The adventure begins in Quito

It all started when we finally landed at Quito one fairly chilly Thursday evening. I say finally as the flight from the UK to Quito, via Madrid, was delayed due to heavy fog at Madrid. This lead to us missing the connecting flight to Ecuador and therefore to us having to deal with Iberia´s complete lack of organisation, although ultimately to us staying in a rather nice hotel somewhere outside Madrid.

Anyway, we finally got here. South America is a funny place, all said. All the guide books in the world can´t prepare you for the airport, let alone the streets, although you get used to them soon enough. After being reunited with our bags and encountering a cheerful immigration officer for the second time ever we made our way out through the massive crowd, apparently waiting for relatives - it seems the airport´s not big enough for the city - and got a taxi to our hostel of choice, The Secret Garden. We hadn´t ever been to this hostel before, so it was a bit of a gamble...

As it turns out, The Secret Garden is a great place. Perched on the edge of Quito´s Old Town, it´s a really friendly hostel which offers everything you could possibly need when you first arrive in South America. The only problem is, with the roof terrace and meals cooked morning and evening, it´s often quite hard to go out! That said, we managed to explore the city and get out on a couple of excursions. More on those later.

I'm afraid this update has to end here as I don't have the time to tell you about El Mitad del Mundo (literraly the Middle of the Earth - great place!) or Otavalo. Both were great fun, and worth mention. Next time I update the blog I'll elaborate.....

---

---