Blog post 10 - Quito, Equador

Another early taxi ride to Cusco Airport which is right on the edge of town. Actually the town has grown out past the airport and surrounds it now on all sides. The urban sprawl in the big cities is extensive as the rural population move into the cities in the hope of a better life. Taxi fares start to mount up after a while but they are a lot cheaper than in NZ. The flight to Quito was via Lima for 1.25 hours and then 2 hours on to Quito. Getting through the very large Lima Airport was a bit of a challenge. Undersatnding Spanish would have made it a lot easier but we finally got it sorted. They have very helpful people on the checkin counters who have been great.

The new airport in Quito is an about 45 minute out of the city and we decided to try their local transport system rather than a taxi this time. After two bus rides and a trolly bus ride we reachedthe old City at a total cost of $2.35 each. US dollars. Ecuador uses the US Dollar as its currency. The transport system in Quito is extensive and seems to work very well.

We got off the trolly bus as the right stop thanks to a very helpful English speaking local. When they can help they are very keen to do so. A short walk through what was clearly the prostitute pickup area we each the hostel we were booked into. It turned out be be a great place. We had a big room and it was clean and very well organised and right on the edge of the old city.

We did a quick look around the old city that afternoon before having dinner at the Hostel. The Hostel cooks meals every night but they are expensive compared to what you can get down town. We met some really nice young people at the hostel who were quite happy for us to join them for drinks and a chat. With the exception of one American lady we were again probably twice the age of most of them. The American lady who was in her 70’s was just amazing. She travelled the world for about 10 months in each year staying in hostels dorm rooms. Nothing seem to phase her.

The next day we went on a walking tour of the city with a local guide who works closely with the hostel. It was a Sunday and we were the only people on the tour as most of the young ones were sleeping off their pub crawl they had been on the night before.

The tour took us to one of the food markets where we were introduced to a whole lot do strange types of fruit that we would not have tried ourselves if on our own. Then on around the city looking at architecture changes over time. We also got to taste the best ice cream in Quito at an ice cream shop that she took us to. We bought one latter to try out one of the unusual flavours. Then onto the main plaza which has the presidential palace oblong one side. The country has had a lot of presidents over recent years and the guide was clear that he lived at that site but did not believe that much governing was achieved. Corruption and protection of the wealthy influence the politics and the general population just get on with their lives. The Plaza, like in all the cities we have been to, was alive with all sorts going on from performers to political rallies.

The old city is alive by day but is completely dead at night and walking back to the hostel after eating dinner out was a bit scary. Most of the upper floors of the old buildings are derelict as no one can afford to renovate them and most of the population live in the new outer suburbs.

On our third day in the city we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens with their hope of seeing some humming birds. The park associated with the gardens was alive with locals as the day was a public holiday. It started to rain however as we got to the part where the birds may have been so by the time it had eased off that part of their gardens had been closed. We dodged the rain as much as possible getting back to the bus and back to the hostel.

The gardens are located within the newer part of the city and we were most impressed. Lots of modern building ans seemingly well built compared to the other cities we had been visited. It seemed like a place you could easilylive in and relate to.

On or last day we went on a day long bus tour out of the city to a market town and a large crater lake beneath the Cotacachi Volcano / one of 84 volcanoes in Ecuador. It was along day but it was well worth it. If you just visited the cities and missed seeing their country side you would not get a good feeling of the country.

Equator is a major rose growing area and large areas of plastic covered green house set ups dotted the landscape. You can buy a bunch of about ten beautiful roses here for $1. Giving chocolates is consider a much better gift here than roses. Gaye’s sister used to buy roses for her florist shop in Christchurch from Equador.

We had decided to move on our last night in Quito to a small hotel close the airport to make it easier to catch the early flight to Galapagos. The tour didn’t get us back to town until after 7 pm so by the time we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that we had discovered closer to the hostel and got some more money from an ATM, we didn’t reach the hotel until about 9pm. The 45 minute Uber ride to the hotel cost us only $29. It cost almost that to get from PN airport to home at that takes less than 10 minutes.

Another early rise this morning got us to the airport by 7.30 with plenty of time to got through the checks and obtain the necessary paperwork that is required to fly to Galapagos.

Our flight took us through the coastal city of Guayaquil reaching Galapagos about 12.30. All the bags were checked again with the check in bags all checked over by a bio security dog. They take a lot of care here to ensure than no unwanted bugs and fresh food etc get on to the islands.

Back to sea level at last. A full 21% oxygen rather than the 12% we had at some of there higher altitudes we were at. I can Breath easy now.

Looking forward to 10 Days on Galapagos.