Fuente de Piedra II Quito

... beautiful with cobbled streets and lots of history. We notice that there are lots of indigenous people in Quito in their traditional dress.

We (me, Cass and Sam from Arizona, who we´ve adopted) checked into our hotel. I found really good reviews on it on TripAdvisor. We were greeted, not that welcomingly (but we were warned on TripAdvisor about the staff who seemed a little unhappy to be alive) and checked into our room. I ...

Funny, we´re in Ecuador now, taking in the new, but missing the old. Colombia, we miss you!

When we 1st started this trip, planning it, we were thinking, 6 months? That´s aLOT of time to be spending in one continent.....really? Not so much. 2 years just might be sufficient. We´re doing the whirlwind tour. We´d like to rest, but can ...

... hungover and not thinking clearly (i´m giving up the drink). But over lunch I set my bag at my feet, not thinking, and 2 guys wandered in and sat next to us, dressed in casual but nicer clothing (looked like business type guys). They didn´t eat, and one guy was standing right next to me, over me, facing the other guys, most likely sliding my pack towards the other guy. We thought it was strange but didn´t notice. The guys ...

... police around and Ecuadorians going about their daily business. I had plenty of photo opportunities until my camera battery ran out. We stopped off in the plaza de San Francisco which was a beautiful open space surrounded on all four sides by magnificent colonial buildings, and we grabbed a coffee at a artisan tourist place in front of the church.

Jody had his juggling balls with him and decided to juggle. A young Ecuadorian boy with his mum and brother, as it turned out 12 ...

... from earthquakes, the last being 1972. The city runs north to South covering a distance of 70 km and is just 45km from the equator. Everything is quoted and priced in US$, there are no Ecuadorian bank notes but when you get change for $1 or less you receive Ecuadorian coins.

Its charm lies in its colonial past and the old city is full of narrow, cobbled streets, buildings full of character and poor people. The new city is full of wide roads, modern, tall buildings, banks and ...

... eher das Geschäftliche abgewickelt wird.
Old Town ist wirklich schön, alte Kirchen und Klöster, Paläste usw.
Ansonsten kann man viele interessante Sachen essen, frittiertes Allesmögliches, viel Hühnchen über Holzkohle gegrillt, zu fast allem gibt es Reis und Bohnen. Viel Süßkram und Eis.

Ausflug zum Teleferico
Morgens im Hostel hat sich eine Gruppe von 4 Leuten gefunden, die zum Teleferico wollte also, rein ...

... Once we discovered that they did an all you can eat and drink for $11, we were sold. We indecently raided the buffet 3 times each (you piled all your ingredients in a bowl, then handed it to the chef to cook on a big circular frying surface). Classic comment from Cynthia the first time up: "This chicken is raw!" We then ordered abundant amounts of cocktails. These were of variable quality, but still pretty good value for what we paid. In the end they ...

... Am Markt gab es unzählige Handarbeitsprodukte von den Eingeborenen zu kaufen. Allgemein machte die Kleinstadt einen angenehm relaxten Eindruck.
Der Eindruck, dass die Ecuadorianer sehr kinderreich sind wird auch hier bestätigt. Die Strassen sind stets voll mit Schulkindern und so ziemlich jedes Mädel über 15 scheint mit einem Baby in der Hand unterwegs zu sein. Oft ist es wirklich schwer zu sagen ob eine Frau Mutter oder Schwester ist. Aber im Zweifelsfall ist´s wohl die Mutter.

... whole situation started to look very dodgy. The thunder storm sounded closer as the thunder followed the lightning very soon after. Hailstones were pounding down. I wasn't only using the umbrella for the rain, but also for protection against the hailstones. The now very-slippery path was not clearly marked anymore. I was now climbing very slowly as one wrong move meant that I could so easily have slipped. Eventually I thought getting to the top ...