Quito, Ecuador

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Well, my first two days in Quito have gone well. The altitude definitely affected me to start with - the air is noticeably thinner and it's easy to do too much and feel over tired. I'm stying in the New Town - the Mariscal district, which is a ghost town before 9, bustling during the day, and comes to life at night. It means it's quite noisy well into the night, but I am managing to sleep ok.

Today I hooked up with a girl in my dorm and went sightseeing around the Old Town (which has most of the historical buildings). We had a busy day and have seen most of what the Old Town has to offer in terms of sights - which consists mostly of Plazas (squares) flanked by churches and cathedrals. Impressive though - the interior of one was covered in gold from top to bottom, and another was a huge gothic church at the top of a hill which boats incredible views across Quito.

We also went up El Panecillo (a hill which overlooks the whole of Quito) to see the statue there - The Virgin of Quito - who stands on top of a globe with a chained dragon at her feet. I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to represent, but we went inside and climbed up the statue for more stunning views over the city.

Tomorrow I'll be moving to the joining hotel for the start of my official trip. It's not far from where I'm staying at the moment, and it's still within easy reach of the places I still want to see in the New Town of Quito before the trip starts and we move into the Amazon.

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