Quito

We lucked out big time arriving in quito as there happens to be a fiesta on, which explains the thousands of smiling brown faces that greeted us at the airport. These werent all there to rip us off (my first, rather paranoid thought) or to welcome Madonna on another baby napping mission (my second, starting to daydream type thought). We proceeded to greatly amuse the locals by repeatedly asking if they would take US dollars before realising it is the national currency. Having worked this out Emma massively outstaged me on the going native front by ordering a hot chocolate with cheese in it while I was woffing down a banana split. I thought this was a big thing in south america before Emma pointed out that that was North America I was thinking of. Still I ate most of the cheese and the split, which is the sort of thing that often happens when we eat together.

There were lots of "firsts" on our first day, not just hot chocolate with cheese (yuk). Lunch was pot luck as we couldnt understand the menu. We ended up eating "choclos" (a bit like corn) and "chocos" which turns out to be the same food cooked differently! We also managed to get conned by the weather, getting sunburnt and soaking wet in a matter of hours, so now we are armed with suncream and a cheap tartan umbrella ($2). The chaos of Quito fed our initial paranoia, so it was a relief to get to the Panecillo, a guarded area on the top of a hill with fantastic panoramic views of Quito. Guarded because it has long been an area dangerous for tourists.

Viva Quito! Fiesta lights.
Viva Quito! Fiesta truck.
View from the Panecillo

Una Plaza