Quito!

It only took us 5 more days than expected to finally get to Quito. We´ve decided big cities aren´t that great so we only wanted to stay in Quito for a day and then get on to the rest of the greatness that Ecuador has to offer. Of course, that´s not the way things work. We arrived Sunday and the earliest embassy appointment we could get was Tuesday. Even though we had been issued emergency passports from the Bogota embassy, they didn´t have enough pages to get us to the end of the journey, so now we have to wait in Ecuador for 14-16 days while the visas process. I can say that Ecuador is not a bad place to be stuck however.

Our hostel in Quito was pretty great. We chose one with really good reviews because we needed an address in Quito to mail Keegan´s debit card too (yes, currently we are without a debit card. Life is exciting.) The hostel was 5 stories and had a beautiful top balcony that overlooked the city (and was still only $10 per night!)

The camera doesn´t quite capture how pretty it all was

We decided to do a city tour the next day, even though I normally hate being in a big group of touristy gringos. But this tour was free and we´d heard really great things so we figured why not. It ended up being really neat. The first stop was the presidential palace. Turns out on Mondays (which it was Monday) they do a changing of the guard and a big celebration of Ecuador´s independence. We got to see the president, Rafael Correa!

Keegan requested photo credit for this artistic photo (because he feels undervalued for his contribution of photos to the blog.)

The president, vice president and other important people 

The ceremony was really cool and well choreographed

After the changing of the guard we learned a lot about Ecuador´s independence and history. We got to sample some native Ecuadorian candy (delicious. Peanuts covered in some sort of sugary thing, and all sorts of other delicious things.) We also learned that Ecuador produces 80% of the worlds fine chocolate. We got to sample some truffles (dark chocolate mint and dark chocolate sea salt, yum) and see the process of the chocolate being made. The tour ended in the Central Market where we broke off from the group and grabbed some lunch. (Standard price for lunch here is about $2.50, it´s awesome.) 

All the chocolate making materials

Quito is famous for its well preserved colonial churches. We saw tons! 

They were really elaborate

The tour was only three hours long so we still had a whole afternoon to burn. We hopped in a cab and headed up to the Panecillo. A statue of a virgin something-or-other up on a hill overlooking Quito. Everyone told us not to walk it because of the high incidence of robbery. Given our recent luck with robbery, we decided not to risk it and grabbed a cab.

 We learned on the tour that the statue is made of aluminum and it is one of the largest aluminum statues in the world.

Another artsy photo by Keegan McCaffrey

A momentary lapse in the clouds gave us a glimpse of the Cotopaxi Volcano. The second largest volcano in Ecuador, sitting at over 19,000 feet. (it kind of blends in with the clouds, but it is the giant white peak just to the center right.)

Stylish gringa (I bought a scarf in Otavalo for only $5!! Its starting to get cold as we are getting higher in elevation!)

Windy!

The last day in Quito we climbed a up the Basillica clock tower, but the photos didn´t upload from Keegan´s camera, we are trying to get them. Then we went to the US embassy (they were much nicer than Bogota!) and caught a night bus heading for Tena, the white water capital of Ecuador. Bet you can´t guess what we did there?! But I´ll save that for another post. Hasta la vista!