Quito, Ecuador by Kev

29.9.2025. Today we're heading back to the mainland. So up early, breakfast and gone. A short walk to the bus station, 20mins or so, pay and get on. Ferry ride between islands, about 150metres. Onto another bus for a very short ride to the airport. All up $34us spent on getting to the airport. Mel tried to get our baggage tags and boarding passes from the auto computer thing. Didn't work, wouldn't read any of our passports. Luckily there's still someone at the check in counter to help us. What the f is with these stupid auto check in machines when you have to go see the person at the counter anyway? We had to do it in Paris, pretty sure we had to do it in Aus before we left. It amazes me when someone has a great idea to replace people with machines that don't work and you need to go see the people anyway. They must have gotten a new manager, they always bring in change for the sake of change. Even if everything works fine, “let's change it”! You know what else, there's never enough stress at the airport, let's create more. Alright, I'm done. We waited, then got on our plane. A few hours later we were back in Quito, Ecuador. $26 for a taxi! Eh it's getting late, let's just get it. About an hour later we got to our new stay. Ok maybe it was worth $26. We give the guy $30 and he gives back $5. Alright, saved a buck. Into our apartment, it's big! Two bedrooms, family room, kitchen and dining area. We have space to stretch here. We went out for a look around and to see if we could find some food. Quito is a city built between mountains, and if you're not going uphill, you're going downhill. It's steep in places too. Quito is also over 2800mts above sea level, and we're all feeling that lack of oxygen. Stopping to take a few breaths here and there. We read it takes a few days to acclimatise to the altitude. We were heading to a place that I found on GMaps but got side tracked and stopped at a small place. We had some crumbed ball things, mine and the kids had pork and stuff in it. Mel's had cheese. It came with an egg and a coffee. We ended up with three coffees and a Morocho. A thick drink made from corn, milk and spices. It had peppercorns in it. We ate, we drank, we paid. It wasn't a great dinner, but we were fed. Back to the apartment, goodnight.
30.9.2025. Today we headed out for some breakfast. I had a bit of a restless night, woke up a few times feeling like I was having some trouble breathing. We'll see how the acclimatising goes. We stopped at a small bakery we saw last night and grabbed a few things. While waiting outside, Emma felt a bit off after having one small bite of the biscuit she got. A little spew later in a drain and all good again. Maybe the altitude, who knows. Andrew got what he thought was a big donut covered in powdered sugar. Turns out it was hard as a biscuit. New countries with their new foods, gotta love it. After that we walked and looked for a supermarket to get some supplies. We found one and got some stuff, but they don't do veges in supermarkets here, or at least not this one. We'll look for veges later I guess. We went back to the apartment and I made pasta for lunch. We forgot to get salt. Pasta without salt, which in my opinion, and the rest of my family's, is not good. If you don't do salt in your pasta, no offense intended, it's just not for me. After we ate, we noticed it started to rain. Oh well, we're not going out again in that, time for some schoolwork. A little later it got heavier, it even sounded a lot heavier. It's hailing! Small hail, the size of a pea but hail nonetheless. Really glad we didn't go out in that. As I have previously stated the kids love schoolwork and it was hard to drag them away from it. But it had stopped raining/hailing and the city is not going to explore itself. On our way, we passed a place called Afrodesiac chocolate. We had seen it earlier and had meant to pay them a visit. As soon as we stepped foot inside, the free samples started. Maybe they hadn't seen a tourist for a while or maybe that's how they always are. I wasn't complaining. We tried a chocolate beer, tasted more like chocolate wine. Next we tried chocolate wine, followed by chocolate champagne and a chocolate whiskey liquor. The kids got their share of just plain old chocolate, no complaints there either. We had agreed to buy one bottle, the champagne. Then they hit us with the chocolate coffee and hand creams. Finally, we were all sprayed with a chocolate perfume. We bought one bottle, a box of white chocolate kids liked and a bag of chocolate coffee, then escaped with our lives, I think they would have kept us there all night. We were only just around the corner from the apartment so we took our stuff back. We were back on our original plan, which was to explore a bit before going to a restaurant I picked out. We got to the restaurant and it was very nice. Menus were dropped in front of us by a guy who could speak a bit of English, that helps. We looked at what was available. One of the more expensive dishes was Cuy, Guinea pig. Why not, I'm here to try the food and the beers. I ordered it and asked why there were two options for what seems the same meal. The waiter told me it was about presentation. He said most tourists want to try it, but don't want to see it. So there's a sooks option. They cook it then remove all the bones, so all you get is a pile of meat. Not a big pile mind you, it is after all a guinea pig. I went with the other option, not because I'm a big tough bloke. It's because I wanted a photo to send to my mate Damian, who has guinea pigs! What did it taste like? Hard to say. A bit like pork, but a bit gamier. The skin was cooked a little like pork crackle, but was really tough in places. It was cut in half and there wasn't a lot of meat on it. I did enjoy it, the kids had a taste, but I wouldn't have it again. I prefer a good steak or pork belly, and they're half the price. After dinner we walked back to the apartment. No more rain thankfully. Bed time.
