Today has been a long day of travel and a mix of new and old. It started with a 3 am pickup to get to the airport in Montevideo. Now, I am trying to stay awake in a hostal in the tiny town of Tababela, Ecuador. It is not far from the airport, but definitely outside of Quito. It can take about an hour and a half to get from Quito to the airport so I thought would be smart and stay closer to the airport. Interesting choice!

The next store neighbours are cows and roosters, and everywhere you look there are spectacular moutains. It was so peaceful here earlier, only birds chirping and the odd dog or rooster making noise, interspered with a loud airplane overhead now and then. Now there are other guests in the room next store, which has about the same amount of sound proofing as a curtain! At least they are not yet having a dramatic lover's spat like my neighbours did this morning at 2 am! Sound proofing isn't really a thing down here.

Who needs sound proofing when the eyes can feast on the Andes. The part that I had forgotten was just how much the view can change within a few minutes. I think the sun and clouds were playing tag this afternoon, turning the mountains from dramatic to ecstatic in moments. Whatever direction you look in, there is a different mountain to gaze at. Pretty sure that my photos won't do it justice but I will keep snapping until I can get one worthy of posting.

The Spanish is much easier for me to understand in Ecuador compared to Uruguay, so it has been fun talking to locals and actually understanding some of what they say. I also had the first real english conversations today since I left home. Met some interesting people on the plane, even sat beside a British masters swimmer whose friend is in my age group and likely beat me at Worlds in Montreal! Well, in fairness there were a lot of people who beat me but I still had fun and didn't come last, but I digress! I even got to test out the temporary cell and, spoke to my Dad which was awesome!

Looking forward to hopping a bus into Quito tomorrow to take a sneak peek. I will save all of the good stuff for my return to Quito in a week or so when my neice arrives. Can't wait to explore the area with her. In the meantime, I just want to stretch my legs and make sure I am ready for the Galapagos trip, which starts in 2 days.