We left our hotel at 4am this morning in the pouring rain. Our visit to this beautiful part of Argentina didn’t turn out as we had hoped. We had plans to hire a car and drive away from city lights into the countryside and enjoy the landscape, clear skies and great wines. But sitting in the car I realised that Salta passed in a bit of a tiredness blur.
In fact, the tiredness was quite unrelenting for me. I did not sleep well on the plane and our flight to Lima was two hours, with a two hour stopover, then another two hours onto Quito. By the time we got to sunny Quito I was shattered and being back at 3000m above sea level certainly didn’t help! While Adrie was excited to get out in the sun and sit by the pool I just wanted a mattress with a soft pillow. I felt a bit guilty because we are only in Quito for two days, plus I have been here before so didn’t want to deprive Adrie of anything. But I just could not keep my eyes open. She did seem happy to sit by the pool on her own though so I was off to bed.
We eventually ventured out for something to eat at 8pm and found a cute spot just across the road. A vacant lot was turned into a pop-up take-away restaurant area with communal seating in the middle. Each ‘restaurant’ was made from a shipping container and had something different of offer. We had a choice of pizza, burgers, sushi, empanadas, salads, cocktails and fruit juices, etc. This was so much better than hotel food.
All the travel, airplane food and unusual eating times have taken a toll on both of us. I don’t think either of us could face another stale croissant!
We had a quick hotel switch this morning as this evening’s hotel is included in our Galapagos trip. So after a 600m walk down the street, we checked in again. The hotel was quite smart and the staff clearly used to a certain type of customer. I did have a chuckle to myself as these two vagabonds walked in with our backpacks and shorts and even the doorman was wondering if we had a reservation; they didn’t seem to know what to do with us! It seemed like a scene out of Pretty Woman. But then they found our “executive plus” reservation and everything was fine again and everyone was all smiles.
We wanted to do some laundry before heading out, so 15 minutes after checking in we had a washing line hanging across the room with all our newly cleaned underwear. If the reception staff saw this they would think we are most definitely a bunch of hooligans!
With only one day left in Quito, we were ready for some sightseeing. I was last here about 12 years ago and don’t remember too much, although the city seems more green and vibrant than I remember it. Our first destination was the new cable car up Pichincha volcano that overlooks the city. The top is over 4000m above sea level so we weren’t about to do anything too strenuous other than admire the view and Cotopaxi in the background.
We then went to El Panecillo Hill with the statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city. I quite liked it and there was a distinct lack of tourists and activity, which we particularly enjoyed.
Our last drop off from our taxi was in the centre of the old town where we were going to walk around. But first it was time for coffee. Reading back, I think almost every day included a stop for either coffee or ice cream… my mom would be proud.
We went inside the impressive San Francisco church and made our way to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, but got there at 4.30pm just as they were closing, which was a bit of a disappointment. We had hoped to go up because the view from the top is apparently very nice. Perhaps we can try again when we are back in Quito.
The building is noted for its grotesques in the form of native Ecuadorian animals such as armadillos, iguana, and Galapagos tortoises