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| Condor statue in Laguna Parque La Carolina |
I had a free morning in Quito. I had a trip to one of the world's great tourist traps on the schedule for the afternoon, so I had some time to spare. I decided to walk through the "Central Park" of Quito, Parque La Carolina.
And here I am. La Parque Carolina.
The first thing I find in the park is the dog park.
This is going to be a great park.
And it had a little lake.
With paddle boats.
It's not a big lake, but I would rent a paddle boat and toddle around on this lake before I would kayak on a lake at the bottom of steep mile-long trail into the caldera of an active volcano. I will tell you that.
And there were giant hummingbirds on the lake.
And girls in trees with guys taking pictures of them.
Let's look at those giant hummingbirds again because, well, who can get enough of giant hummingbirds.
And they had giant QUITO letters beside the little lake.
Every city needs giant letters spelling out its name somewhere.
I soon came upon the Bulevar de Las Flores, the Boulevard of Flowers.
I surmised that this would lead to the Botanical Garden, I was correct.
But how could I buy my ticket to get into the Jardín Botánico de Quito when the ticket agent was being so, well, catty:
The human attendant came back on shift and I was able to enter.
It was awesome.
All the different biodiversity zones within Ecuador were represented in Jardín Botánico de Quito.
Even the desert:
Ecuador does not have a true desert, but it has many dry areas where the succulents grow.
The place was amazing.
Nice, green, and secluded right in the middle of a major world capital city.
I soon realized that I had made a major mistake in coming here.
The mistake? I did not set aside enough time for this place. Seriously.
I then crossed the bridge over to the other section of the Jardín Botánico de Quito and what did I see?
A bunch of bonsai.
Yes, I was now in the Museo de Bonsai section of the Jardín Botánico de Quito.
A huge collection of bonsai all in one place.
Juniper trees were very well-represented.
In case you're wondering, that second tree from the right is not a bonsai. It's a full-sizer.
No full-sizers these.
This is a bonsai maple:
I've never seen a bonsai maple before. I wonder if this is from where we get those tiny bottles of maple syrup.
This is a Fresno:
I know "Fresno" is a city in the Central Valley of California. Apparently, and I just looked this up, "Fresno" is the Spanish word for "ash tree." Who knew? Now we know, that's who.
We'll end with the red one:
Like I said, I was mad at myself for not setting aside more time to explore Parque La Carolina and, in particular, the Jardín Botánico de Quito. The Jardín Botánico de Quito was absolutely awesome and I don't think I've read any mentions about it in any of the Quito or Ecuador guidebooks. I only went because it was not far from where I was going to meet my guide and driver to take me to one of the world's greatest tourist traps.
And that is coming up in the next installment of this travel blog.
And here I am. La Parque Carolina.
The first thing I find in the park is the dog park.
This is going to be a great park.
And it had a little lake.
With paddle boats.
It's not a big lake, but I would rent a paddle boat and toddle around on this lake before I would kayak on a lake at the bottom of steep mile-long trail into the caldera of an active volcano. I will tell you that.
And there were giant hummingbirds on the lake.
And girls in trees with guys taking pictures of them.
Let's look at those giant hummingbirds again because, well, who can get enough of giant hummingbirds.
And they had giant QUITO letters beside the little lake.
Every city needs giant letters spelling out its name somewhere.
I soon came upon the Bulevar de Las Flores, the Boulevard of Flowers.
I surmised that this would lead to the Botanical Garden, I was correct.
But how could I buy my ticket to get into the Jardín Botánico de Quito when the ticket agent was being so, well, catty:
 |
| Photo of actual cat manning actual ticket booth at actual Botanical Garden |
It was awesome.
All the different biodiversity zones within Ecuador were represented in Jardín Botánico de Quito.
Even the desert:
Ecuador does not have a true desert, but it has many dry areas where the succulents grow.
The place was amazing.
Nice, green, and secluded right in the middle of a major world capital city.
I soon realized that I had made a major mistake in coming here.
 |
| Looking down on the Bulevar De Las Flores connecting two areas within the Botanical Garden |
I then crossed the bridge over to the other section of the Jardín Botánico de Quito and what did I see?
A bunch of bonsai.
Yes, I was now in the Museo de Bonsai section of the Jardín Botánico de Quito.
A huge collection of bonsai all in one place.
Juniper trees were very well-represented.
In case you're wondering, that second tree from the right is not a bonsai. It's a full-sizer.
No full-sizers these.
This is a bonsai maple:
I've never seen a bonsai maple before. I wonder if this is from where we get those tiny bottles of maple syrup.
This is a Fresno:
I know "Fresno" is a city in the Central Valley of California. Apparently, and I just looked this up, "Fresno" is the Spanish word for "ash tree." Who knew? Now we know, that's who.
We'll end with the red one:
Like I said, I was mad at myself for not setting aside more time to explore Parque La Carolina and, in particular, the Jardín Botánico de Quito. The Jardín Botánico de Quito was absolutely awesome and I don't think I've read any mentions about it in any of the Quito or Ecuador guidebooks. I only went because it was not far from where I was going to meet my guide and driver to take me to one of the world's greatest tourist traps.
And that is coming up in the next installment of this travel blog.
The gardens are beautiful. A little cultural secret from outsiders? Fortunate, you are that you stumbled across the chatty cat manning the booth!
ReplyDeleteLoved the bonsai section! Beautiful trees! I have tried my hand with bonsai trees, but they always eventually die on me.
ReplyDelete