The Nature Of Loja (Part 2)

On January 7th we grabbed some breakfast at a café across the street from our (dodgy) hotel. I decided to try an Ecuadorian specialty called empanadas de verde. These are empanadas filled with something nice (in my case, cheese) but made using a green plantain ‘shell’ instead of one made from maize or wheat. These were fantastic, and Colin said the taste reminded him of an Indian masala dosa. Both did have onions!   

After we were full from our snacks, Colin and I headed out to visit a botanic garden 5 kilometers outside of town called the Jardin Botanico Reynaldo. We paid our entrance fee and were then left to wander around the large garden at our own pace. There were loads of really cool flowers, different kinds of palm trees, medicinal plants, even mini bonsai trees! There was a place for orchids, but not many of them were in bloom. There was another place for crops and fruit trees – plus we got to walk through a little mini garden maze. And while we didn’t see any Podocarpus trees when we had visited the park, we did see some at the garden!   

After the garden we went to Loja’s Puerta de la Ciudad or Museum of the City Gate. This gate is located at the confluence of the Malacatos and Zamora Rivers, both which run across the city. The structure is built like a medieval castle with turrets and arched entryways, and loads of viewing towers. I read in some of the museum’s information that design is based on the City of Loja’s coat of arms, which was granted to the city in 1571 by King Phillip II of Spain. We climbed up to the top of one of the museum’s viewing towers and received a 360 degree view of Loja, along with a good vantage point for viewing the colorful mural of Simon Bolivar across the street.

Inside the museum were a few old artifacts such as arrowheads, but nothing of extreme historical interest. The best pieces were all the strange, seemingly random and bizarre art pieces – I think making various political statements.

After we finished up at the city gate museum we returned to the hotel for our bags, then headed out to the bus station. While at the bus station I managed to pick up some powdered sugar-covered fried dough balls which were really light and hollow inside. They actually didn’t taste like much – just the sugar in places – because of how dry the dessert was. Is it because of it being slightly stale, or is this how these things are? Anyone out there know the answer?

We grabbed the bus to Zamora – more bird viewing on the horizon!

Francesca