Quito

4 Jan 2007 - 5 jan 2007

As we rise relatively early in the morning we are very pleased to see blazing SUN! I was starting to wonder about its lack of appearance in this country. The hostel is slighly elevated so we can look down over the city, which is nice. Admitedly its a lot nicer after the layer of brown smog burns off. We decide that we'll change hostels and get a few errands done this morning.

Our main errand is toobtain a guide bok for Colombia. We go to the South American Explorers club, and get a mixed recption from the yanks who work there. THey have a 2nd hand guide book. Its a footprints... from 2000. Not too sure on that one. They too repeat the current staory doing the rounds that the latest Lonely Planet is a joke. (As it turns out I get to see this LP in about a week from now. Its unreal.. word for word from the shoestring guide from 2003.. no new info or nothing...)

Finding a hostel turns into a minor mission. The 1st place we walk into quotes us a good rate, then suddenly adds "it more if you want to stay the whoel night".... We say no to the by the hou/brothel... Finaly we give up on new town where supposed "most travellers" stay, and find a big deserted old hotel in the old town.

Its from here our day gets better. The old town is very impressive. Not much traffic and loads of beautiful old buildings. Again, the final appearance of some sun helps too.

There are loads of famous old churches, but its the HUGE Cathedral that grabs our attention. Going inside the church itself is almost spooky. Its roof is soo high above us and the tall walls are surprisingly featureless concrete. The Gargoyles on the outside are local animals instead of the usual dragons. There are Iguanas, Pelican etc and its a prett cool touch. For a couple of dollars we can climb the towers. THis turns out to be excellent. The access takes us on a thin boadwalk suspended literally over the churches massive high ceiling. The ladders for the final assent are pretty steep, with minimal guard rails. The view is great.. right over the city. Get some cool photos too...

While eating lunch we

notice a slighly random thing. The coke bottle I am drinking from. Over here they recycle the bottles, which can only be a good thing. But unlike home nowadays where the glass is melted and production starts over, here they just clean the bottle and refill it. All good. We notice my bottle looks very old and worn,a nd upon close inspection has the old logo. It also has a date.. Feb 1992!! Thats a lot of refills over 15 years!

In the eve we end up in the new town, right where we started thsi morning. Its remarkable how different it looks now after dark. The restaurants are full and theres lots of em. OIts al quite flash really, though its again more locals than foreigners. We go to an Indian place which looks authentica and serves food which looks great. Somewhat bizzarrely.. there is no spice in it at all.. so its a pretty bizzaree immitation of Indian food, despite it being Indians who run the show...