...continued...

...awaiting our bus to the train to the bus to the taxi back to our hotel.  Big day, well worth the trek, whichever way you go.

7/7/13 - having breakfast at the exec club of hotel prior to our flight to Gallapagos via Guayacil.  Lovely day yesterday in the new town area of Quito, where we visited the National Museum's very interesting exhibit of ancient local peoples up through the 19th c, where the City Museum begins and takes us to the present.  Highlights were the gold pieces and diaramas of how life was like through the ages.  We walked through plaza Elijo next to the Nat'l Museum where local artists and craftspeople were selling their goods, then onto a local artisan market with long corridors of multiple stalls of goods on the way to plaza foch where we saw where the partiers would revel later on.  We continued our walk to a cibicheria where we sampled civiches and fish and wonderful salsa - the salsas here are magnificent as in Peru, very flavorful and spicy upon request.  We continued our walk to our hotel, then rested before packing up and wonderful dinner in La Floresta, the chi-chi area of town up on one of the hills overlooking the city.

Walking through town is a bit sketchy, and not recommended at all at night.  Taxis are 3-8 dollars a shot, so it makes sense to just hop in one.  Even our walk in broad daylight to our hotel was a bit lonely - I think people come out in the late afternoon and evening here, and our 7:30pm dinners started with us being one of few in the restaurants, filling up later on.  The old town center around the plaza grande was much more lively and inviting during the day.

Looking forward to a change in pace, weather and altitude as we head to sea level today.  I enjoyed the mountain views of Quito - we are surrounded by mountains and volcanoes - learning more about the culture and people.  Hasta luego!