The hotel's internal courtyard, though now with a glass roof to keep the rain out.

The room is spacious and has a beautiful original wooden floor.

Never seen a motorbike in a church before, however, this was a raffle prize, a dollar a ticket.

Some interesting old buildings in the street we are staying on.

Despite the absence of any gin or tonic this was an Equadorian gin & tonic.

Was pretty quiet, didn't see any other tourist here.

Back In The City

January 28 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

The return taxi, water taxi and bus to the airport all went seamlessly, even the flight took off 4 mins early. Then we were back in Quito, only 1hr 45min flight but a world away in comparison.

Carol had booked a hotel in the historic quarter, the building we were told by the owner was 250 years old. It had been beautifully refurbished, our bedhead alone must have taken someone weeks to carve.

We got out of the hotel around 4:30pm and walked up to the basilica for a look around. It seems whichever way you go it's either uphill or downhill. We had our one meal of the day in a local restaurant. A burger, steak, egg and rustic chips, a litre of beer and a coke all for less that 15 US dollars. These are my sort of prices.

We went back to the hotel until around 8pm when we decided to go out for a drink. As we were going out the owner tried putting the fear of god into us by saying that in this area everything closes early and that there are a number of homeless people who would try to rob you if you weren't careful. She wasn't wrong with everything closing early, it was very quiet, no bars or restaurants open and to be honest we did feel a little uneasy.

So for 3 US dollars we took a taxi to Plaza Foch an area for bars and restaurants, though maybe because it was a Tuesday, although they were open it was pretty quiet. Quito cocktails seem to be a law unto themselves. We had a gin and tonic that tasted like a margarita and the barman did confirm it was a G&T. Then in another bar Carol had a pina colada that didn't taste much of pina or colada. It seems beer and coke are the safest bets.

There are no meters in the taxis, so you have to agree the price before setting off. The driver started off at 10 dollars, but I think the loud, surprised tone in my voice in response immediately brought the fare down to 5 dollars and the threat of Uber down to 3 dollars, We got back to the hotel at 22:15 and the owner was already in her gym jams. We were now wondering whether her warning of vagabonds and thieves, was so we would stay in and she could have an early night.Read more