4 February
We flew from Manila to TaipeI > Los Angeles > Mexico-city and 35 hours after leaving the Philippines we arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador and 2800 meters above sea level. Quito is a huge city, but only counts around 1.6 million residents. They don't have alot of high buildings so everything is build wide spreader.
After arriving in Quito we took a taxi to the "community hostel". We quickly noticed some differences between Asia and Ecuador. They speak (almost) only Spanish here, which is pretty hard for us since our Spanish is very poor. It's also a lot colder here (15 degrees) and less moisture. Quito is surrounded by mountains and it reminds a little bit of Switzerland.

We arrived in the hostel at around 08:00 and we're exhausted from the flights. We could only check in at 13:00 so we explored the area a little bit by foot. There's alot going on the streets in Quito. You can buy vegetables, fruits but also the most random things like tooth brushes. Also there's this typical Spanish music playing which makes it really nice.
Back in the hostel we got a large room with a nice view on the church. We slept from 13:00 - 19:00 which wasn't so good for our jet lag, but staying awake was not possible 😅

The next morning we had a very good breakfast in the hostel for 3 dollar. In Ecuador they use US dollars for payments, like more countries around the world. After eating breakfast and meeting some new people we took a taxi to the bottom of the mountain. We first went in a little themepark and then took the lift up to the mountain. The lift took us to almost 4000 meter. We walked around there and noticed we got exhausted so fast. I think it was also the antibiotics which made me tired. We walked up to 4200 meter and enjoyed the view there. As far as we could see, we saw houses belonging to Quito. It's really a big city.

We got back around 16:00 and had dinner in a vegan restaurant. The last days we watched 2 documentaries about food production in America. It's really extreme how our food is being produces and the animals that have to suffer. Also the produced food is often not healthy. These documentaries opened our eyes a bit and we are willing to try to eat more concious and good quality food.

6 February
We started our day again with a great breakfast in the hostel. After that we rested in our room and went to the travelagency to make our plan for the next days. We decided to spend the day in Quito instead of visiting the hot springs 2h away by bus. For tomorrow we booked a room in Baños, an adventure town more southly of Ecuador:)
Before we started our city tour, we bought some fresh fruits right next to the hostel in the street and of course an avocado.
Our first stop was basilica del voto nacional, a historic and nice church. For 2$ each we could go inside and for other 2$ each we could go up the towers. The church was huge and really nice, we also enjoyed the view over the city.
We already were hungry and looked arround for some cheese, ham, mustard and bread for our self made sandwiches which we ate in the city. During the lunch a lot of people walked up and down the streets to sell tomatoes and other stuff. Why did we buy everything in the supermarket? 😁
With reloaded energy we started our way to the Virgen de Quito, an aluminium monument of Madonna on a hill. The last part we had to go by taxi as we were told the stairs up to the hill is a dangerous part of the city. Once we arrived there we were surprised by the overview of the city. From this point we also could see the south of Quito and realised how big quito really is.

We spent the rest of the day there, sitting in the gras, sunbathing and playing a cardgame. While playing cards, a man wanted to sell us and other visitors wristbands. After that he picked some grass and ate it?! Really strange 🤔
For the night we didnt had any plans as not a lot is going on in this part of Quito, its not even easy to find a restaurant in the evening. So we ate in our hostel, cheesburger with bacon, avocado and garlicsauce and potatowedges for 5$, delicious! We also had a beer and played some cards. We soon got tired and went to bed early in hope to get over the jetlag soon and start the adventures in Baños with a lot of energy:) Bis später!!

Geschreven door FrankArends