Quito, Ecuador

After a less than enjoyable overnight bus ride from Cuenca, Nicola and I arrived to Quito at 6am in the morning. Unbeknown to us, the hostel we had booked didn't quite work like all the other hostels we have stayed at. Most hostels have an afternoon check in time, however, if you arrive early, they have somewhere for you to wait until your room is ready. Upon arrival we discovered that our Quito hostel had no other guests, and subsequently, nobody was there to let us in off the street until 2pm! Not the best start. There we were standing on the streets, with all our worldly possessions, in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Survival instincts kicked in and we caught a taxi to the centre of Quito's 'New Town' (where most gringos hang out) and laid low all day in a cafe.

Feeling pretty grouchy after a night bus and a day in a cafe, we went back to our hostel in the afternoon to try again. This time we were greeted by a lovely old Ecuadorian lady who welcomed us in. After seeing inside the place, all bad blood was washed away. The place was amazing! We basically had our own house for four nights. Double room, private bathroom, private garden and our own kitchen all for $14 a night! It was the perfect end to a horrible day of travelling.

After a throughly deserved good nights sleep we set off into town to explore. The centre of Quito is split into two parts 'Old Town' and 'New Town'. We caught a 25 cents bus into the old town. It was really beautiful with a classic Andean city back drop of rolling mountains. The cobbled streets were lined with colourful buildings and old colonial churches and museums. There were some stunning squares and plenty of photo opportunities. It has to be said though that compared to Cuenca it was a bit edgy. It wasn't exactly a place where you feel 100% safe. When visiting the new town we were greeted with loads of bars and restaurants. It was nice enough but it felt pretty rough. We'd heard so many bad stories about it from other travellers and even our hostel lady that we decided to adhere to the 9pm curfew that most people recommend. We took a taxi after 9pm to meet Joe at the airport and realised it wasn't just gringos who avoided the streets at night. It was a complete ghost town with most cafes etc having already closed up for the night.

After a flight delay we welcomed Joe to the fray at 2am in the morning. It's fair to say he was impressed with the whole apartment he had to himself for $6.50 a night! We all shared a couple of bottles of Malbec to quickly get him back into the South American way of life. He repaid the favour by handing over the two bags of 'Maoam's', and a box of 'Twinning's English Tea' that we demanded he bring! The next morning we took him for a tour of the old town whilst doing our best to show off our Spanish speaking. With Joe in a cultural mood, we visited a local art gallery which had some pretty funny paintings of naked orgies (check out the photos).

That afternoon we paid for a tour of the oldest Catholic church in Quito 'Iglesia de la Compañía'. The interior was amazing, decorated in nearly as much detail as the cysteine chapel! Interestingly enough, the art on the ceilings showed a mixture of Catholic and Inca beliefs blended into one. The Spanish Roman Catholics surrounded images of Jesus with the outline of the sun which is what the Inca's once worshiped. They even painted one of the twelve disciples black in order to appeal more to the Afro-Caribbean communities. One painting in particular could only be described by all of us as the most disturbing painting we have ever seen. In order to scare the indigenous population into accepting their beliefs, a 10 metre square painting of hell hung from one of the walls. In the painting there are various different demons performing torturous punishments to people who had committed one of the seven deadly sins, each sin with its own medieval style punishment.

Feeling all cultured out, we headed for a few happy hour cocktails in the new town to mark our last night in mainland Ecuador. Overall, Quito itself was an interesting city with some really friendly people. Unfortunately, not quite as nice as Cuenca. We all left Quito extremely excited about the week ahead on the Galápagos Islands. Nicola will be posting a full blog about our cruise in the next couple of days. Definitely one for nature lovers not to miss!

Harry & Nicola

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 141 - 156 HF