Ecuador- the middle of the world-Quito

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Hola my Cherubs. Finally arrived in Quito capital of Ecuador after a long old journey going up north to Bogota in Columbia and then down south again to Quito, a total journey time of 7 .5 hours, Direct flights to decrease the carbon footprint do not seem to be on the agenda! Anyway was totally exhausted after the previous days delays and fell asleep in my room and missed the group briefing – so that was a good start! We are 12 people all from the UK and very different , there are electrical engineers, a barrister, civil servants, a voluntary organisational manager and more, most retired, only 3 of us still working- quite an interesting bunch.

Ecuador is the smallest of the South American countries but very compact , the guide books say you can be canoeing down the amazon in the morning , have lunch in the high Andes and then have dinner on the coast , all in one day. Ecuador has 3 main areas the amazon to the east, the andes running its length and the coast. It is a country of contrasts and many micro climates , and has a massively fertile environment growing every conceivable vegetable and fruit you can imagine. I have had the most wonderful Jugars ( Fruit juices/smoothees) and breakfast is a complete dream over spillng with fruit yogurt and cheese goodies. It has a population of around 14 million with over 2/3s of them living in three main cities. The Andes is its spine and the equator runs through it. Ecuador markets itself as the middle of the world, And we visited two sites that purport be the true oo degrees latitude straddling both hemispheres by standing across the line!! . You are supposed to weigh 1 kilo less if you stand on the equator as the pressure is less so that’s a bonus- not sure I believe that one , though we were given several demonstrations related to strength on the line and then in each hemisphere- discuss!!

Our guide is an Italian , Danielle - I give up!- and speaks 5 languages He is great and is looking after us well We have had a city tour of the old colonial centre taking it easy on our first day as we are at an altitude of nearly 3 thousand metres. The city itself is sprawed along a valley for over 40 kms and has a huge traffic problem , it takes forever to get anywhere. There are no railways to spaek of only those for the tourists. while the city does have some lovely areas it is not one of my favouits - too mamy cars!! It is election time in Ecuador so there is lots of political activity going on .This is another area that was conquered by the Incas and then by the Spaniards so everywhere you see the beautiful buildings, great old houses with leafy internal gardens and a mixture of local and modern fusion cooking . We are eating well and I am drinking less , they say red wine is not good at altitude so I am being good though tonight as I type in a wonderful converted hacienda high in the Andes I did have a pisco sour and a shared a bottle of great Chilean red!!! I may regret it in the morning

We have visited markets which are extremely colourful and sell everything you could ever wish for at knock down bargainable prices- Have I bought any jewellery? Is the pope catholic? Say no more! The most famous one at Otavalo is supposed to be the biggest in South america!! We have also visited too many churches and cathedrals, though it was on a Sunday and it seems to me the church is embracing change with great music , and happy people. Blimey pimey , did I really say that!

The weather is doing what it is supposed to do rain and some sun , on our second day it just poured and it was pretty miserable walking around as it was cool too.

We left Quito to drive down the very beautiful Avenue of Volcanoes including Cotopaxi and Chimborazoone . Unfortunately the weather was really bad rain and cloud so we saw nada!!! That was a real shame as this was Anna's first long hall journey and she was a tad dissapointed as were we all. Still we stayed the night in this magnificent hasienda which sort of made up for it. On the way we dropped in on a town specialising in leather goods and then onto a village when we were delighted by a wonderful display of music and pan pipe making.

The next part of the trip is oinwads and southwards towards Cuenca which is said to be much smaller and more beauitiful = lets go I say!! ........

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