¡Muy bonito in Quito!

After a solid 3 hours of sleep on our flight to Quito, we groggily tried to navigate the busy streets of our first destination. The bus proved to be a little more complicated than we bargained for, so we opted for a taxi to our adorable hostel located in New Town (La Mariscal). First order of business was getting caffinated. We went to a reccommended local joint that served delicious coffee and "orgasmic" chocolate. We explored the city, weaving in and out of the narrow streets full of cafes, hostels, restaurants, and bars. For dinner we dined at a nice Indian spot, not exactly your typical Ecuadorian cuisine, but delicious and vegetartian none the less.

We woke up very early the next day to meet up with our rafting tour guides, who unfortunately never showed. Not to worry though, we quickly rebounded after demanding for our money back and set off for the teleferiQo, Quito's sky tram. This tiny box connected to a cable brings you up 4100 meters in altitude to a breathtaking view of the city. We walked the short hike at the top feeling like morbidly obese people, fighting to breathe with each step (it literally was breathtaking) because of the little oxygen at the top. Feeling aquainted with NewTown, that afternoon we moved to the more colonial Old Town. Old town is a series of small cobblestone streets and magnificent old churches which people are permitted to dangerously climb to the top of for the best view. Of course we couldn't resist the temptation and got a beautiful view of Old Town from the top of the gothic Basillica del Voto Nacional built in 1926. Unfortunately we cannot upload photos at this time, but we included an online photo for visual effect (above). The view of the giant La Virgen de Quito statue on top of El Panecillo (below) looked quite ominous from our view at the top as a huge ligthening storm rolled in. Afterwards, we spent at least an hour wandering around in a rain storm in search of a highly recommended restaurant. Feeling defeated and soggy, we decided on a warm pizza joint- only to discover the next day that our intended destination was right next door to the pizza place, but closed for the evening.
After our first full night of sleep and showers, we felt refreshed and ready to hit the Old Town once more. The bright side of spending most of the evening wandering around a new city in a rainstorm is you know it very well the next day. On Sundays in Quito most people leave their cars behind and hit the streets on bicycles. It becomes a mass parade of bicycles, street performers, vendors, and live music in plazas around the city. After a glorious sunny day admiring the churches and architecture, we hopped a bus to Banos.