Ecuador - Part 1

The first few days were spent getting ourselves acquainted with Quito, both the Old and New Towns. The altitude and geography of the place forced us to take it rather easy; we have now learned what it´s like to have heart and lung problems; or be old, we don´t know, we´ll just have to wait and see!

We had a fair bit of admin to do, working out what we were going to do a few days down the track: what boat, for how long, changing flights to fit in, tours out of the capital, but we made sure we got out of the hostel and experienced this new culture. It´s definitely different to anything we´ve experienced before and also comforting to know that you can find exotic cultures that don´t stare at and hassle us Gringo foreigners!

We wandered, making use of our fatigue to sit and watch typical scenes, like here in Plaza Grande

Despite the altitude, we opted to climb further and ascend the city´s Basilico for great views both inside and outside the building.

Not sure about the safety considerations in Ecuador, but we managed to navigate rickety beams and precarious ladders to reach atop one of the spires.

Evenings were very social affairs as we maintained contact with the guys we met on the plane. Saturday came and we went north as a posse to the town of Otavalo, home of South America´s most famous craft market.

We were all very pleased to visit a market without the usual tourist tat! Instead we were greeted by very friendly locals with good quality produce at very, very reasonable prices!

These two were happy at selling three Panama hats at a fair price.

Here, Phileas bought a $10 hammock and got a photo for free.

But this guy was told off by his mum for his poor sales technique (maybe)

And so the night came when the gang had to go their separate ways. Phileas to Cotopaxi, John and Lee to the Galapagos and Tom to wherever his nose led him!