| By
Gary Scott
Ecuador Real Estate Facts
Quito is a fascinating and beautiful
city that lays in a narrow valley jusat a few miles south south of the equator.
At 9,300 feet Quito is one of the highest capital cities in the world. Weather
is magnificant with means daily high temperatures average in the high 60s and
low 70s year-round. The city can still get chilly at night but the weather is
usually so perfect that most homes do not have air-conditioning or heating.
The city is vulnerable to earthquakes,
and it sits at the base of the Guagua Pichincha volcano, but there has ben no
activity since 1999. Luckily, the crater angles away from Quito, offering protection
from anything more than ash and mudslides.
Ecuador Real Estate History
Quito used to be called the Paris
of South America and it's most recent history began in 1534, when the Spanish
conquistadors marched into what had been an Incan stronghold. The Spaniards began
work on the San Francisco church and monastery almost immediately and since Quito
has been a city dominated by the Catholic religion and its architecture features
a series of gold-gilded churches decorated by the artists of the Quito School,
a distinguished tradition that incorporated indigenous elements into European
styles.
In 1978, the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization named the city's colonial sector a world
cultural heritage site, and its many churches and colonial buildings are remarkably
well maintained to this day.
Modern Quito is a glass-and-concrete
city in the north of the city.
Ecuador Real Estate Colonial
Quito
Colonial Quito is a very differnt
area in the south of the city with many of its streets still doubling as crowded,
open-air markets.
An ongoing urban renewal project
has moved most street vendors to centralized markets, attracted new restaurants
and imposed order, but old Quito retains its colonial flavor. The area's
working-class atmosphere can add a dimension to its appeal: Unlike cathedrals
in Europe, Quito's churches are used as much for worship as for tourism.
This area was declared a world heritage
site by UNESCO in 1978. From this date on, the old colonial buildings, the churches,
the squares have all been protected against destruction and degradation. In the
afternoon we move to the modern part of Quito and visit the museums at the Casa
de Cultura and El Ejido Park, famous for its outside artisan market.
Picture provided by Dr. Andres Cordova
Ecuadorian attorney and developer of Ecuador Real Estate in Galapagos.
The government and community are
bringing back the residential qualities of colonial Quito which had been considerably
lost, by generating an organized and well structured architectonic recuperation
plan, providing office space, residential apartments, parking spaces and additional
luxury hotel accommodations.
Ecuador Real Estate Beauty
Colonial Quito is a spectacular maze
of narrow streets, centennial churches, cobblestone plazas and spectacular views.
The trend is setting in and if you are interested this is definitely the time.
Ecuador Real Estate Opportunity
These would be investments are part
romantic part arbitrage, but there's certainly great potential for those who do
their homework. There is potential for profit now because real estate development
in this classical city is in its early stages.
Quito's Mayor is the President of
the Mayors of the World Association. Working with multilateral credit agencies,
he established a private company with city backing to restorate Colonial Quito.
This company is a strong ally for those willing to invest, and receives the assistance
of the likes of GTZ from Germany and other institutions.
As tourism to Quito and the rest
of Ecuador grows, this will bring more dollars to the Ecuadorian economy and help
this nation grow in many ways.
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