Quito

Trip Start Jan 16, 2008
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Trip End Apr 19, 2008

Flag of Ecuador  ,
Monday, February 25, 2008

Quito, world's highest capital city (well, except for La Paz, Bolivia which is where the government of Bolivia is - the real capital of Bolivia is Sucre which is lower, so I'm claiming Quito). The city is spread out over the whole of the valley up here at 2850m or so, with mountains all around, including a volcano towering over the city at 4600m high.

We're staying at Chicago Hostel which is pretty close to the old part of town and at US$17 a night for the two of us, including breakfast, it's super. Ecuador is definitely the cheapest country we've been in so far - a 600ml beer goes for US$1-US$1.50 at most places - can't complain about that.

Old Town is really pretty, loads of older buildings which are still in fairly good shape. Actually, I think they recently renovated a lot of them, but it looks great. We've spent most of our time here just wandering around Old Town taking in the sights. Feels much safer than San Jose, but still walking around at 8pm feels a little dodgey. Plus they have weird open times on the restaurants - people here seem to eat the main meal in the middle of the day, so most restaurants around Old Town seem to close by 5 or 6 in the evening. Makes getting dinner a little tricky sometimes.

Tomorrow we're off to Baņos, a little town down country, quite close to the volcano Tungurahua which has been active of late. Hopefully it'll be ok though...
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