Quito - Day 1

Another early morning, the alarm went off at 4:30, but it was worth it to make my way to Quito. When I landed in Ecuador, immigration took only 5 minutes to get through 🙌

After arriving at the hotel, I met a few of my companions for the next week and had lunch on a rooftop restaurant. Despite being at 9,000 feet of elevation, I felt good walking up the hills. We then stopped by the chocolate tasting that was being held in our hotel. Walking around we got our first glimpses of The Winged Virgin of Quito. The aluminum statue is a symbol of Quito and actually taller than Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

Later in the afternoon, I met the rest of my new group for this tour and we had our welcome dinner. The dinner was six courses of Ecuadorian food and included a grub (which tasted like pork), a guinea pig dumpling (which was gamy), octopus, and a delicious lava cake and popcorn ice cream for dessert.Read more