Days 119 and 120: Quito, ECU

I liked Quito a lot. It has character, it is modern, yet has a large old town with impressive colonial architecture; an interesting mix of new and old. Ecuador is cheap for us North Americans too, so I will definitely consider coming back here eventually for a few weeks of Spanish and Salsa lessons (that will have to be another trip...not enough time and money this time around).

Day 119:

Late breakfast, and we hopped into a cab to check out the Old Town. I was also on the hunt for a camera battery and charger, since I have forgot these in our hotel in Popayan. This was the second item I have lost so far on the trip. Sucks, but still not bad considering that we have been constantly on the move for now almost 4 months. 

Forgot to include this photo in the previous post. This was in Cayembe, 20 km outside of Quito. Middle of the World:  latitude 0 deg. 0' 0''

Amazing detail in this church.

Mihai is a high revving machine, always on the look out for food.

In the evening, we met up once again with Willem and Peter, who made it to Quito on the previous day.

Carnival is not over yet. These girls were going at it hard with flour and spray foam.

Collateral damage: Willem.

Peter, Mihai, myself and Willem. We have done this many times since meeting in Nicaragua.

Day 120:

Mihai and Josh were ready to move on after one day in Quito, attracted by the promise of warm weather on the pacific coast. Quito sits at 2800 m elevation, so it is a little chilly. Additionally, it rains quite a bit at this time of the year. I, on the other hand, decided that I wanted to see a little more of the town. 

So in the morning of day 120, the boys took off for the coast, where I decided to stick around. I will catch up to them in a day or two.

First item on the list was the Parque La Carolina, a huge park in the new part of town. 

Parque La Carolina: awesome BMX track

Parque La Carolina

Parque La Carolina: airplane covered in graffiti

Graffiti detail. Cool stuff.

Parque La Carolina: some sort of peaceful demo against violence done to women. These ladies were doing a choreography.

Ever since we arrived in South America, I have been looking for paper maps of some of the countries that we will be riding across. I tried several bookstores and gas stations in Colombia, but no success. As I was walking to the Parque La Carolina, I encountered a large modern shopping mall, so I decided to check it out. There was a large bookstore in there, so for a minute I started hoping that this might be it. Well, the store had only two Michelin maps: one of Sweden, and one of...Holland. No map of Ecuador, and never mind other south american countries  Go figure...lol.  I'm giving up.

There was also a vivarium in the park, so I visited it. An interesting collection of live reptiles that live in the Ecuadorian ecosystem (which is among the most diverse in the world). Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in there.

Next, I caught a cab to the Teleferico, a sky-tram system that takes you on a 2.5 km ride above Quito, all the way to 4100 m elevation. It was a cloudy day, so half way through the ride, the visibility went down to zero. Too bad, I would have really liked to city from way up.

At the top: 4100 m elevation. It was COLD.

What you are supposed see from the top on a clear night....

.....and on a clear day.

Foggy and cold.

From the Teleferico, I cabbed it back to the Old Town area. While in Ipiales, I had realized that I had left my camera charger and spare battery plugged somewhere, most likely in the hotel we stayed at in Popayan. I did find a universal charger for 4 USD, but I was on the hunt for a battery, which is harder to come by. Well, I found the same exact one in a small photo shop in the Old Town. It was an original Canon item, but it was used and the guy wanted 20 USD. I offrered 15 USD, he didn't accept, so I walked out. Later that day I realized that it had been a mistake, as no one else had one. I checked out amazon.com that same night, and the oem battery sells for 40 USD. So I sucked it up, went back to the shop, and paid 20 USD. Once this was settled, I spent a little more time walking the Old Town, and then headed back to the hotel around 5 PM. I still had some serious catching up to do on the blog.

Best sandwich in a few months (cake was alright too)

Saw these guys when walking around the old town. Pretty solid band, should have made a video.