Day 80 - 5kg Lighter and the High Life

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With Sophie feeling better, we headed off in the other direction and walked our way into the new town through the parks. Unfortunately, this walk involved me carrying 5kg of winter clothes and souvenirs I had persuaded Sophie we no longer needed for the trip. We dropped this off at a post office to be sent home - complete with wrapping service from the armed security guard! The rest of the day continued in a similar vein, shopping, pharmacy trips etc to prepare for the Galapagos in under a week.

At lunch I had another local menu of the day, but Soph wasn't ready to trust the local cuisine yet so opted for an omelette. In the evening we had arranged to meet up with Matt and Claire from our Inca Trail, in Quito for their final night before returning to Oz. We met them at their hotel, the Mercure, where we were treated to a fantastic view over Quito. They had been upgraded to the Pent House and I have to say I was jealous! We headed out to a restaurant in the Mariscal Sucre district called Texas Ranch where Sophie ate a steak they recommended (delicious apparently) and I had Argentine mixed grill, complete with kidney, beef, heart, chicken, pork, sausage, black pudding and more!

Quito has a reputation as a dangerous city and the Mariscal neighbourhood is extremely dangerous after dark. All recommendations are that you should always take a taxi. You'd think that in a city where taxis are a must they would be good but our driver was a retard! Ok, my Spanish pronunciation of the hotel name, street name and park nearby might not be good, but when I got the lonely planet out and pointed to it on a map you would have thought that would help. Nope, wrong. The driver then sets off in completely the wrong direction. In the end I had to direct him (left here, right here etc) all the way back! Ridiculous!

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Photos

View from Matt and Claire's Penthouse
No need to get the teleferico (funicular railway) up the hill now!