We woke up early in the morning to go on a tour of Quito. Breakfast was on the top floor of our hostel which had great views of Quito. Our walking city tour of Quito started by going to the viewing points on Paneillo and seeing the giant statue of the Virgin (the only one with wings). We split into two small groups with our two tour leaders telling us about the old town. The sights, sounds and smells were hard to capture on our cameras but the atmosphere was great, the city had a nice buzz. Later in the tour we went to San Francisco church, the walls were covered in gold, blue and red there were also multiple statues of Jesus and other saints. It was so beautiful!
Most of the team went to the top of La Basilica (a cathedral which is the tallest building in Quito) and saw a 360 view of Quito, we were extremely proud when Shona and Kiera got all the way to the top as they both have a slight fear of heights. And the ladders were steep and wobbly. Go girls!
After the tour was complete we went to plaza Fouch which has the strap line 'Fouch Yeah!' and got traditional Ecuadorian food for example I had Bandeja Tipca Clorinda which consists of Fried pork, Llapingachos, fried banana, pork skin, avocado, white corn and roasted corn.
It is the end of chapter one of our adventure as we had to say goodbye to our excellent CEO's from G Adventures. We had an opportunity to give them our tip and gave them three special badges. They in turn thanked us for visiting Ecuador. Since the earthquake in April 2016 and Zika virus in South America many tourists have stopped visiting the country and it has severely affected the economy. They told us to never stop travelling and keep having an enquiring mind and supporting the local economies around the world. We are part of one global community and travel helps us bridge cultures and look after each other.
Later that evening we went back to our hostel called hostel593 on the north side of Quito. For most of the evening we were chilling out either reading books or playing black ops on the communal TV in the guests' lounge. We made the most of the communal kitchen by self catering and making toasted sandwiches.
After most people had packed and showered ready for our flight tomorrow, thanks to Kathy and Katie heading to the shops, we had ice cream in a variety of different flavours such as vanilla, chocolate, choc chip and cherry - we then continued to watch "21& over" until 8:30ish.
We then all decided that it would be wise to have an early night as we needed to get up at 4am the next day for our flight.
Galápagos Islands, HERE WE COME!
We then all decided that it would be wise to have an early night as we needed to get up at 4am the next day for our flight.
Galápagos Islands, HERE WE COME!
No comments:
Post a Comment