The Quito airport is about 20 miles outside of the city in a small town named Tababela. We spent two days there while in transit, so we had time to do a little exploring and eat at a local restaurant.
Walking down the road from our hotel, we were surprised and kind of creeped out by all the security walls around residential and commercial property. The majority of structures here have solid stone, concrete, or metal barriers with electronic security systems. The question I kept thinking was, “Is this for security or is it mostly just a cultural/traditional kind of design for property?” Whatever the reason, the walls and gates and security measures were kind of scary nonetheless.
There were people all over the place, but it wasn’t crowded as we walked through town to a lovely central park with lots of flowering trees and a huge sculpture of a hummingbird.
We lingered there a while and then continued on in search of a vegetarian meal.
We found “The Tree House” restaurant
and Rob ordered several items, including our first Batida (This one was a Guayabana fruit smoothie). We had rice and beans, small fresh salad, and a fried corn masa ball with melted cheese inside. It was yummy and the waiter could not have been more friendly.
We ate our meal on a covered porch across from a vegetable garden and watched people walk and drive past. It was a great way to spend our down time before traveling onward.
On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a roadside Panaderia and bought some fresh bread. The smell of the fresh bread was intoxicating and we were amazed that our bill was under $3.00 after we had selected what would have cost us at least $5.00 in the states.
Tababela is a way station to and from the Quito airport, but it was a pleasure to explore while we were there.
A small poster in our hotel lobby:
Ahh Tababela, you had me at zipline canopy paintball.
🙂