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Published: November 12th 2022
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Wednesday 10th - Thursday 11th November 2022
Well off we go again!
Having rested from our Spanish hike, done our washing and caught up with friends and family, we’ve managed to venture out of Plymouth once more…and this time we’ve gone much further.
Leaving early on a Wednesday morning, we started our trip with a five hour coach to London Heathrow (no train due to recent strikes). We then had, a surprisingly fast, 6hours to spare at the airport (due to getting an early coach in fear of road delays because of recent protests) where Paul made friends with a random but nice Greek man who ended up showing us a lot of holiday photos. This really did make time go quicker though, as all our plans of having time to practise Spanish more and do a few packing tweaks vanished, and, having checked in with hand luggage only (light packers!) we were soon taking off that evening. Bye bye England!
A mere 10.5hours later, and after a relatively good sleep and airplane food, we arrived in Bogotá (Columbia) at, what would be 8am our time but having travelled back in time and still in darkness, was
now actually only 3am. With 4hours to sit at this airport, (after Paul being stopped and searched) we of course made friends with another random solo guy, who happened to be German this time and who chatted away the time once more. As it began to get light, we were back on a plane, and I actually don’t know what happened to the next two hours, as no sooner were we up and being given a sandwich and drink, we were then headed back down again and landing in Quito (Ecuador). A final, 45min long, prearranged-with-our-hotel taxi (who was there with our name on a board, phew!) and we arrived at our hotel Thursday morning.
Having been travelling for 30hours now, we were thankfully met at Hotel David with friendly staff and a nice looking place with a fancy water fountain. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check in until 1pm, so, after dropping the bags and a brief sit down, trying to register we were now 5hours behind and 2850m above sea level, we ventured out. Maybe it was the tiredness, slight dehydration, the altitude, or having been on planes and cars for the last 30hours, but the initial loud, busy,
warm environment hit pretty hard and felt more like a dream then us actually being here in Quito.
Yet here we were, walking along the busy roads through the street hustle to the old historic centre, as directed by the hotel with map in hand. Well aware of all the local scams and usual tourist traps, we stuck together and wondered around the many old buildings, past the many many street sellers, visited one of the most expensive churches in South America who’s interior is painted entirely of gold leaf (companid de Jesus), found the tourist info centre and found a good cafe to rest and eat.
Meandering our way back, we even stopped in the Basilica for a while, before returning to the hotel to check in. Not for long though, as, even though the rain had started, we headed back out and up a steep hill for dinner in a restaurant with a view, (Cafe Mosaico) and for a quick shop before returning to the hotel before it got too dark. 6pm and back in our small but clean room, we were feeling pretty tired. As we tried to stay awake as long as possible, we
watched some tv and let it sink in that we had made it all the way to Ecuador; the start of our next adventure!
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