All in all, it took almost exactly 24 hours to get from my room at home to the hotel room in Quito. When that happens, there is nothing quite like being told the hotel has overbooked, so they're having to give you an upgrade to a suite for the night. Spent a lot of time strolling around the Old Town, taking in churches, crowded squares, galleries, museums and parks. Quito has some very impressive buildings (the churches especially follow the "if in doubt cover it with gold" approach) and if you get bored of that you only need to look up at the scenery in the distance and remember that all of this is two and a half thousand metres up in the middle of a mountain range.

Met up with the tour group on Saturday evening. After going through the usual practical stuff ahead of going to the Galapagos Islands (including, for the avoidance of doubt, the fact that the turtles don't notify the tour groups in advance of their schedules) we asked our guide, Jorge, for a recommendation of somewheere to go for dinner. He suggested Mama Clorinda, a cosy little restaurant a couple of blocks away. Alas, I recommend to anyone else that they do not go there - staff generally unfriendly, food not particularly good (despite the novelty of having half a baked guinea pig splayed across the plate), the clue should have been in the fact that there were no locals there. The ridiculous bit was in discovering that just a few yards down the road was a square jam-packed with well-frequented restaurants and the like. Made a note to come back there when we're next in town.