Quito and Otavalo

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Firstly apologies that there are no photo´s - I will add them on when we have more time.

So we are now in Ecuador. We thought that we were getting two flights here, but from Caracas we went to Bogota in Columbia, then had to change planes for the onward flight to Quito, so had three flights in total. It was another long travelling day but we eventually got to Quito about 12 hours after leaving Ciudad Guayana in Venezuela.

After checking internet sites we decided to stay at Hostel Chicago in Quito´s old town. The rooms were good and there was a roof top terrace overlooking the old town. It was definitely worth the room rate of $15 US dollars a night which included breakfast!

We spent a few days looking round the old and new towns, including getting a cable car above Quito which takes you to just over 4000 meters. Took a while to get used to the altitude, Quito is the second highest capital city in the world. Had lunch one day for $2 US dollars, which was a three course meal with a soft drink. Ecuador is so much cheaper than Venezuela, and the people are so much friendlier. We are really enjoying it.

We went to a few travel agents and booked some trips. We are going to the jungle for 5 days, cycling down Cotapaxi (volcano) and Galapagos for 8 days. The travel agency we used was Altar Tours (in the new town) and they are very good. The guy we dealt with was called Omar. He recommended a restaurant so we went there for dinner, and for the first time we saw guinea pig on the menu. We decided against it as we are going to wait until we get to Peru as it is their national dish apparently.

After a few days we got the bus to Otavalo, a market town in the north of the country. The journey was made memorable by the fact that they showed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the DVD. It was 10.30am and there were kids on the bus. Nobody seemed too bothered apart from us.

We spent a few days here, buying Mandy some great birthday presents. Met a girl from Kingston (a few miles from where we live in England) who was travelling through central and south America. I also got some new walking boots to replace mine. My new ones are Hi Tec and cost $75 US dollars.

On our last morning there was a festival, with the school kids parading through the town with bands. We watched for a while before deciding to get the bus back to Quito.

When we got back to Quito we went to the travel agents to see what dates Omar had booked the Galapgaos for. After a few hours we were booked for the 17 November, on a yacht called Intrepido. We were originally going on a different date and boat, but there was some confusion so we are going on a better boat at the same price.Very excited!!!!

He also confirmed our jungle trip details, we are going to the jungle on the 1st November so I will post again after then.

Love to you all

Tina

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Photos

Beer
Just a few drinks in Quito!

Otovalo Market
This is where we got Mandy´s birthday presents

Quito old town
The Virgin Mary looking down on Quito