We left Lima the next morning and then it was on to Quito. From Lima we flew to Guayaquil where we had a stopover before continuing on to Quito. At Guayaquil, we had to go through immigration and then go to the domestic terminal. At Lima, they told us that our bags would be checked in all the way to Quito. But after we passed immigration in Guayaquil, we saw our bags at the baggage claim. Not wanting to risk them getting left behind again, we picked them up and then just checked them in again for our next flight. We arrived in Quito in the late afternoon and Ana's parents (Ana is a friend of ours through CISV, and also Dan's camp director) picked us up at the airport. We passed by their farm house nearby before driving to the city.
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| Farm house with the beautiful sky behind |
We had dinner with her family and after, her brother Pancho drove us around the old part of the city. It was really interesting to see the city by night (as we mostly do our exploring in the day). We passed by lots of sights in the historic center which is one of the largest and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. Quito was actually the first of UNESCO's Cultural World Heritage Sites. Picture below is of the
Basílica del Voto Nacional, the largest Neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas.
The next morning, Ana's mother Eni took us around Quito. We visited the Pululahua Crater first, one of the world's largest volcano craters.
The crater is actually populated and used for agricultural purposes. They grown corn, I think there.
Then we stopped by
Mitad del Mundo, aka the middle of the world, where the equator is! There's a small park (which costs US$3 to enter) and a monument where the equator lies.
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| The monument itself is actually a museum but we passed since it was another US$3 |
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| On the equator, with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other foot in the south |
In the afternoon we surprised Dan at the Open Day of his CISV Village. So nice to see him!
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| That's 3/5 of the Gomez kids in South America! |
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| Dan's camp - Bananas Village |
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| One last picture with Danny Boy |
In the evening, Pancho took us to one of his friend's party. Part of the party was riding a
chiva, but a party bus version. (
Chivas are old buses; they actually look like a jeep, except bigger.) It's actually pretty cool because the bus takes you around the historic part of the city, so it's like a free sightseeing tour while having some fun. :P
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