I arrived in Quito, Ecuador on October 9, 2017 at 10:30 PM, but it took a while to get the coach van to take me and three other peers to the hotel. It took the driver 45 minutes on the highway to get to the hotel. Along with the white coach van, I could see many taxis. The next morning, some peers and I had to call two taxis to get to the U.S. Embassy. It was really hard because we didn't know where to go. But we got around just fine and rode in taxis all day to get to every location! Do you have yellow taxis in Calgary? Or do you use Uber/Lyft?
From what I observed, people call taxis to get from one place to another. The people here also walk around to get to their destination. In La Maná there are many "ecologicos" which are tricycle taxis with a motor. Sometimes there are even trucks that people sit in the back and ride!
I have driven in public taxis before. But according to the U.S. Embassy, people in Ecuador, especially non-natives, should really watch out which taxi you get in because it can be very dangerous at times. I was a bit nervous because the Ecuadorian taxi drivers knew that we were not from here, but as soon as I started to speak Spanish, the taxi drivers knew that I could understand them. I felt safer after that.
