángel
2. Parroquia Universitaria María Sede de la Sabiduría

Zone 17 (vicariates)

1. Santo Cura de Ars - Colinas de Norte (Hermanas Franciscanas)

Transportation

File:Chimborazo seen from highway.jpg

Chimborazo volcano seen from a highway.

Ground transport

Road transport

Public road transport

File:Quito 02.jpg

North Station of trolleybus.

The MetrobusQ network, also known as "Red Integrada de Transporte Público", is the bus rapid transit system running in Quito, and it goes through the city from south to north. It's divided into three sections—the green line (the central trolleybus), the red line (the north-east Ecovía), and the blue line (the north-west Corredor Central). In addition to the bus rapid transit system, there are many buses running in the city. The buses have both a name and a number, and they have a fixed route. Taxi cabs are all yellow, and they have meters that show the fare. There are nearly 8,800 registered taxicabs.

Private road transport

Although public transportation is the primary form of travel in the city, including fleets of taxis that constantly cruise the roadways, the use of private vehicles has increased substantially during the past decade. This has happened despite the fact that vehicles are twice as expensive as in the U.S., due to import tariffs and taxes. Because of growing road congestion in many areas, there are plans to replace the Trole with a light railway system, with construction expected to begin in 2009.

Roads, avenues and streets

Because Quito is about 40 km (24.85 miles) long and 5 km (3.1 miles) at its widest, most of the important avenues of the city extend from north to south. The two main motorways that go from the northern part of the city to the southern are Avenue Oriental (Corredor Periférico Oriental) on the eastern hills that border the city, and Avenue Occidental on the western side of the city on the Pichincha volcano. The street 10 de Agosto also goes north to south through most of the city, running down the middle of it. Because of the hills and the city's curved shape, a grid pattern is extremely difficult to imply. The historic centre of the city is based on a grid pattern, despite the hills, with the streets Venezuela, Chile, García Moreno, and Guayaquil being the most important.

Some of the most important avenues in Quito are:

• Avenue Río Amazonas
• Avenue de la Prensa
• Avenue 6 de Diciembre
• Avenue de los Shyris
• Avenue Naciones Unidas
• Avenue 10 de Agosto
• Avenue Diego de Vazques
• Avenue Eloy Alfaro
• Avenue de la República
• Avenue República del Salvador
• Avenue América

• Avenue 12 de Octubre
• Avenue Patria
• Avenue Francisco de Orellana
• Avenue General Rumiñahui
• Avenue Interoceánica
• Avenue González Suárez
• Avenue Real Audiencia
• Avenue Galo Plaza
• Avenue El Inca
• Avenue Napo
• Avenue Vicente Maldonado

Railroad transport

There is a railroad that goes through the southern part of Quito and passes through the Estación de Chimbacalle. It is managed by the Empresa de Ferrocarriles Ecuatorianos (EFE). This form of transport is nowadays used mostly for tourism.

Air transport

File:Aeropuerto Mariscal Sucre.jpg

Mariscal Sucre Airport runway.

Mariscal Sucre International Airport (IATA airport code: UIO) serves as the city's principal airport for passenger travel and freight. Its runway is 3120 metres long and is capable of handling many types of large aircraft. The main terminal is located on Avenue Amazonas. The airport is located 10 kilometres north of the city's centre, within driving distance to the main business center. Because of tall buildings and fog at night, landing from the south is not as easy as at many other airports. Its domestic flights go to Guayaquil, Cuenca, Lago Agrio, Coca, Tarapoa, Esmeraldas, Manta, Portoviejo, Macas, Tulcán, and many others. Flights to the Galápagos Islands are reached via Guayaquil. Several international airlines have offices in Quito; most of them are around Avenue Amazonas. The airport provides international connections to Madrid, Amsterdam, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Lima, Santiago, Panama City, San José, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and many others. The construction of a new airport in the rural parish of Tababela, in the adjacent valley outside the city limits, began in 2006 and will be finished by 2010. The Mariscal Sucre International Airport will then become a big park.

