La Ronda

Near the Centro Historico in the south part of town, there is a street called La Ronda. The pedestrian-only street runs only a couple of blocks, lined with buildings from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. During the day, the road is mostly empty, with shop fronts closed.

On Friday and Saturday nights, however, the restaurants fill with people and live music, overflowing into the streets. Although recent legal restrictions have prevented restaurants from selling caneloza (a spiced cinnamon rum naranjilla drink) on the street and have limited the live music outside, there is still a family atmosphere.

La Ronda

I went with a variety of my host family members on Saturday night. After getting the 6 of us in a Fiat wagon, we made it the the district, passing a transvestite, a rough part of town, and hoards of cars taking up most of the parking. After half an hour of driving up and down the one way streets, we found a spot. We got a cup of canelazo (without the rum) and then an empanada of morocho to warm us up as we walked about. We listened to the music as it escaped from the restaurants' open doors, though we didn't go into any place to listen. At the end of the walk, we watched the street performers. One group of adolescent boys had developed a break dance routine, which they performed on a mat on the concrete, incredibly impressive. Then we watched a traditional dance, which was beautiful; the Spanish religious influence was evident in the choice of music, which was a Christian song.

Traditional Quiteña attire (my host mom
made me stop to take a photo)

Traditional Dance

Traditional Dance

Though we were only there for an hour and a half, we left after that, still taking in the sights and sounds of the Quito night.
 

La Ronda arch