Got to the capital of Ecuador, slightly nervous from all the warnings of muggings and skullduggery, but after the usual hastle of trying not to get mugged off by a taxi driver arrived swiftly at L'Auberge hostal. A nice place between the old town and Mariscal Sucre, otherwise known as "gringotown"!

It was getting a little late in the day, and apparently you can't walk around anywhere after dark, so we decided to head into Mariscal, and check into a bar or two for safety reasons, of course. The area of gringotown is only about three or four blocks but incredibly trendy. Bars and restaurants that could easily embarrass many of the "upmarket" places you'd find in London, and certainly the most modern we've seen anywhere else in Sud America.

And clearly the banana trade in Quito is going well, because there were way more locals than tourists spending it up on a Tuesday night! Anyway, completed some reseach of the area before hazily jumping a cab back to our room.

The next day we walked into the old town. Plenty of pretty churches and plazas on offer, and a good vibe. After lunch we went to the Santa Catalina convent, where we had a personal tour of all the gory catholic art in the convent in Span-glish (a combination of ours and the guides!), and got to climb the Bell tower for a great view of the city.

After that we purchased a few creams and oils from the nuns themselves, via a spinning wooden contraption to maintain their privacy, and ultimately their fast track into heaven I suppose. However, we're not sure if Jesus himself was consulted enough for the creams they offered claiming to heal such ailments as cancer and liver failure among others! All we know is that all the stuff we brought all smelt of rosehip and yer gran!

Woke up feeling ultra efficient and jumped into a taxi to the TelerifiQo, Quito's spanking new cable car. Walked up past the very empty amusement park and restaurants and hopped on one. Great views of the massively sprawling Quito, long and thin as far as the eye can see, and reached the top at well over 4000m altitude. Watched the last 10 minutes of trading places movie in spanish, so the guy could then serve us some coffees, then took a wheeze-inducing stroll along the top, before a well-deserved cheeky chair massage overlooking the city too!

Back in a cab and off to the Botanical Gardens, where we chilled in the sweaty Orchid green houses, and wandered around the cactus gardens. Eat your heart out Percy Thrower!

Then hopped on a local collective for a flying overnight visit to Otavalo Market....(See Otavalo!)

Back at L'Auberge and we went off to meet our old friends from Bolivia, Niall and Sarah. Hooked up in Finn McCools Irish Pub (and yes they are Irish!), where Team Ten-Footed Boobies - they have just been to admire these on the Galapagos Islands! - came in a satifactory 7th in the pub quiz....well do you know the second biggest river in South America??