Exploring Quito

On January 8th the president of Ecuador declared a country wide state of emergency and daily curfew following prison riots, the escapes of gang leaders and an increase of criminal activity nationwide. We kept up to date with developments and what we heard was it was still safe to visit Ecuador but to exercise caution. We arrived the day the curfew ended and stayed close to our hotel. Today we explored the old city and felt totally safe, there is an increased police presence but it was very benign, we felt far less safe in LA! The benefit was very few international tourists so we had the place nearly to ourselves! We started with some traditional Ecuadorian food for breakfast, delicious, it's mostly traditional food everywhere! We spent hours on a guided tour of the Basilica. Our guide Alexis was brilliant entertaining the kids with local legends! The city has 62 churches!! The Basilica began to be built in the 1892 and is considered to be unfinished as it still needs 230 bronze statues to be completed which would only cost $2 million, but legend has it that when the Basilica is finished Ecuador will fall. All 24 states contributed to the construction and are represented throughout the building, notably by the decision to replace original design gargoyles with statues of endemic animals. Absolutely fascinating!! Afterwards we wandered the streets, found some excellent exploding sweets we had seen on YouTube and several pit stops for ice creams (only 50 cents). Quito has nailed ice cream cones with lanes set aside to drive up and purchase one! We must be finally used to the altitude as we are at 2850 meters and not too breathless!Read more