Hotel Ambassador Quito

... On the course of our tour we learned how the natives made the famous shrunken heads, turns out that the just pull out all the innards and then fill the head with rocks. Then we had a bunch of cheesey experiments which were still a lot of fun. First we took photos on the actual equator, then we saw a solar clock that was used by the ancients. Then we saw the famous corioles effect, which has water on the ...

... of the sanctuary). Although the bell tower does not quite reach the height of the clock towers, the final two dozen meters would prove to be the most strenuous of the day. Once again, we had the joy of climbing rickety (this church loves rickety), rusty, narrow ladders, whose handles were awkwardly far away from the rungs; this time, however, we werenīt in the confines of a tower. Rather, we were now climbing OUTSIDE the tower. You know ...

... 50 cents and Sophie took away only memories of alpaca clothing and hand crafted jewelry.

On the way back we stopped once for some buttery biscuits called biscochi and again to visit an old farm near the Equator. The rustic, spanish-colonial farm has the oldest structures in the area - I could have snapped photos there all day.

Lastly, I am greatly indebted to Karen for introducing me to "helado de paila" (paila ice-cream), named for ...

When I was talking about transport infrastructure the other day I forgot to mention Quitoīs cycleways!! I believe they may have more cycleways here than in Sydney (which probably isnīt that hard) - they are many on main roads - separate from the car and bus lanes. I havenīt actually seen any bicycles yet... but no matter, they are well prepared for them when that hobby catches on and when it comes to infrastructure I think forward planning is key ...

... car up to the top of the mountains surrounding Quito. The view was breathtaking and you could see how enormous Quito is. In the afternoon we walked to a large park, La Carolina, where the girls played on the swings etc. We then had a go on two pedalos. Trisha, Rose and I in one and Grace, Sarah, Roger and Ian in the other. None of us would have won a medal for craftmanship but it was very good fun and we had a lot of laughs.

... and the jungle) there are all sorts of different weird fruits. I think my favorite was the granadilla, which you crack open like a hard boiled egg, then scoop or slurp out the insides, which look like fish eggs or eyeballs. Yum! We traveled to Banos on July 10, but I think Iīll save that for tomorrow when I upload some more pictures.

... market to pick me up a machete for protection.. Yeah im hardcore. The city was very populated as usual, to walk from one side of the city center to the other I had to pass through an underpass. The 200ft down the flight of stairs through the underpass seemed sketchy. I have walked it before, but no problems, so I hesitated, my balls grew, and I walked through the underpass.


About 3\4 of the way through I look behind me ...

Upon arriving happily in Quito and stumbling awkwardly around a bit at the airport, I figured out how to get a taxi to my hostal. Having found the hostal and enjoying a thouroughly ear-taxing night's unrest, I decided to explore Quito's old city the following day. My free desayuno (breakfast) included scrambled eggs, some yummy bread and fruits with yogurt. Delicious, I was ready to go! Close to my hostal was La Basilica, a large ...

... in, I was taking ten minute catnaps before some of the step assents just to get the energy to get to the top. The initial plan to listen to a sweet biscuits show from the summit on the tallest part of the crater was quickly scratched for resting. The hike in all took about five and a half hours and took most of my energy. It was at some ellevation which i will blame for some of my problems. The hostel we were staying at was rustic, but nice. The only heat ...

It's a very quick entry today as we didnīt really do much.

We were up nice and early so I got the blog 100% up to date with photos (I can't integrate them with the text for some reason, so you'll have to use the slideshows for the moment), tried unsuccessfully to burn the Galapagos photos onto a DVD, while Katie packed and had breakfast.

By about 11am we were both ready, so checked out and headed to our new hotel in the Old Town.

We 'cheated' and ...