For much of our time in Quito, we enjoyed the company of our own personal guide, Diana, who flew in from Guayaquil to show us around.
On our first morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day and the concierge at our hostel told us that we should immediately take the cable car up the teleferico to take in a panoramic view of the city before the clouds roll in. The view from the top was fantastic, although the altitude of over 4100 meters left us both a little short for breath.
Quito has earned a UNESCO heritage listing as the best preserved, least altered historic centre in Latin America. To take full advantage of this we spent most of our time in the Centro Historico, visiting several beautiful churches and museums, eating and drinking at rooftop venues, enjoying street tango performances and taking a tour through the presidential palace. A highlight was the rooftop restaurant/bar/reception at our hostel, which was run by a friendly Aussie bloke who had fallen in love with an Ecuadorian girl while traveling in London.
Quito has earned a UNESCO heritage listing as the best preserved, least altered historic centre in Latin America. To take full advantage of this we spent most of our time in the Centro Historico, visiting several beautiful churches and museums, eating and drinking at rooftop venues, enjoying street tango performances and taking a tour through the presidential palace. A highlight was the rooftop restaurant/bar/reception at our hostel, which was run by a friendly Aussie bloke who had fallen in love with an Ecuadorian girl while traveling in London.
We found some great food in central Quito, although the most memorable dining experience was at a nice restaurant in the La Ronda district. Although the food was fantastic, the service made us wonder whether we had stumbled onto the set of an Ecuadorian version of Faulty Towers. At seven o'clock the early rush subsided and our quirky waiter decided he'd had enough, unilaterally closing the restaurant and inviting us to share a stiff drink with him. The waiter bragged that he was from Colombia and assured us that the country is perfectly safe; 'the only danger in visiting Colombia is you'll fall in love with the place and want to stay', he said. Cindy asked 'so when will you next visit Colombia'. His response was hard to reconcile with the rest of our conversation; 'oh no, I can't go back, I came to Ecuador as a refugee, Colombia is way too dangerous'.
Quito also has plenty to offer outside its historic centre. Perhaps the most famous attraction is the Mitad del Mundo monument, which marks the meeting of the southern and northern hemispheres. At the monument site, we took a tour featuring half a dozen science experiments that showcased the differing forces at play on each side of the equator. Sam was awarded a certificate for balancing an egg on a nail (only possible on the equator) and we both enjoyed seeing water drain in different directions on either side of the line.
Quito also has plenty to offer outside its historic centre. Perhaps the most famous attraction is the Mitad del Mundo monument, which marks the meeting of the southern and northern hemispheres. At the monument site, we took a tour featuring half a dozen science experiments that showcased the differing forces at play on each side of the equator. Sam was awarded a certificate for balancing an egg on a nail (only possible on the equator) and we both enjoyed seeing water drain in different directions on either side of the line.
While in Quito, we partied in the Mariscal district, a hub for local and international young people. We also visited the house and museum of the late Oswaldo Guayasamín, a famous Ecuadorian painter, and bought a limited edition drawing as a souvenir.
We had an interesting mix of taxi drivers in Quito. We had one who drove with his mum in the passenger seat, was convinced that every car that drove next to us was full of car jackers and didn't know what the historical centre of town was (let alone how to get there). Another drove through a road block and almost ran over a policeman. For one cab ride we paid less than one tenth of the fare paid by some other gringos we met. Traveller lesson number one is to remind cab drivers that they are required to run their meters, although this doesn't always prevent you from being ripped off as we had one cab driver take us for a tour of greater Quito when we only needed to get two kilometers down the road. Lesson number two (particularly useful in the 90% of cases when you're told the meter is broken) is to ask for a fixed price and check before you leave the hostel what that price should be. This again is not foolproof as one driver wanted to charge us extra because he got lost (his words, not ours) and launched into a ten minute tirade of abuse at us when we refused.
Taxi drivers aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Quito and were glad that, having spent four nights there initially, we were able to come back for one more night before flying off to Peru.
The same can be said of our time in Ecuador generally. The country has recently launched a global tourism campaign entitled 'all you need is Ecuador'. There is a lot of merit in this title, with the country offering amazing diversity in culture, landscape, flora and fauna for a country its size. In just over three weeks we saw Amazonian jungle, the unique Galápagos Islands, white sand surf beaches, a historic high altitude capital, an amazing lake formed by a volcanic crater and an adventure playground in the foothills of the Andes.
We had an interesting mix of taxi drivers in Quito. We had one who drove with his mum in the passenger seat, was convinced that every car that drove next to us was full of car jackers and didn't know what the historical centre of town was (let alone how to get there). Another drove through a road block and almost ran over a policeman. For one cab ride we paid less than one tenth of the fare paid by some other gringos we met. Traveller lesson number one is to remind cab drivers that they are required to run their meters, although this doesn't always prevent you from being ripped off as we had one cab driver take us for a tour of greater Quito when we only needed to get two kilometers down the road. Lesson number two (particularly useful in the 90% of cases when you're told the meter is broken) is to ask for a fixed price and check before you leave the hostel what that price should be. This again is not foolproof as one driver wanted to charge us extra because he got lost (his words, not ours) and launched into a ten minute tirade of abuse at us when we refused.
Taxi drivers aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Quito and were glad that, having spent four nights there initially, we were able to come back for one more night before flying off to Peru.
The same can be said of our time in Ecuador generally. The country has recently launched a global tourism campaign entitled 'all you need is Ecuador'. There is a lot of merit in this title, with the country offering amazing diversity in culture, landscape, flora and fauna for a country its size. In just over three weeks we saw Amazonian jungle, the unique Galápagos Islands, white sand surf beaches, a historic high altitude capital, an amazing lake formed by a volcanic crater and an adventure playground in the foothills of the Andes.