Fortunately the hotel early riser call system worked very well and Diane and I were well and truly washed, packed, checked out and a coffee down the hatch by the time our lift arrived at the hotel for the 45 min to the airport.Interestingly until about 2+ years ago, Quito's airport was in the centre of the city. As the city is in a large valley, Quito is only a few kms wide and 14+kms long. It doesn't take much imagination to work out that with more and m...

After a longer and more refreshing nights sleep than the previous night I woke to more sunshine and a more comfortable feeling in my bones. A quick breakfast and Diego was here to collect me for a day's touring.At 9am the traffic was terrible so while we drove to our starting point at the edge of the Old Town, Diego filled me in on some of the history of the Ecuadorian people. I won't go into the details but it is accepted that the Valdiva people who came...

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 th...

I awoke to the challenge of how to turn today's relatively plain day of a sleep-in, a wander, the car to the airport and flight to Quito, into an interesting travellers tale for the next blog entry, so here goes.I had a most delightful sleep-in, having stirred several times early on (one to shut the curtains and tell the sunshine to go and play - it is Sunday after all), I happily just re-cuddled my pillow and went back to the land of nod. As someone whose id...

Thankfully I set the alarm to allow me a quick breakfast before heading off on my tour today because I was out like a light when the ringing started at 7am. The dining room was full when I arrived but luckily a group left so I could bolt down breakfast and be ready for my 8am pickup.I won't bore you with the cumbersome arrangements to get our large bus full ready but will skip to when the guide, Christian (but pronounced in Spanish is much more interesting) a...