Quito's New Airport Needs a Name
The mildly odd part about all this is that the airport is still not named, although at this point, only four options are short-listed (“Mitad del Mundo,” “Manuela Sáenz,” “Eugenio Espejo,” and “Carlos Montúfar”). I kind of liked the first one (which means the “Middle of the World”; it's also the name of a town north of Quito), although I admit that this slight preference may be explained by the fact that the other three names simply didn't ring a bell (I am never too ashamed of owning up to my ignorance). Wikipedia is my friend, though, so to save you the trouble, here's the lowdown:
- Manuela Séaenz (1797-1856) was a “sentimental friend” to Simón Bolivar.
- Eugenio Espejo (1747-1795) was Quito's first journalist (and hygienist).
- Carlos de Montúfar (1780-1816) was an Ecuadorean military hero.
P.S. All interested parties are invited to vote before April 30th at nombrenuevoaeropuerto.com.