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Tuesday 11 May 2010

Quito

Quito:

History:

It is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. Ecuador is located in the north-central Guayllabamba in the watersheds, in the eastern slopes of the Pichincha [1], an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With a population of 1,397,698 according to the latest census (2001), and, according to city estimates, about 1,504,991 in 2005, [2] Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador, after Guayaquil. It is also the capital of the Pichincha province and the headquarters of the Metropolitan District of Quito. The county recorded a population of 1,842,201 inhabitants in the 2001 national census. In 2008 the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations [3].

The elevation of the city's main square (Plaza de la Independencia and Plaza Grande [4]) is 2.800 m (about 9186 feet), so Quito the second highest administrative capital city of the world (after La Paz, Bolivia), and the highest legal capital (ahead of Sucre, also in Bolivia, and Bogota, Colombia).

The central plaza of Quito is 25 km (15 miles) south of Ecuador, the city lies within about 1 km (0.6 miles) of zero latitude. A monument and museum marking the general location of Ecuador is known locally as La Mitad del Mundo (Half of the world), to avoid confusion, as the word is Spanish for Ecuador Ecuador.

Quito, along with Krakow, was the first Cultural World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 1978 [5].
Quito origins date back to the first millennium, when the Quito tribe occupied the area and eventually formed a commercial center. According to Juan de Velasco's 1767 book History of the Kingdom of Quito, the Quito were conquered by the Caras tribe, who founded the Kingdom of Quito about 980 CE.


Places to visit:

Because Quito is about 40 kilometers (24.85 miles) long and 5 km (3.1 miles) at its widest, most major city roads run from north to south. The two major highways that go from the northern part of the city to the south are the Eastern Avenue (Eastern Peripheral Corridor) in the hills bordering the east of the city, Western Avenue on the west side of town in the volcano Pichincha. August 10th Street is also extended from north to south through most of the city, running through the middle of it. Due to the hills and the curved shape of the city, a grid pattern is very difficult to understand. The historic city center is based on a grid pattern, despite the hills, the streets Venezuela, Chile, García Moreno, and Guayaquil are the most important.

Some of the most important avenues in Quito are:

Avenida Rio Amazonas
Avenida de la Prensa
December 6th Avenue
Shyris Avenue
Avenida Nations, United
August 10th Ave
Avenida Diego Vazquez
Avenida Eloy Alfaro
Avenue of the Republic
Avenida República del Salvador
Avenida de América
Avenida Patria
Avenida Francisco de Orellana
General Av Rumiñahui
Interoceanic Avenue
Avenida Gonzalez Suarez
Avenida Real Audiencia
Galo Plaza Avenue
Avenida El Inca
Napo Avenue
Avenida Vicente Maldonado
and some parks such as:

Metropolitan
La Carolina
El Ejido
The Alameda

Things to do:

you can go to see professional soccer teams train the teams are:

Deportivo Quito
El Nacional
Espoli
Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito
Catholic University
Equator Technological University
or you can also go to museums such as:

Tulipe Museum
Interactive Science Museum, MIC
Ecological and archaeological park Rumipamba

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is in Spanish..

Anonymous said...

ja ja ja ja!

Anonymous said...
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