After another 8hr bus trip back to Lima, we flew out to Quito, Ecuador, the next day; our third country. The capital of Ecuador, Quito sits at 2,850m and there is still debate as to its claim to being the highest capital in the world. La Paz in Bolivia currently claims that dubious honour, but that city is only the country’s administrative centre. The judicial centre, and therefore the recognised capital of Bolivia is actually in Sucre, so tuck that away in your grey matter for the next time you play Trivial Pursuits. Quito clings almost impossibly to the surrounding steep mountainsides with concrete claws, desperately attempting to take root in this earthquake prone country. It’s a mixture of the old and the new and with just 1.4 million people, it is generally much cleaner than
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