Breathtaking Quito
Quite literally, Quito sits at 2850m above sea level and the air is thin, we didn't really notice it on our 8 hour stop on the way to the Galapagos but once you start walking up and down the mountains of the old town then it really becomes apparent. But saying that, the beauty of the old town is pretty breathtaking as well. Quito is basically one long valley with sprawling apartment blocks climbing the sides of the mountains. The multicolour painting of the buildings make for an amusing almost lego like landscape, very funky indeed. The old town district is full of culture, museums, churches and you can feel the history. During the days the sun was shining and felt very safe, however at night everyone is warned not to walk the streets and to take taxis everywhere.
Keeping that in mind we stayed local to our hotel the first night, ate at a local pizza bar and took advantage of the super quick wifi to get everything back up to date. We had our first hot shower in months and scrubbed up nicely, also slept with a doona on for the first time since we left Australia. In the morning we had a strategic re-pack. All of the now unnecessary dive gear, souvenirs and gifts were boxed up, taken to the local post office and sent back to Oz, hopefully. With our chores all sorted we hit the main square for lunch and gorged, turns out Quito was much cheaper than we expected, certainly more so than the Galapagos. In the afternoon we wandered around the historic buildings and took in the national cathedral. Disappointing it must be said. Though you can climb all through the bell towers and roof and the views are stunning from the top, the church is in a pretty bad state of disrepair. Most surprising was the amount of graffiti and tagging in all of the stairwells and corridors, Juanita was not impressed.
We headed back to the digs and freshened up before deciding we were due for a night out. Guided by the lonely planet we picked a rooftop restaurant in town and cruised on in, treated ourselves to a cheap (by Perth prices) yet swanky dinner with wine and beer and took in more of the stunning views of Quito. Our first drinks in over a week and the altitude certainly made for light heads. Could have been the walk up 5 flights of stairs though.
We had most of the next day free before our flight to Lima in the evening. A good solid sleep in, another hot shower, ooooo yeah and more trekking around the old town, taking in more churches and museums. We also took a cab up the hills to the statue of Virgin Mary that overlooks the entire city. There is a 1000m staircase to the statue but we decided that was best done going down rather than up. The views over the whole valley are amazing and the air even thinner than before. Wondered into the city for a drink then we were off to yet another airport. Flying to Lima in Peru with a 6 hour stop-over before bouncing up to the city of Iquitos where we will be heading up the Amazon into the jungle for a bit.