1.10.2025. Today we're visiting a bit of the old city, starting with Basílica del Voto Nacional, which is right next to our stay. It has two big clock towers and a spire at the other end. We got our tickets and went in. As you enter the main area of the Basilica is closed off, but you can go up one of the towers. There's shops at almost every level, which we've not seen in a church before. We walked through one shop and out into an open area, where another shop was opposite. In the middle was a walkway, which we worked out went across the top of the vaulted ceiling in the main area. This is the first time we've been able to see what is above the ceiling and it gave us a unique view. At the other end were steps leading out to the spire at the other end of the Basilica. There are a couple sets of steep steps leading up to the spire. At first only I went up and had a look around. When I got back down Emma said she wanted to go up, so up I went again. After the spire we crossed back to the other side and went further up the tower. We stopped at another shop. This one was selling drinks. Coffee, tea, juice and BEER! It was only 10am, and I had that mentioned to me, but I had to try one. A beer made for a Basilica, being sold in a Basilica. My kinda church. I picked one that said it had some salt and pepper added. It was a very good beer. After having a bit of a laugh that a church would sell beer, we explored some more. We noticed that you could see the spire from a vantage point in the tower. I had the great idea that Mel could take a photo of Em and I in the spire. So we went back down and across, then up the spire again. Hope it was worth it for a good photo. We went back down and around to another part of the Basilica. This time we went inside were it is open and looked around. It is much bigger than I first thought it would be. After that, we wandered a bit and found an open area. A place with plants and benches. Lots of little restaurants and quite a few people. We stopped and had lunch before moving on. We visited another church, this one was heavily decorated on the inside, gold decoration everywhere. Lots of carvings as well. Which were very impressive. It was a bit over the top for me, the gold decorations, gaudy I would say. I'm sure they love it though. After that we found a taxi, as our next destination was over an hour walk away. The next thing to do is ride a cable car to the top of Pichincha volcano. After a 2klm ride you get dropped off near the top. A shortish hike sees you at the top, just above 4000m from sea level. Guess what! There's a swing up there. Andrew was the first to hop on with Emma being a bit hesitant. I had a go and swung pretty high. Mel initially didn't want to have a go, but I convinced them so I could get a photo. We walked a bit more, the view up here is fantastic. It started to rain a little so we headed back to a cafeteria. Yep, there's food and drinks available at the top. Seems here in Ecuador they have put a shop and somewhere to get food at every place to visit. We waited for a bit, well we had to wait for a bit as the cable car was shut down due to the rain. At least that's what I got from the brief conversation I had in Spanish with the guy who runs it. It was shutdown for around 10-15mins, would have been great to have been stuck in a car during that. After that we wandered back out and found a taxi. Well a taxi driver found us. On our way back to the apartment we had a talk with him. We organised to be picked up tomorrow for another tour at a negotiated price. Once back I made some dinner and we hit the sack as we have a somewhat early start tomorrow.
2.10.2025. We got picked up out the front of the apartment and taken on our tour for the day. First stop, the Pululahua crater. Free entry woohoo! There was a good viewpoint right at the top where you could look out over the crater. The crater doesn't look much like a crater as it is fully covered with vegetation and a small town. I sure hope it is now an extinct volcano. We started the hike down towards the bottom. We got around halfway down before deciding to head back up. Even though we've been here a few days, we're not fully acclimated yet. Or maybe just not that fit and figured it would be a lot harder to do the whole hike back up. Anyway the decision was made and we went back up. On the way out we passed through the shops. A magnet was purchased and we headed back to the taxi. Onto our next stop, the Middle Of the World!!! The equator line! A small fee and we're in. Once inside we saw some buildings depicting how the locals lived before Spanish occupancy. What they ate and the medicines they used from native plants. Next we rode in a “train” around the whole place. Unfortunately the train museum was closed, so we couldn't visit it. Afterwards we went to the centre, where there is a big monument for the equator. We did the selfie thing, then went inside. On the way up the monument taking the stairs, they had lots of information about the history of the exploration and discovery of the equator. At the top we had a good view of the surroundings. Unfortunately it was a bit cluttered as they were setting up for an Oktoberfest event in a few days. Also unfortunately we wouldn't be here for that. After going back down we found the planetarium. It was all in Spanish but was ok to watch. We visited a few other buildings, one of which was detailing the efforts of French explorers and contributions to finding the equator. Also that there was an equator and that the world was indeed round. There's lots of information that I can't remember and can't be arsed to look up and write in my blog, do it yourself if you wanna know. We found and had lunch there then looked around a bit more. We found some alpacas or Lama's, I still can't tell the difference. We visited what they called the chocolate museum. It wasn't really a museum at all, but rather just a shop for chocolate. I decided to give the beer museum a miss after that as I figured it would be the same. The kids played in the playground there for a while, then, as it was getting on in the afternoon, we headed back out to find our taxi driver. On the way back to the apartment we organised with him again for tomorrow. An earlier start tomorrow, so dinner and bed.
