First contact with Ecuador - Quito

We had a nice first day in Ecuador. After the 3-hour-long (!!!) trip from the airport yesterday evening (for some 30kms... luckily we had a really cool taxi driver called Freddy who had worked in Switzerland and even spoke German - it was really nice to talk to him and learn about his life both here in Ecuador and in Europe) we were too tired and the air on 3.000m too thin to do much more than watching Narcos and booking some accommodation for the coming weeks (coffee finka and surf camp) :-)

Waking up early, we went along 3 out of the 4 recommended half-day walking tours in ~2 hours - only to get back to the hotel at 11:30 and nap for an hour :-) The amazingly decorated churches make one quite tired - and there are dozens of them in the old town if Quito.

The afternoon started with a necessary routine: as soon as we are staying in a city place for more than 1 day —> do the laundry :-) Especially now after the jungle. Then we went to the Basilica and climbed the really scary tower. There was a wooden path above the ceiling arches and then 3 ladders to climb the tower. 💀💀💀 But it was well worth it: great view across the entire city of 7 million people according to our taxi driver Freddy.

We then tried the public transportation system (VW buses called “Volksbus”) and strolled around in the newer districts, drinking coffee and planning further activities in Ecuador.

Evening ended with getting the laundry back, Bertram getting a haircut and eating tacos and guacamole, hmmm :-)Read more