After breakfast and packing, David managed to book a shuttle to the airport with help of note at reception. Very few Colombians speak a foreign language even in the hospitality industry because tourism is still quite new to the country. It's no bad thing for David, forcing him to communicate in Spanish, albeit pidgen.

The shuttle arrived at 10am and the friendly driver whisked us through the city to the airport in 30 minutes for only 25,000 COP - a bargain as far as we were concerned given how busy the buses are.

Check in went nice and smoothly and the bags were off down the conveyor belt when all of a sudden she remembered to ask about onward travel. We explained we were traveling overland, flying in and out of Galapagos with them and then back to Europe later from Argentina. This wasn't cutting it with her and she went to check if that was ok. She came back with concerned look on her face but hesitantly decided to let us fly and gave us our boarding passes. Perhaps it would have been too much hassle to get the bags back.

The airport had a Juan Valdez Cafe so we had a final affogatto before changing the last of our Colombian Pesos for Dollars.

Even though it was a really short flight, just a bit over an hour, from Bogota to Quito, they served a hot meal and glass of wine.

We were lucky to have good views on the flight, both of Bogota on departure and of Ecuador on arrival. Being up in the high Andes, Quito is surrounded by snowcapped volcanoes and steep, sharp mountains that look like they have been carved by a huge axe.

Quito's new airport is 35km away from the city centre and it took us about 90 minutes due to heavy traffic, normally it would take about one hour. There were some nice views of volcanoes and the city en-route though and the owners of the hotel who picked us up kept us entertained. When we neared the old town, where our hotel was, the streets were blocked by police because of a demonstration. We ended up parking further away and had to walk a few blocks and past Plaza Santo Domingo.

We quickly checked in and checked out the room before dinner. The room was ok considering how cheap it was and its central location in the old town - it has two twin beds with small bathroom and television with cable which is all we need really.

We headed back the way we walked earlier to Calle Ronda. It is a narrow pedestrian street lined with bars, cafes, restaurants and little shops that are popular with both locals and tourists. We walked from one end to the other and back again trying to decide where to eat. In the end we opted for Casa del Pozo which was more like a cafe/bar with a very good live guitarist. The menu was very simple and we decided on the mixed plate of local specialities; cheese and meat empanadas, a kind of tamales and some kind of sweet cake steamed in a leaf. Maria decided to try the Canelazo drink, which is naranjada, sugar, cinnamon and some other ingredient that may or may not have been alcoholic. David's tastes were much simpler, Pilsner Grande; an extra large bottle of beer.