I had a couple of days in Quito before heading out to the Galápagos Islands. I arrived in the middle of the night on a flight from Lima and, despite my insistence on getting a taxi driver that used a meter to take me from the airport to my hotel, I was still ripped off ($15 instead so $3 so not the end of the world but still very annoying!). Then, as I stood outside the hotel ringing the doorbell (now about 4am), a weird guy approached me - I was so glad to finally get inside and relax in my room! I managed to get a very cheap, nice room in a convenient location so I arranged to go back there again after my week in the Galápagos.

I spent a bit of my time in Quito finalising the Galápagos arrangements and picking up the final bits and pieces that I would need out there but I also managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing. I did a tour of the historic centre of Quito - I revisited many of the places that I had seen on my previous visit to the city in January but I covered a few new sights as well. I liked the Basílica del Voto Nacional church which had gargoyles of Ecuador's native animals including sharks and turtles - quite unique!

I went to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) - the official Equator line near Quito. I saw various scientific demonstrations including the classic water-going-down-the-plughole-in-different-directions a metre either side of the Equator line. I succeeded in balancing an egg on the head of a nail (apparently it is easier than usual on the Equator line but nobody else achieved it while I was there) and I received a certificate for doing so! Hahaha

Among the exhibits at Mitad del Mundo was one about the bizarre ritual of shrinking heads as trophies of war - in the past, a particular Ecuadorian tribe would decapitate their victims and then boil their head and treat them in such a way as to shrink it down to a miniature with the eyes and mouth sewn shut but the hair still attached - creepy!