Quito

Ecuador is not the only country named after a latitude.  The other one is in Africa.

Quito

The heaviest weight I was carrying was the water bottle.  That moment I came up with a new definition of civilization: In my book a city is civilized if it can provide potable water through pipes to its denizens.

Walking back to the hotel

As the sun started going down it started to get cold.  We headed back to our hotel which was a bit away from the historical center.

Quito

Quito is just seconds of degrees south of the equator, but its weather is quite pleasant--in fact a bit towards the chilly side--owing to its altitude.

Quito old town

Quito's historical center is a treasure trove of baroque architecture.

Long walks in Quito

It is always advisable to walk in a new city to get your bearings.

Spiral Columns

Later in the afternoon we sat down to have a coffee in a bakery.  Ecuador was playing (against Honduras?) and there was great excitement.  Antonio Valencia was the pride of the nation.  Ecuador won that match--people were ecstatic, and we considered ourselves a blessing for the country we visited.  When we were in Colombia, Colombia was winning games; now that we were in Ecuador, Ecuador was doing well!

Quito

Many businesses in Quito accept credit cards.  I did not use an ATM in Ecuador, but in hindsight think I should have drawn out money in dollars in Quito to be better prepared for Argentina--more on this later.

Quito

We did our grocery shopping at Tia; bought fruits, a large water bottle, yogurt, milk, and cereal.

Quito

The historic center was quite safe during the day, but it quickly got deserted once the sun went down.

Quito

Quito is surrounded by mountains and there quite a few steep roads to manage.

Quito historic center

Walked to the historic center of Quito and took many photos.

First day in Quito

By the time we got ready it was 12 Noon.  A young woman at the reception told us a family room was going to be available for us; it was being cleaned.  We waited in our rooms till the other room got ready.

Morning in Quito

In the morning left bed after 9; pants washed last night were almost dry.  Our hotel deal did not include breakfast, but we had fruits that we were carrying from Colombia. Had naranja, granadilla, and mangoes--mangoes were ripe and sweet.

Eating late at night in Quito

On our way to the hotel we saw Mc Donalds and other US chains.  At the hotel a young man looked at our reservation and uttered expletives in English; he said the family room was taken.  He could put us in three rooms, but looking at the children decided we would fit in two. Quickly settled in the rooms and tried to order pizza online from Pizza Hut, but the Ecuadorian web site did not have such an option. Went down and asked the young man for help; he called the restaurant, only to find out they did not deliver.  Asked him to get us a taxi.  The taxi took us to the busy part of town, there were many restaurants that were open, and hookers were busy too; finally found the Pizza Hut we were looking for. Sat upstairs and ate. There were only three other tables that were occupied, two with couples, one large one with people who looked like they were university professors or journalists;.  Two large pizzas for $21.40 was a good deal.  Came out to find our aged taxi driver driver dozing off.

This photo was taken the next day, in Quito.

Quito, finally

We reached Quito around 9:15 pm.  It was a huge, modern bus terminal, but we did not find a good place to eat at.  Asked for the Cuenca bus; liked the service that leaves 10:45 in the morning for $10; it was an 8 hour journey.  Went down to find most of the people taking the metro bus.  For us that was not a feasible option: new city, minimum knowledge of City's geography, dark outside, accompanied by children.  We took a taxi.  The obese driver looked at the address and said it would be $10, told him we could pay $7; he lowered the price to $9.  How far was it? He said it was 15 km.  Ten dollars for 15 km was high for Ecuador; he finally agreed on $8.

This photo was taken the next day, in Quito.