Quito

[re-uploading as it got lost on FindPenguins]

The highest capital city in the world, according to, Ecuadorians, if you ask anyone else it's La Paz in Bolivia but the Ecuadorians claim that according to Bolivias original constitution the Capital was Sucre and they never updated it. Either way, we're pretty high here at 2850m and we notice the altitude when walking around the steep streets.

Our first stop was to the Middle of the World city, just north of Quito a small town that straddles the Equator. At its centre is the Middle of the World compound which houses the Middle of the World monument, it is apparently the middle of the world. The monument was built in the late 20th century on the site of the previous monument which commemorated the first Geodesic Mission of the French Academy of Sciences to determine the equatorial line in 1736. It now houses a little museum with some history of the country and an exhibition about the expedition to determine where the equator was. We have travelled across the equator a few times this trip but its pretty cool to be able to stand one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the south. The rest of the little city is mainly tourist shops and restaurants, but we had heard about a cool little museum near by so we went to check it out.

Intinan Musesum or Museum of the Sun is about 240 meters north of the Middle of the World city, and the first we we noticed is their Equator line painted along the floor running though the middle of the compound, very confusing as it runs parallel to the one we just came from, are there two equators? As our guide explained the Middle of the World city is actually in the wrong, location. And not on the equator at all. The original French scientists were off by a few hundred meters (they didnt have smart phones with GPS back then) and the Ecuadorian Government didn't realise till it was too late, everyone just kind of goes along with it. Now we found the actual equator we needed to take a few more pics, our phone GPS confirming we are now in the right spot.

We spent the next day wandering round the historical centre of Quito, also know as the Face of God city , primarily because of its altitude and the number of churches there are, you can't turn a corner without finding another House of God in this town, and most of them are quite old and well used. A quaint little part of town with strong colonial vibes.

After being acclimatised to Quito's altitude, we decided to go even further up and take the only teleférico that runs in this city. Very different from the one in Medellín, this one is just for tourists! We go up very steep for 10 minutes and we're up in the mountains at 4100m! It's a bit colder but still very nice and very sunny. We walked around admiring the views and of course tried the swing in the clouds. There is a walk of 4km to the top of the mountain, but the advised time is 5hours as it is steep and in altitude...we then decided to come back down and visit the botanical garden instead. The garden is pretty with a lot of orchids and a lot of flowers that we have at home. We enjoyed our time in Quito but we are definitely craving to be somewhere warm again, the shorts in our backpacks are getting a little envious of our jeans and hoddies.Read more