Blogs from Historical Center, Quito, North, Ecuador, South America - page 14

While present day Quito boasts a population of 1.5 million, for the majority of its existence it was a much smaller city. Today I went to the old part of town to see the building blocks of what today is a major South American city. On my way to the bus stop, there was a group of about 40 people protesting corrupt judges outside of a court building. Riot police turned them away when they tried to enter the building, but it was really interesting to see such an open expression of opposition. Quito, as well as much of Latin America, is notorious for corrupt police, and apparently, corrupt judges as well. Once at the bus stop, I waited for several of buses pass by even though they were going to the historic district. Sara had ... read more

Friday 9.7.2010 day 268 Quito - Ecuador I got up early and had a shower and washed some cloths and sorted out my bag for the next few days. Then my friend got up and we went up to bfast. We are staying at the secret garden hostel and they do a wonderful bfast. We also booked in for the dinner it is more than we could pay down the street but it would be fun and we can meet some of the other guests this way. After bfast I went for a walk on my own around the streets of the old part of Quito it was fun to explore on my own. We had dinner at the hostel and meet lots of the other people staying here and travelling around like us. Most of ... read more

Landed back at Quito with no Antonio waiting for us so had to get an airport taxi which was the same price but had to direct the bloody taxi driver where to go. Decided not to stay at The Secret Garden as it was quite noisy on a night and abit pricey so stayed over the road at a hostel called Guayanga. We agreed we needed a day off after the intensive Galapagos so decided to stay an extra night in Quito and chill and watch the England game. That was until Hollie found where Mango was in a big mall just outside the new town. We signed in at the hostel got some crisps and set ourselves 2 tasks; to sort our pictures out online and offline (memory card or USB pen) and look into ... read more

After a late-ish night and a couple of drinks, a lazy morning had us only getting up and having breakfast just before midday. It was ok though, we had big plans for the day, heading off to catch a metro to the Mitad del Mundo at the site of the equator. Unfortunately this didn't go quite as expected. We jumped on the first metro that came after paying our fee and were very surprised when at the next stop most people piled off, and even more surprised when it pulled a u turn across the lanes of traffic and started heading back the way we came from! All in all, a journey back to our start. To make up for it we headed off to enjoy old town in the sun before a pizza for lunch. ... read more

The day started well with Hostal Marsella serving up eggs for breakfast while we waited to change rooms... good job too as Sophie had forgotten about the age old rule in South America, no toilet paper down the toilet! The toilet in our old room was blocked and trying to flood so perfect time to move to a new room with shared bathroom where we could blame other people! We headed to the old town from our perfect location between the old and new and after lunch stumbled across the Plaza Grande... swamped with police officers, riot gear and all. We still have no idea why there were so many(getting very used to seeing guns... every shop security guard has one) but apparently the President carries out business inside the Palacio del Gobierno on the Plaza ... read more