Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Sleepless in Quito







We arrived safely Monday evening and checked into our hostal for the week......Chicago Hostal, a lovely family run place on the border of the Old Town and New Town which is great for exploring the city of 1.4M that is 9300 feet above sea level. We have the nicest room in the hostal for the week and we are certainly paying for it.........$20 a night for a private room with bathroom and a TV which we didn't expect to use but found out last night we can get 3 channels with the Winter Olympics on so we were able to watch the Canada hockey game, ladies figure skating and the ladies bobsleigh. We are 3 hours ahead of Vancouver so the timing works out to be the end of our day for prime time viewing. Our hostal is up a small hill and we have a wonderful view of the city from our balcony. It is on a small street but the traffic seems to echo up into our 3rd floor room which isn't helping Rhonda's ongoing sleep deprivation. I have been taking advantage of the $1.25 600 ml cervezas at our hostal and not having any problemos!
Yesterday we walked around Old Town checking out the local market (Mercado Central) and San Francisco Church and Museum. We also came across a local civic demonstration which was loud and peaceful although the police were out in full force in case it turned ugly. Today we took local buses north of the city to the Centre of the Earth (Mitad del Mundo) which is situated on the Equatorial line.....actually the park and monument are 240 metres too far south which can be validated with a GPS but there is now a new museum in the correct spot were we had a great tour.
I am now known as Miguel on this continent.......we're not sure about Rhonda but for now we will go with Pocahantas which is her alternative neighbourhood name.
Buenos dias..................miguel & pocahantas

1 comment:

  1. Hi Mike and Rhonda, stick with the beer to stay hydrated, it has added bonuses and a few unwanted side effects that we won't speak about.

    Enjoy ever minute of your trip.

    Derm and Ce

    ReplyDelete