3.10.2025. Picked up from our apartment at 7am today. Off to a town called Mindo, located in the middle of the “Cloud Forest”. The Cloud Forest is a strip of forest that lies between the coastal area of Ecuador and the Amazon forest. It is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Our first stop was at a butterfly sanctuary. They had an area where cocoons were pinned up and we saw butterflies hatching and drying their wings. I even got to see one take its first flight from the cocoon. Next stop was for zip lines, yay!! Emma, as usual, had been hesitant to agree to do zip lines, even after her success in Africa and Paris. After seeing a picture where the kid went with an adult, she had said she would do it. Once it came to the crunch tho, she faltered. A little tough love from Mel and they were hooked up together, I didn't see it as I was already on the other side with Andrew. Andrew as usual has no issues with zip lines. He is happiest when he gets to do it first. As it turned out these were the longest ones we'd done so far with two being 500m long. Emma only took one zipline to realise again that she loves them and was happy to do the rest. Apparently she had a huge grin on her face and was laughing halfway through the first one. All up we did 10 lines and had a lot of fun. The guides we had with us were great, one of them even had Mel's camera and videoed them on the way across. We saw leaf cutter ants in action, we'd seen them before in an aquarium but this time we saw them in nature. We heard toucan chicks in a nest and saw the two adults in the branches. We finished at the start, took off the harnesses and thanked our guides. There was another group ready to go, so they didn't get any rest. Back in the taxi and off to our next stop. A big cable car across a ravine. On the other side we had some lunch, empanadas for Mel and I, burgers for the kids. Then we had a hike down to a waterfall. It started to rain on the way down. We had our umbrellas with us but had left our jackets in the taxi. By the time we were back, we were cold and wet. My shoes were soaked, tho a jacket wouldn't have helped with that. So we want to do more waterfalls? It's 3pm and a 2.5hr drive back. Plus we're wet and cold. Let's head back. Back across the ravine on the cable car and into the taxi. A long drive back along a winding road through the cloud forest to Quito. Once back we all had a nice hot shower and changed into warm clothes. I made dinner, we had a movie and went to bed.
4.10.2025. We started slowly today. After breakfast we headed out to visit some more of the city. It's also the anniversary of our 9th month on the trip. What better way to celebrate than by getting Emma her Pandora charm from Ecuador. How am I feeling after 9 full months travelling? Still happy to see new countries, taste new food and try new beers. Still not regretting having agreed to do this crazy thing. Also still haven't murdered anyone in their sleep.
We looked into taking the bus, but that was a little confusing and seemed harder than it needed to be. The metro however, was very straightforward as they only have one. Quito is a long narrow city built between mountains. So one long metro line seems to cover most of it. I think it was a $1.50 for the four of us for tickets. We hopped onto the train and headed into a newer part of the city. We got off and started heading towards the shopping centre that has a Pandora. We noticed that in the newer area there was more space. Bigger roads and footpaths. We found Pandora and bought Emma's charm. A lovely looking avocado one, and the most expensive yet. Alright let's look for lunch. We had food in the centre, then headed out again to a park just outside of it. Now this park is big. Actually not just big, pretty bloody huge. There's heaps of soccer fields, some basketball courts and some big playground areas. The kids had fun, we had a chat and did some people watching. There's people selling everything here, right in the park. Marquees set up and BBQs going. Being a Saturday I reckon people would spend most of their day here. Why not, the weather is lovely, there's plenty of food and drinks on offer and there's lots to do and see. In the park area there is a Botanical garden, which naturally we had a look at. One part had a bonsai tree display. Not sure if it was a competition, but it sure was interesting to look at. Some of the trees we saw were over 25-30 years old. Emma now wants one when we get back. We had more of a walk after that and found a Quito sign for a picture. We got back on the metro and headed back to the apartment. Rested then blogged some. I made dinner with the last of our pasta and leftovers. Then we headed out to find a pub with some music. About a 5min walk we were at a pub and having a nice stout. The pub was uniquely decorated and it was nice to sit amongst the locals for a bit. The kids got some drinks but neither finished as they said they were way too sweet. We tried another beer, this one another dark one but with coffee. We played one game of uno no mercy, which lasted over an hour and a half and we didn't finish as we all got sick of it. We headed back to the apartment and headed to bed.

5.10.2025. We had a bit of a sleep in, then went out and grabbed some breakfast. Have been blogging all morning, not sure what we'll do for lunch. We have purchased some bus tickets for tomorrow, but the company hasn't sent them to us yet. Mel has messaged them a few times and we're still unsure what is happening. So our plan is to head to the bus station in the morning and see what we can get. Hopefully we'll get our tickets sometime today, could do without the stress, obviously. Dinner somewhere, maybe at the apartment, though we have no food left. We'll see what happens.
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