Our time in Quito has been over two weekends with our Galapagos trip inbetween. We have been fortunate both times to meet up with Michael Hassett, Rob Peterson and friends in this city.

Quito is at high altitide and consequently it takes longer for planes to take off due to the reduced oxygen. A jumbo jet could land here but the runway isn't long enough for fully loaded planes to take off, so just about all flights out of the city land in Guayaquil to be fully loaded with fuel before continuing their journey. Another airport is being built at present so a longer runway will soon be available.

The city is surrounded by several hills which the city now spreads up and there are several hilly streets. There seems to be a pattern with the weather here, sunny in the morning, cloudy by lunch time and sometimes a little rain too. The temperatures are not too hot due to the altitude despite being ony a few miles south of the equator.

Being so close to the equator, we took a bus there and there is a monument and a line marked on the ground so you can hop from one hemisphere to the other. Apparrently there is some dispute as to where the equator actually is and there are a couple of sites claiming to be the true equator, so who knows!

As with many cities there is the new town and the historic district. We caught the bus to the historic district yeaterday with three friends we met here, and we were crammed on tighter than you would ever believe, the doors would only just shut! There seems to be no such thing as standing in line for things here, everyone pushes and shoves to the front - we need to learn to forget our British manners and join in!! This is a great oppourtunity for pick pockets when you are being pushed and shoved about, and one of our friends had her phone stolen from her bag in the blink of an eye while on the bus! The historic area has recently undergone some restoration and there are are some impressive buildings dating to the 1800's.

We met up with our next tour group today and leave Quito tomorrow on our next adventure.