Re-reading my last post, it doesn't give a particularly positive impression of Quito. That is unfortunate as I rather liked the place. Too cold to be a candidate for retirement (and probably not safe enough), but it had many features that I liked, and it is always good to get confirmation of which aspects of a place I should be looking for and not just those to avoid.
Not too big (population around 2.5 million), it nevertheless has a reasonable cultural life. Sting and the Kronos Quartet both performed while I was there (not that I got to see either), and on our group evening out we stopped briefly in a small bar just to buy drinks, where two local musicians were playing guitar and singing some great local, traditional music. Something you don't seem to get in Panama, and if I hadn't been with a group I would have happily settled down in that bar for the evening. $1 each for cups of warming canelazo (aguardiente with cinnamon, cane sugar and a little fruit juice), great music, and a welcoming atmosphere.
There are some good museums, showcasing fantastic ceramics from the Incas and also from quite a number of pre-Incan cultures, as well as an interesting collection of gold and other metal artefacts. The famous Ecuadorean artist Guayasamin left his amazing home as a museum, filled with both his own paintings and sculptures, and other art from around the world. If you like religious art there is plenty of that too. Restaurants serve everything from fondue to sushi, the local food is pretty much to my taste with plenty of potatoes, cheese and avocados, and there are a number of trendy 'superfoods' such as quinoa and chia seeds which are grown locally and therefore relatively cheap (yes, I did bring some home with me - made a delicious salad the other day of quinoa and sweet potates drizzled with avocado oil...).
What I really enjoyed though was the ease of escaping from the noise and traffic of a city up to a place full of fresh air where I hiked for a couple of hours. I use the word 'up' deliberately because the escape involved taking a cable car on an 18-minute journey from the 2,800m altitude of Quito through the clouds to Cruz Loma at 4,050m. Up there you are in the paramo, too high and exposed for trees but with miles of open land to walk on.
I went up towards the volcanic peak of Rucu Pichincha, not the whole way as you really have to be fitter than I am to ascend another 600m when starting at that altitude, but I think I probably got about halfway up, experiencing a thumping heart, brief patches of burning sun, sheet lightning flashing overhead and a pretty cold hailstorm - enough excitement for me in a couple of hours. The cloud lifted for a few moments on my walk down to show the city spread out way below but it was the wrong time of year for the best views. I just enjoyed being up there in the wilds though, feeling so very far from the city although in reality I was less than 2km above it.I think my ideal place to live would have to be a city, or at least a well-appointed town, because I do enjoy the occasional cultural outing. But I also love walking in the countryside so that needs to be nearby too - ideally near enough that I can get out there several times a week. Given that it also has to be safe, hot but not too humid, with reasonable access to the rest of the world (so not New Zealand), and affordable, I wonder sometimes whether this place actually exists!
