Quito, Ecuador

What can I say about Quito.  Well, for one, it totally took me by surprise.  I didn't know what to expect when I got there.  This was my first trip to South America, and it was unfortunately just a stopover on the way to our real trip to the Galapagos.  We landed in Ecuador pretty late Tuesday night, so we really only had one day to explore Quito.  Driving to our hotel, well...Quito wasn't much to look at.  The buildings were pretty run down, it was dark, there were stray dogs everywhere, and I wasn't expecting much out of our time there.  But Quito surprised me in some extraordinary ways.  And I am happy to report some of those good surprises with you.

1.  I had quite possibly the best Latte of my life in Quito, as well as some of the best coffee I have ever had in my life.  The coffee was around $0.50, and the Latte was $2.05.  Take that, Starbucks.  (And you all know that I love me some Starbucks.)



Delicioso!

2.  The Ecuadorian people are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  I wish I was one of those people that felt brave enough to take pictures of strangers, but I'm not.  But trust me.  Once I met a few of the locals and felt comfortable enough using my high school level Spanish, I never once felt like I was in any denger walking around the city (of course, still being street smart; I am not a naive traveler).

3.  While individual buildings may not be much to look at, if you put them together, they look quite picturesque.

4.  Ecuadorian tapas are quite yummers!  I may have had one or two (or five-ish).

 

The biggest empanada I have ever seen.