Feb. 11 – Ibarra to Quito

While Levi slept in, I went out to try to catch up on phone calls and blogging, but all of the internet cafes where closed!  After our complimentary hotel breakfast, we headed south on Ecuador’s excellent roads, and enjoyed more fantastic mountain vistas.  Every turn presented very picturesque towns, lakes, and volcanoes.   Altitude so high that the bikes ran very sluggish. We briefly got confused when Quito was shown on a highway sign twice, in two different directions, but we quickly got passed that.  Somehow we missed the monument/marker for the actual equator, so we do not have that photo.  After one last long climb through some weird desert-like mountains, we entered Quito from the north.

Quito is a huge, long and skinny city, located between volcanoes on the east and west.  Levi navigated us to the central district, where we found a good hotel for $26.  We took a trolley to centro ($.25) and checked out the amazing older city, amazing old churches and the ‘basilica’, centuries old government and commercial buildings, and very cool squares and public spaces. Then we went to a local market for a fabulous lunch of hornados for $2.50 – maybe the best meal I have had so far on the trip!

Driving and road etiquette here is better than anywhere we have been in central or south America so far.  Drivers are patient, and are less quick to use there horns.  The annoying wolf-whistling and honking by taxis is much less prevalent here, and just in general, the streets are quieterand safer that what we have become used to.  Hurray for Ecuador!  But the soot and exhaust from the trucks and buses is no better, or worse.  Ecuador has the cheapest gas we have seen so far – $1.50 a gallon for regular.  Buses and trolleys are very convenient and cheap, and taxis are not expensive, either.  Internet cafes abound, but connections are slow, and machines prinitive. 

We took advantage of a sauna/spa in the basement of our hotel, and that was a very pleasant and relaxing experience.  All in all a very nice afternoon in a very nice, world-class city.