Arriving at the new airport means that you are an awfully long way from the centre of Quito. Finding the cheapest way to my hostel was the first challenge and it turned out to be the airport shuttle to the old airport (on the slowest bus in history but it did have wifi!) and then a taxi (mine turned out to be an unlicensed one).

Arriving at Secret Garden I was allowed to dump my bags in my room before trooping up 3 storeys to the reception on the roof terrace. The first thing that strikes you here is the incredible view over the historic downtown - well after you have got your breath back. The hostel was a good one - it did meals in the evening which a lot of the guests attended turning it into a communal meal - great for meeting people. You even got a dessert if you signed up before 11am - all for under $5.

The next day I had an explore around the historic UNESCO downtown, climbing most of the way up the Basillica de voto national church with more great views over the city and the sounds of mass drifting up to the heights. Heading along one of the main roads into town I crossed the Plaza de Independencia and visited the Compania de Jesus - an amazing church dripping in gold leaf - 52kg of it in fact. No photos were allowed so you will have to google it to understand the extent of the gold.

I also visited San Francisco church which also had gold leaf but not to the same scale. After exploring all these churches (appropriate for a Sunday) I returned to the hostel. That night was quiz night and I was invited to join a team of two travellers even older than me and along with two other proceeded to win the half way prize of shots and the whole quiz prize of a bottle of decent sparkeling wine (from Argentina). It turned out tht all those Christmases watching the Great Escape finally paid off as I was the only person to know that this was the film that had the character "The cooler king" and was worth triple points!

The next morning I went on a free walking tour organised by the travel agency in the hostel. Gabby, our guide, was amazing and amused us with funny tales about her city and her life. As we were doing the tour on a Monday we got to watch the changing of the guards - along with the president of Ecuador!

Quite a few of us had lunch with Gabby in a restaurant she recommended (2 courses with juice for $2.50) and then I went with 3 of the Dutch travellers up to see El Panecillo - the staute of the Virgin Mary which will apparently take flight when the Basillica is finished taking the good to heaven leaving the rest to die......

We then caught a bus that would take us to Mitad del Mundo to see the equator - if one can see an imaginery line around the world. The bus took over an hour and cost only 40c by which time we decided we only had the time and strength to see the monument and not the nearby museum where you can try to balance an egg on a nail and watch water change direction down a plug hole.

The monument site reminded me of the travesty that is Land's End - full of restaurants, tacky gift shops and weird supplementary attractions. However, as apparently you are 1kg lighter at the equator, I took advantage and had an ice cream before we headed for the taxis and home. The journey back only took 30 minutes but did cost $5 each.

On my final day in Quito I took it easy and after finding a cash machine that liked me and somewhere to change my Peruvian money I had a tour of the presidencial palace, lunch at KFC and then back to the hostel to chill on the roof terrace.

The next morning I was heading for the sister hostel in Cotopaxi so I packed in the morning after breakfast - where conversation was dominated by the second earthquake in a month - which most of us slept through. And then back off to the countryside!