Our South American adventure began in Quito, Ecuador with a very late arrival on a Thursday night. We had arranged for a company to pick us up at the airport and they were waiting for us with balloons for A’s 11th birthday! A very nice touch and a great start to the trip. He turned 9 in Iceland, 10 in Slovenia and now 11 in Ecuador! #summerbirthday #unlessyouliveingeorgiaandgobacktoschoolinjuly
As we are trying to do more of a slow travelling trip this time around, we decided to stay a full week in Quito. We were grateful for this on Friday, our first full day in Ecuador, when a combination of high altitude (Quito is at 2,850m or 9,350ft, in elevation, and is the 2nd highest capital city in the world) and tiredness overcame us and we just relaxed with some homeschooling in our AirBnB apartment.
We were staying in the financial district and the apartment was very nice and modern and we even had access to a table tennis table which the boys loved.
By Saturday we were rested enough to head into Quito old town. We’d heard lots of good things about it and had a good idea of what we wanted to do. We strolled through the main square and through some of the old streets.
We’d heard about an old toy shop selling wooden toys and went to check it out. It was not exactly what we’d anticipated in that all five of us could barely fit in the place at the same time and they really only sold wooden tops. We bought one a little out of obligation anyway but couldn’t really figure out how to use it. Oh well, a nice souvenir.
We’d also heard about Ecuadorian chocolate and how it is supposed to be the best in the world. Ecuador used to be the biggest exporter of chocolate. We found the famous Pacari chocolate shop and let the boys buy some chocolates each, however, the verdict from the peanut gallery was decidedly lukewarm…sorry Quito chocolate…
After that we headed to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the New World, which we climbed for some nice views of the city.
The climb up was pretty scary with steep ladders in parts and at some point the younger boys had to bow out.
The view at the top was definitely worth it, however.
We finished our day with a nice lunch at the ‘Hermosa Vista’ restaurant. The food was okay (and of course, the prices fit for tourists!), but the view was excellent…hence the name of the restaurant!
Quito is pushing to be a destination rather than just a stop off on the way to the Galapagos. The old town was definitely nice to see and we were lucky to get a great day for our trip there. The rest of the city certainly has its charm, however, as you’ll see in the coming posts a week was definitely long enough for us…more on that later.
