Quito Day One: Downtown

When I woke up and saw the ceiling of my room I knew I was somewhere other than Huntsville and possibly far away...

Hotel room ceiling and wall

I was exhausted but none the less I jumped out of bed and took a shower and went to the breakfast area. I was alone there and had a nice pot of coffee all by my self. The tables were already prepared with all the silverware on them so I picked one... The buffet table had some nice pastries, fruits and cheeses and some cold cuts. I picked a peeling fruit, a banana, a croissant and that was it. A lady from the kitchen showed up with a fresh cup of cranberry juice and asked if I wanted eggs and I said no. The cranberry juice was great.... Had three cups of strong black coffee and was off. The lady at the front desk spoke English well and helped me stop at a taxi to go meet my tour group at the Hilton hotel. 

Grayline Ecuador is the tour company and we had a full bus today, however I was the only English speaking tourist so I had my own private guide....  After riding the bus for a very short while, I quickly realized that Quito and Algiers had a lot in common both in building architecture and the landscape. Quito's architecture is Mediterranean with a lot of Spanish and Moorish influences and Quito sits on a mountain, a high mountain for that! Algiers sits on a high hill compared to Quito!

For a first day at 10,000 ft the tour was a little too much!! I was gasping for air and taking many deep breaths to combat the altitude. I had a headache at times but dehydration was the cause not altitude. You have to keep drinking all the time as this is dry season so I kept buying bottles of water at every corner.....

The famous basilica in Quito with its founder

Inside the basilica

A street of Quito

A plaza with a lot of history

A nice square with a statue and lots of history

A public library

Churches everywhere

Above Quito and looking down on a sprawling city

Standing on both sides of the equator

Doing some gravity exercises at the equator

My first day in Quito was a blast!!! Yes I experienced the effects of altitude, dehydration and exhaustion but I learned a LOT! Fascinating city, awesome people as to the food I stayed with what I know best as I always do... The pictures above are just a small sample of what I have on my iPad. Oh bye the way Quito is Safe... All the worrying about pickpocketing  and all that was for none. However, it pushed me to be extra careful everywhere.

That is all for today, tomorrow I venture outside of Quito with another tour to the Cotopaxi volcano at even higher altitude than Quito, some say as high as 19,000 ft!!!