Points of interest

Historic centre

City of Quito

UNESCO World Heritage Site
File:Quito CENTER.jpg
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv
Reference	2
Inscription	1978 (2nd Session)

According to UNESCO's Web site, Quito has the largest, best-preserved, and least-altered historic centre (320 hectares) in Latin America, despite the 1917 earthquake. It was one of the first sites that was inscribed onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1978. Some of the churches are:

• Cathedral of Quito
• Church of the Society of Jesus (La Compañía)
• Church and Convent of St. Francis (San Francisco)
• Church and Convent of St. Dominic (Santo Domingo)
• Church and Convent of La Merced
• Basílica del Voto Nacional

El Panecillo

File:Panecillo uio.jpg

Virgin of El Panecillo

Main article: El Panecillo

El Panecillo is a hill located in the middle west of the city at an altitude of about 9,895 ft (3,016 m) above sea level. A monument to the Virgin Mary is located on top of El Panecillo and is visible from most of the city of Quito. In 1976, the Spanish artist Agustín de la Herrán Matorras was commissioned by the religious order of the Oblates to build a 134.5 ft (41 m)–tall aluminum monument of a madonna, which was assembled on a high pedestal on the top of Panecillo. Made of approximately 7,000 pieces of aluminum, the monument was inaugurated on March 28, 1976, by the 11th archbishop of Quito, Pablo Cardinal Muñoz Vega.

The figure stands on top of a globe, standing on top of a chained crocodile , symbolizing her triumph over evil (classic madonna iconography). What is not so traditional, however, is her wings. The monument was inspired by the famous "Virgen de Quito" (Quito's Madonna), also known as "the dancer" sculpted by Bernardo de Legarda in 1734, which now decorates the main altar at the Church of St. Francisco. This madonna represents a turning point of the Quito School of Art (one of the most renowned of the Americas) because it shows a figure with great movement (practically dancing), which is in contrast to the traditional static madonnas produced during the 18th century.

Parks

Metropolitano

Parque Metropolitano Guanguiltagua is the largest urban park in South America at 1,376 acres (5.5 km²) (as reference, New York's Central Park is 843 acres [3.4 km²]). The park is located in northern Quito, on the hill of Bellavista behind Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa. The park is suited for mountain biking, walking, and running. Most of it is eucalyptus forest with trails, but there also are numerous sculptures on display. The park has four sites that can be used for picnics or barbecues, and the eastern section has a view of Cotopaxi, Antisana, and the Guayllabamba river basin.

La Carolina

File:Quito 07.jpg

Southern end of La Carolina

La Carolina [5] is a 165.5-acre (670,000 m²) park in the centre of the Quito main business area, bordered by the avenues Río Amazonas, de los Shyris, Naciones Unidas, Eloy Alfaro, and de la República. This park started from the expropriation of the farm La Carolina in 1939. The modern design of the park was made by the Dirección Metropolitana de Planificación Territorial (DMPT). Pope John Paul II headed a great mass in the park during his visit to Ecuador in 1985. A giant cross has been built in this place.

Quiteños gather at La Carolina mostly on weekends to play soccer, basketball, and ecua-volley (an Ecuadorian variation of volleyball with less emphasis on spiking, which allows more of a throw and allows using the feet, much like soccer). Some of the other activities are aerobics, kite flying, running, snacking, and people watching. The southern part of the park has a small pond where paddle boats can be rented and a skatepark for bicyclists and skateboarders. Artists are known to perform on weekends at the park. In the western part of the park, visitors will find the Quito Exhibition Center [6] with different exhibits every month, the Quito botanical gardens [7], and a Vivarium.

El Ejido

El Ejido[8] is the third-largest park of Quito (after Metropolitan and La Carolina), and it divides the old part of the city from the modern one. This park is known for handicrafts available for sale every Saturday and Sunday, with all pricing subject to negotiation (that is, haggling). Local painters sell copies of paintings by Oswaldo Guayasamín [9], Eduardo Kingman, and Gonzalo Endara Crow. Otavaleños sell traditional sweaters, ponchos, carpets, and jewelry.

La Alameda

The long triangular La Alameda is located at the beginning of street Guayaquil, where the historic centre begins. It has an impressive monument of Simón Bolivar at the apex. There are several other interesting monuments in this park. In the centre of the park is the Quito Observatory, which was opened by President García Moreno in 1864 and is the oldest observatory in Latin America. It is used for both meteorology and astronomy. At the north end of the park are two ornamental lakes, where rowboats can be rented.

TeleferiQo

Main article: TelefériQo

TeleferiQo.

The Aerial tramway Station at Cruz Loma (part of the Pichincha mountain complex at about 13,123 ft (4,000 m). Since July 2005, Quito has had an aerial tramway, known as the "Telefériqo", from the city centre to the hill known as Cruz Loma on the east side of the Pichincha volcano. The ride takes visitors to an altitude of about 13,400 ft (more than 4,100 m) where they find a number of restaurants, coffee shops, and a variety of stores. There are also trails for hiking and areas where pictures can be taken of Quito. Because of the increased altitude and the wind on the mountain, it is considerably cooler.

