AlternateRoute

Wow, we are just south of the Equator, but at 2800m and stuck between two mountain ranges, the weather is not that tropical. Flying into Quito the countryside looks lush and green. The houses are more modern than in Lima, the air is cleaner and the traffic much better. The hotel is in one of the main streets in the new city and only a short walk to a large park that had a handicraft market in it.
On the way to the hotel, our transfer guide Jorge, told us that a referendum was being held on Sunday and for three days before it the sale of alcohol is forbidden. Most bars in the city were closed as there was no pint in opening, however, we were able to buy beers in our hotel and drink them in our room.

Tonight we went to dinner at a place called “Spicy”. The “i” in Spicy is a stylised chilli and I think it was the only chilli in the restaurant. When Sue told the waitress she was allergic to garlic, the reassurance came back that no item on the menu had garlic in it. The meal had been cooked in a way that managed to remove every vestige of flavour from it. I am now in the situation where my stomach says it’s full, but my mouth hasn’t registered anything going past.

Our tour officially starts tomorrow with the activity being “Arrive Quito”. In the evening we should have a meeting with the tour leader. Tomorrow morning we shall try and find what pleasures Quito has to offer.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2007 at 2302 and is filed under South America 2007.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.