Ecuador - Quito

6 continents down one to go.
Arriving at 11pm after 34 hours of travel time... November 1 was the longest in history I think!
First stop in South America was Quito, Ecuador. Driving though the streets lined with colourful graffiti reminded me of the lane ways in Melbourne.

On our first day in town we organised a trip to the "museum" on the equator where they show you all the tricks you can do on the equator.... like how the water spins different on each side of the equator and how it goes straight down when on the equator... completely lame but when in Rome... or Ecuador. I did see a shrunken head of a human and a sloth. I felt sorry for the sloth.

Next we headed back into town for a walking tour of the old city. Such amazing architecture, impressive golden churches and great graffiti lining the walls around the city. Marco, our guide was a travellers dream. He managed to sneak us into the presidents palace to have a little look and tried to get us into a church which had a wedding going on at the time. He said we really needed to see this church and its flamboyant gold interior. Unfortunately we weren't allowed into the wedding but Marco insisted we check out another part of the city until we were allowed into the church. Definitely worth the wait. The gaudy gold interior was over the top like many of the Spanish churches built using Inca gold however it was great to see how the inca slaves managed to sneak in details of their god - the sun - into the Catholic church. Suns lining the roof and one big sun on the entry. Clever!

The following day we drove to Pululahua volcanic crater where 60 families actually live and farm in the crater. At 3000m above sea level it was some good practice at altitude and provided a beautiful view of the surrounding area and volcanoes.

We then continued the drive  to Mindo Cloud Forest for a bush walk. After getting soaking with sweat from the humid hike and having local trout for lunch Marco suggested we go to his friends house where he said there is usually a lot of hummingbirds around. Although it was raining slightly we were treated to a hundred hummingbirds buzzing around the garden. It was a completely magical experience just watching them flying from one feeder to another. This was definitely the highlight of my day!

The final day before heading off to the Galapagos we caught the cable car up Pichincha volcano which rises up to 4080m above sea level and looks out over Quito. After walking about 500m up a hill I realised hiking at elevation won't be as easy as first thought!

A gorgeous introduction to Ecuador. The people are lovely, and as a bonus the sales people at the market not pushy which makes the experience so much more enjoyable!

Next stop Galapagos! So excited!