Quito

Hello!! After months of planning and saving, denying ourselves the few luxuries that one usually etches out of the pittance our slave-wages deems sufficient to survive on, we have finally arrived in Ecuador. Our flights were good and we even had the added bonus that our luggage received a full extra days travel entitlement at no extra cost - finally catching up with us the day after we arrived.

Quito is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and sprawling out as far as the eye can see, which with my myopia isn´t too far, but I´m assured it is really very far indeed!! Our first few days we explored the old town which is full of astounding colonial architecture being restored to its original beauty. The city is at about 2500 metres above sea level so some altitude adjustment is necessary - I´ve been walking aroung like a 97 year old 200 a day smoker with no lungs... quite hard to breathe at this height until one gets used to it. Our first impressions of Quito is nothing but good; the people are smiley and quite friendly. On our first excursion into the old town we browsed around the pristine squares where the locals all gather to chat and people watch... one funny thing struck us though, that no-one seems to smoke in the street except foreigners and a couple of people with obvious mental health issues - and no, I don´t include myself amongst those.

At the Plaza Grande, a stunning square with immaculate kept gardens flanked by an imposing government building - all columns, pomp and ceremony - on one side a white washed sparkling baroque church dominating and another we saw our first monk. Nothing surprising in a deeply Catholic country you may think, but this one was straight out of Robin Hood - pudding basin haircut, shaved pate and bare footed - he looked like a slim Friar Tuck. Later we made the arduous climb to the top of one of the surrounding hills where the Parque Itchimbia affords spectacular 360 degree views of the city - quite stunning.

On the down side , for us, we arrived in Ecuador just as the people were about to go to the polls, on the Sunday, to vote on a new Constitution. This had the dreadful consequence of being accompanied by a Presidential ban on the sale of alcohol until the day after the polls closed!!! So a couple of dry days were had! ( The Constitution received a big yes vote and the leftist President Rafael Correa can now proceed with his socialist leaning policies! Viva la revolucion!!!)