So long Ecuador.
Our stay here has been eventful to say the least.
This has been our longest time spent in one country so far, spending one week in Quito and then another on the Galápagos Islands.
Whilst in Quito, we were a lot more active than we had been up until this point. Long gone were the days of being surrounded by Costa Rican beaches and English speakers. Instead we found ourselves trying to navigate a busy city with our very broken Spanish.
For the first time since being away, I felt very obviously a tourist. Although this was lots of fun as we took geeky photos at the equator line, did a walking tour of the old town and visited the presidential palace, on the other hand it was the first time I felt genuinely unsafe.
Katie and I spent the majority of our time in the Old Town of Quito. I was blown away but the sheer amount of policemen and security guards that surrounded the city. The whole place felt very well patrolled, however, we kept our guard up and travelled as safely as possible.
It was not until moving from the Old Town to the New Town that we encountered problems.
Firstly, having my camera stolen from a bag that I still to this day don't know it happened. To then being ambushed in park and having my small backpack stolen.
We had been warned about the New Town at night and had always opted to get a taxi whenever we visited the area after about 5pm. However both these occurrences happened in the middle of the day and left us feeling rather vulnerable.
These two experiences were pretty horrific and left Katie and I feeling very disenchanted about Quito. I wouldn't want to put anyone off visiting Quito as in hindsight, we had loved the Old Town and it had a lot to offer us. I would definitely recommend visiting the Presidential Palace, the basilica and many churches of the city.
We also spent lots of time in Plaza Foch in the New Town, a busy square that is full of bars and restaurants. We watched a few of the World Cup matches here as it had a good environment and of course lots of cocktails. This is a very touristy area that felt busy and patrolled enough that we never felt unsafe whilst in this there.
I would just raise caution on anyone moving between the two areas. Always get in a cab. However short the journey. By the end of our time there we were literally getting taxis down the road as it's always better to be safe then sorry.