After a lovely, snuggly and very quiet sleep I woke to a soggy day in Quito with a promise of 9 degrees and 100% chance of rain. A bit of a shock after the Galapagos where it has been 26-27 every day with minimums of 23-24. But not as bad as having to do more than just throw on a pair shorts and a t-shirt to head off to breakfast like I have for the past 7 breakfasts.

So, as I was not on anyone else's schedule than my own and breakfast is till 10.30, I rolled over for another 30 minutes of dozing and then spent time answering personal emails - the business ones were done while I downloaded my camera photos yesterday.

Then it was up and ready to face the day and get sight seeing.

My hotel, Hotel Le Parc is named for a very large recreational park around the corner, which on the weekends is full of people relaxing and sporting matches. In the centre of this park are 3 places of interest that were my targets for this morning and which promised to prepare me for some of the plants and animals I will see on my next trip.

After a short walk I arrived at the first - the Museo Ecuatoriano De Ciencias Naturales. The Lonely Planet Guide indicated that it was shut over lunch so I thought it was best to go there first. Once I got there it was seemed that this was a small museum at the entry to what was a research facility. As there was no-one at the entry to relieve me of the $2 I was expecting to pay I headed in. What I found was a classification based display of the animals found in the different regions of Ecuador (and brought back memories of my struggle through a taxonomy unit during my undergraduate studies), and I was pretty familiar with most of them - with a highlight being the large skeleton in the centre, a hope that the spiders aren't near m in the Amazon and the wide range (size, colour and structure) of birds - see pics.

Next I headed next door to the Jardin Botanico Quito (I know you can work out what these places are) where there was someone to take my $3.50 this time and a guard to let me in. On arrival I noticed this beetle and the cute cat pic might replace my 'best dog of the day' one today.

The gardens here presented the plants of Ecuador with some reference to the region they are found in. After the dry land environment of the Galapagos there were some very lovely spots and the gardens are well done, with special areas for children and facilities for teaching, as well as a major orchid area - I did pass several school groups with a guide while there. What struck me was how familiar so many of the plants were - ones that we have in our gardens, which I am assuming either originated from South America, or are found in both tropical / warmer parts of Australia, as well as here. These included many palms, that pesty plant I call wandering dew, fuchsias, hydrangeas, bird of paradise plants, azaleas and many more whose names I don't know. See some in pics.

I took time here among the lovely plants for my first morning coffee. Sitting still I started to feel a bit cool so I donned my jacket as I headed out, which was of course a signal for the sun to come out. The weather was then ok for the rest of the day, but the rain set in when I was on my way back from my afternoon outing.

My third destination in the enormous Parque La Carolina was the Vivarium de Quito. This is a, I think a privately owned, herpetology research centre, home to 87 live reptiles and amphibians including poisonous snakes, heaps of turtles, frogs and tortoises. The exhibits were small and the whole thing was somewhat cramped. My shortish time in there for $3.25 made my lovely time in the botanic gardens a bargain at the same price.

On the walk back across the park I couldn't help noticing a group of men playing football (soccer) as some of them were playing in yellow gumboots. After watching for a bit I decided that the ones in the gumboots worked in the park and they were so skilled that the gumboots didn't seem to be a problem.

Next I took a short taxi ride to the area called 'new town' ( as opposed to the heritage area called the 'old town' where the major hotels are found (Hilton etc) and lots of shops. It looked quite busy compared to where my hotel is in a more commercial area with a school across the road, a medical centre and looking more like a daytime and lunch dining area than having significant restaurants. On return from my Amazon trip I have a night back in Quito and so half a day in this area when I will find out more.

My primary target was the National Cultural Museum which has an amazing collection and documents the development of Ecuador. No pics were allowed so to expand on my minimal comments, I have pirated a couple of comments from Trip Advisor which put what I was thinking quite well...

"The National Museum, located in the somewhat battered Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, is a must for any visitor who wants to understand more about Ecuadorian culture. The museum contains way more objects and information than one can take in on a single visit. Overall, the material is of very high quality and the accompanying explanations extremely helpful."

"It features a fantastic collection of (pre)historic artwork. Artwork is divided by time period and culture, with each time information on the geographical extend of the culture. Although guidebooks mention especially the room with golden pieces, also the other rooms are really nice, with an amazing collection of artwork. This museum gives a nice overview of the artwork history of the country".

I particularly loved seeing the artefacts from 6,000 BC and the models of the early cultures going back thousands of years. They did seem to have things going quite well following the Incas bringing in their culture and it seemed a shame to have the Spanish come in and stuff things up by overlaying all that stuffy European culture and Christianity!

Pics of the outside and the nearby (another) major park.

By then the rain was falling so I flagged a taxi and headed back to my hotel in time for a meeting with a tour rep re tomorrow's tour. All set for a 7.00 departure.

Then ceviche (not as good as on the boat) and beer for dinner, pack and ready for bed.

Tomorrow is another day and I will be please to upload only one entry per day from here on. Am pleased to report that Yancha Lodge in the jungle does have wi-fi and that the rocking has pretty much stopped.