OK, well this doesn’t make any sense at all, but, our last day in Ecuador was a 3 mile hike to Ecuador’s one and only Harley shop which just happens to be located in Quito. We were not looking for a Harley shop in Ecuador (we do not own a Harley or any motorcycle for that matter), but, we drove past it a few times during our travels around Quito, so we decided we really needed to go there. If you had asked me, even 2 months ago, I can assure you that a Harley shopping trip was by no means what I had planned for my birthday or for our last day in Ecuador. It just turns out that it was our only free day and we were out of time, it was either go on the 27^th or miss the opportunity.

We wanted to visit this shop simply to purchase a shot glass for Keith and a T-shirt for Tod’s friend Leo who happens to be a die-hard Harley guy. Well, as has been the case for all of our travels in Ecuador, this was truly an experience. It was by far the most extravagant and secured Harley shop I have ever visited and remember I lived and grew up in Wisconsin and have been to several Harley shops all over the U.S. including the Harley Museum in Milwaukee. The entrance was protected by a security guard that signaled someone on the inside to unlock the entry door. The entrance had beautiful wood floors that continued up the steps into the main showroom and store. It was small, but, immaculately clean and extremely tasteful in the décor, including the customer lounge / bar area.

The staff immediately summoned an English speaking person to assist us and answer all our questions. The import tax seems more like a “sin tax” on Harleys and Harley paraphernalia. I am not sure how anyone there could ever hope to afford one. Even the merchandise has a horrible tax imposed. It was all very interesting and I am really glad we made the effort to go there. (We could not even got out of the locked doors without the security guards assistance.) I have never been able to figure out if the crime was so high in Ecuador that they needed such a high level of security enforcement or if the crime was never high because they enforce such high security regulations. Whatever the case, Ecuador always felt safe to me and I never really felt in danger. It was always easy to find a Police Officer to ask for directions. (Isn’t it funny that they have such high security even in grocery stores but for hotel keys they put the room number on one side and the hotel name on the other?)

Photography was not allowed inside the Harley showroom so the photo is from their website.

Not too much exciting the rest of the day except packing up for the trip home – it was a little bit of a challenge because obviously we had more to take home than we had on the way there! We only made it because Tod is an extremely efficient packer and could fit more in an already filled space than I could fit in the same size empty space. (I think it’s a guy thing.)

I have been meaning to ask you, did you ever wonder what happened to all those $1.00 coins they made a few years back? They never were well received in the U.S. and seemed to just disappear after a few years. I found out where they all went. It appears they shipped them all over to Ecuador! They love and use them ALL the time. We got them for change and then keeping with our American instincts, we would try to get rid of them just as quickly as we could at the fruit stands or to pay a taxi driver.

It is nice that Ecuador uses U.S. currency so you do not have to do the “exchange rate” math every time you make a purchase.  They did intermix the Ecuadorian coins with the U.S. coins – mostly fifty cent pieces, quarters and dimes but the bills were all U.S. currency.