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Day 59 - 61 Quito
After an easy afternoon flight from the Galapagos via Guayaquil to Quito we arrived at our hostel which ended up being a great little find. It was called Jumbo Lodging and was owned and run by a lovely family in a nice little place within the old town. After meeting the father who showed us to our enormous room and then gave us a run down of a few places to go, we jumped outside to make the most of the last few hours of light.
We checked out some of the amazing old churches and colonial buildings before stopping in at a little cafe that was recommended for good local cuisine, Cafe Modelo. We tried our luck at a range of little things to share. We ate empanadas, tamales, humitas and then a Quimbolita. All great South American snacks.We finished then off with a winner $1.50 chicken sandwich and that was dinner.
The next day we were up early to start a full day of touring around Quito's old town. After an AMAZING Jumbo breakfast that was the best any hostel has offered so far, we walked to the gothic Basílica del Voto Nacional, where we climbed through the roof and up to the top of one of the stone towers. We had a great view over Quito from up there but then we found out we could go even higher. We went over to the other side of the church and then climbed up these super steep ladders to the top of one of the clock towers where we attempted to see Cotopaxi Volcano amongst the clouds in the distance.
We continued to wander the streets and pop our heads into any of the buildings, churches, museums, monastery's or courtyards we could. We went into the Monastery of San Francisco as well as the Monastery of Santa Catalina where we got a very silent tour of the museum by a young man in a black suit sporting a long and low black pony tail. At the end he gave us a small shot of some very nice natural vino. He told us that we could purchase the drink down stairs along with many other natural medicinal products and a few small sweets that the nuns made. There was a wooden revolving door through a window where you placed your order and with one silent turn, the nuns on the other side placed your sweet biscuit and rose oil (or whatever combo you would like) on the lazy Suzanne and turned it back around for you to collect.
We headed down into the new town where more tourists, markets and bars were, watched some soccer from the side walk and then headed back to the old town which we preferred.
Our last day in Quito we again got up early, ate the amazing Jumbo breakfast and took a local bus up to the Equator. After an interesting hour and a half of being squeezed between locals on the bus we got to the main site of the Equator.This area was established and located some time around the 17-18th century by the French using the old school instruments and methods. This area sported a nice yellow line with a big equator sign, a few small museums and alot of tourist stores. We wandered round for alittle bit and then headed 200m down the road to the small scientific and cultural museum call Inti-Nan. After GPS came into action it was actually found that the true equator ran through this museum not the original one. We jumped onto a guided tour which was GREAT! Our guide went through the history, culture, flora and fauna of Equador, shrunken heads and then all the cool equator stuff like balancing an egg on a pin ( which I succeeded in doing), watching the water whirl down a drain in different directions on either side of the equator, and the funniest part was trying out our lack of balance and strength while standing on the equator. Brendan was marvelled at how his guns losts all strength against this female guide while standing on the Equator. We had a great time but then the rain stated to come down so we hopped on the bus back to Quito. The bus rides are an event in themselves. If only buses back home were this interesting, with people jumping on and off throughout the journey selling anything from music CD's which they play for you all to hear, ice-cream in a cone, nuts and more.
Once back into Quito we checked out the last few things around the Grande Plaza, ate some ice-cream at the oldest heladoria in Quito (HeladeríaSan Agustín), wandered round some more, took more photos and then headed out to dinner for our last night in South America.
It has been the most amazing 8 weeks so far, we have been to so many places, seen so many things, had so many great adventures and just experienced so much AND we are not even half way through our trip!
We are off to Miami tomorrow for a few days of fun in the sun with Kia and Carly. We can't wait!
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