Besides the aerial tramway to Cruz Loma, the Telefériqo as a whole is a visitor centre that includes an amusement park (Vulqano Park), fine-dining restaurants, Go Karts, Paint Ball, shopping malls, an extensive food court, and other attractions.

Outside the city

The monument at La Mitad del Mundo

La Mitad del Mundo [10] (the middle of the world) is a small village administered by the prefecture of the province of Pichincha, 22 mi (35 km) north of Quito. The village features a large monument, built on the site where the equator was thought to have crossed in the early 1980s. There is also a museum that contains a model of Quito, a planetarium, various exhibits, several restaurants, an open arena that is occasionally used for folkloric-dance performances, and a small chapel where couples can marry with one spouse standing in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern [it has since been determined that the actual equator is some 200 meters north of the monument area].

Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve, located a few miles northwest from La Mitad del Mundo, contains the Pululahua volcano, whose caldera (crater) is visible from a spot easily accessible by car. It is believed to be one of only a few in the world with human inhabitants.

Quito Zoo [11], located near the rural parish of Guayllabamba, about 12 mi (20 km) outside Quito, has the biggest collection of native fauna in Ecuador, including several kinds of animals that are sometimes targeted in Ecuador in the illegal fur trade.

Some of the other nearby natural attractions are:

• Antisana Ecological Reserve
• Cayambe - Coca Ecological Reserve
  • Papallacta & Oyacachi thermal springs
• Cotopaxi National Park
• Mindo Nambillo cloud forest
• Illiniza volcano
• Pasochoa Wildlife Refuge
• Pichincha (Rucu & Guagua) volcanoes

Education

Universities

According to the National Council for Higher Education of Ecuador (CONESUP), here is a list of universities founded before the year 2006 in or around Quito:

University	Foundation Date
Escuela Politecnica Javeriana del Ecuador	29/11/1995
Escuela Politécnica Nacional	27/08/1869
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencia Sociales	16/12/1974
Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales	20/06/1972
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador	04/11/1946
Universidad Alfredo Perez Guerro	15/01/2001
Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar	27/01/1992
Universidad Autonoma de Quito	07/07/1999
Universidad Central del Ecuador	18/03/1826
Universidad Cristiana Latinoamericana	31/03/2000
Universidad de Especialidade Turisticas	31/03/2000
Universidad de las Americas	29/11/1995
Universidad de los Hemisferios	20/05/2004
Universidad Iberoamericana del Ecuador	30/12/2005
Universidad Intercultural de las Nacionalidades y Puebloes Indigenas Amawtay Wasi	05/08/2004
Universidad Internacional del Ecuador	30/08/1996
Universidad Og Mandino	17/11/2005
Universidad Particular Internacional SEK	30/06/1993
Universidad San Francisco de Quito	25/10/1987
Universidad Tecnológica America	20/08/1997
Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial	18/02/1986
Universidad Tecnologica Israel	16/11/1999
Universitas Equatorialis	24/12/2002

Sports

Professional football teams

Quito is the home city of six prominent football clubs in Ecuador. Domestically, the city's top three club (El Nacional, Deportivo Quito and LDU Quito) have won a combined 26 national championships, which accounts for over half of all championships won.

The teams in Ecuador's First Division (Serie A and Serie B) are:

• Club Deportivo El Nacional
• Club Deportivo ESPOLI
• Club Deportivo Universidad Católica del Ecuador
• Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito
• Sociedad Deportiva Aucas
• Sociedad Deportivo Quito

Sister cities

Quito has ten sister cities:

• Madrid, Spain
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Bogota, Colombia
• Managua, Nicaragua
• Louisville (Kentucky, USA)
• Coral Gables (Florida, USA)
• Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
• Buxton, (England, United Kingdom)
• Santo Domingo, (Dominican Republic)
• Kraków, Poland

See also

• Ecuador
• Guayaquil
• Cuenca
• El Panecillo
• Mitad del Mundo
• World66:Quito
• Wikitravel:Quito
• Charles Marie de La Condamine
• Cuarenta
• List of Latin American artists

External links

• Official Web site of the municipality of Quito
• Official tourism Web site of the municipality of Quito
• Official Web site of the trolleybus system
• The Tramways of Quito
• The Trolleybus System of Quito