Well, as I had hoped, today brought forth all sorts of adventures so no need for me to charm you with 'rabbit out of a hat' tales, there is plenty to tell.

My hotel 'Hotel Le Parc' is rumoured to be one of the best regarded hotels in Quito. It has a wall full of plaques and the staff were very impressive right from the start (see room pic here and lobby below). However, let me say that for all the contemporary decoration, and the space (and with the lounge on the elevated platform in front of the window my imagination went wild ... but I was sadly forced to tuck those thoughts away pretty quickly) and majestic view, the bathroom had no towel rails other than a ladder and no convenient place to hook things. The wardrobe is minimalist (though with an iron!!!) and hanging space for about 1/2 doz short shirts.

I have 2 nights here before entering into my first ever twin share tour (some poor woman has no idea what she is in for - you should send her sympathy cards upfront and check that her tolerance dust is in full production and that she has brought her ear plugs for our 10 nights together). However the hotel has arranged for us to share my current room tomorrow night so thankfully I don't have to move tomorrow. You will hear about the 'unlucky one' in due course.

Last night I didn't get to bed till late (2am Santiago time) as my suitcase imploded on arrival and I couldn't work out what to do with my stuff - not sure why, I am usually a well organised traveler, but I had a terrible sleep due to the lower back / right hip pain I sometimes get when sitting on planes too long and being too energetic with my carry-on lifting up and down out of the overhead locker. And soft beds. Anyway, today i am filled up with nurofen and found some caffeine charged pain killers for tomorrow!

The girl who met me at the airport gave me the name of a local tour organiser, Eduardo (he coordinates all the intrepid stuff from this end I gather) and I contacted him first thing to get organised. He offered me a tour today with 3 travellers fresh from Galapagos but as I had just turned the shower on I declined and booked in for a city + go to the equator tour tomorrow.

But at breakfast I spotted 3 travellers and when I heard them speaking Australian I assumed they were the aforementioned group (a woman and her 74 year old parents) and introduced myself as Eduardo had mentioned the woman's name.They told me that they were not doing a tour as such but that they had a driver and would not be moving at breakneck speed - and invited me to join them.

I thought that this would be a good chance to find out more about the Galapagos trip and get the lay of the land, so agreed. A quick dash to a nearby shop for drugs and water (both essential commodities - and by drugs I mean pain killers to top up my meagre supplies, nothing else) I was ready to see Quito.

After some discussions with my companions (Katherine and her parents Don and Pat, from a farming community near Launceston) about altitude sickness and their preparedness by taking the available medication (which I had not, even though my Travel Doctor had given me a supply of pills but I was waiting to see how I was and sort of saving them for when I come back and go to the Amazon, which is higher), I was a little nervous about our first stop to take the teleferiQo. This is a 'multimillion dollar sky train' that goes 2.5 km up the flanks of Volcan Pichincha to the top of Cruz Loma. A mere 4100m. I thought this will be a good test of how good I am with altitude.

I am pleased that apart from feeling slight lightheaded I was fine. The windswept pic of me was at the top after 2nd cafe con leche for the day (the first with breakfast, which does not count). However the ride up was in places a bit tricky - though I had positioned myself to face the mountain and watch as we skimmed over the gum trees (yes, plenty of them). Neil if you are still reading I was reminded of our hairy adventure up the mountain in France so that we could gaze across at Mt Blanc. How we ever got down I don't know!

Anyway, the view from the top was fabulous. See pics below. I have heaps more and other than knowing that it it is Quito in the valley, I can't say much more. We were way above the tree line and really not as well prepared for the cool wind as we could be so it was good to head down.

We then went to the old town. Our driver was not a guide and tomorrow I have organised to have one Diago, who can tell me more about the history that has earned this place its heritage listing. The main square was teaming with all sorts of people (pic below) and lots of police and officials (I have many, many questions for my poor guide tomorrow) but partly because the president's palace (pic, big flag on top) is one side and he works in the palace and usually makes speeches on a Monday and there were what appeared to be protesters with banners ready for action. However the president is in China, so no speeches today.

What did catch my eye was one of the day's doggy highlights (pic). Many more not published here. These 2 handlers + dogs. I was a bit slow with my camera when I saw them coming towards me so dashed around the garden hoping to catch them, when a couple stopped them and asked to take a photo with their boy - see pic. The dogs were quite young and lovely.

Then on to a few churches - Quito has 70+ churches so bound to see a few. The one with the gold inside (no pics inside and an unimpressive outside - see pic), the church of the Society of Jesus of Quito (built 1605 - 1765) did not impress me as much as the gothic Bascilica del Voto Nacional (1926) because instead of gargoyles, it it has turtles (no Sally, not ninjas which I know you love ..he he) and all sorts of iguanas protruding from its sides.

The other highlight, literally, was heading up a hill called El Panecille (the little bread loaf) to see a huge statue of La Virgen de Quito (you can guess that one), more for the view than anything. Notable is that apparently she is the only Madonna in the world depicted with wings.

It was about 4pm by then and we headed back to the hotel and l left my companions, freshened up and walked about a kilometre to a mall that last night's airport greeter girl had told me about. Well in the fruitless attempt to find postage stamps for a couple of 'maybe they will be one day lucky' acquaintances (and no, if you are reading this I am not referring to you) and perhaps to snaffle a couple more t-shirts after Katherine warning me about being constantly sweaty at the Galapagos I had a lucky escape.

I have added a pic of the mall which does not do it justice as it nearly swallowed me whole and I was perhaps never to be seen again. It went on and on, with no logic re escalator placement, lots of lovely shops and oh so busy with well done out Ecuadorians. Made the Canberra Centre look like a corner store full of hicks. I seriously thought I was lost at one point and with very few English speakers it was going to be touch and go. Also, as the only blue eyed, thong wearing (my best black things with a diamantés though), I was not looking forward to having to ask for directions.

Then came my two lucky breaks - firstly the shop assistants in the shop with the expensive t-shirts I found were too busy partying (all 8 of them) so I left and found better quality options and bought 3 for the price of one in the other shop (I remember being told - "buy the best thing for the job at the cheapest price" - and this time I was guided by an unseen hand to achieve this), and secondly I found the door.

Though before I finish I must tell you that buying the t-shirts wasn't that easy. When I confessed to having no Spanish when the girl asked me a question instead of just taking my money, she found an English speaker, asked for my passport (no, it's in the hotel, will a drivers licence with ID do?), contact number and asked me to sign that the numbers on the receipt matched this on the note I gave her!!!

For your 'shop of the day' delight, on the way back I noticed the Okey Dokey convenience store (pic). 'Best looker of the day' award (no pic, the shop assistants were eyeing me off and a camera would have been definitely suspicious) was a georgeous one in the line while I was waiting to pay - though I must say that Ecuadorian men seem to use a LOT of hair product. At least those under 40!

Yummy room service - too exhausted for dinner out and have weeks of that ahead.

Tour booked tomorrow proper tour of the Old Town, Equator and a volcano.

Oh and BTW Katherine confirmed no internet on / at Galapagos. So if you are still following me there will be a void from 14th, back on 22nd (but I am a day behind), but I will be writing, don't worry, and will have plenty when I am back on air.

Go well. xx