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Long Journey and I'm bored |
We left Hemel Hempstead at 3:30 am and arrived in
Mariscal Sucre International Airport, Ecuador 22 hours later. Although the journey went to plan it was definitely long haul. I watched two films: The Danish Girl (a disappointment, to be honest) and The Dressmaker (highly entertaining). Food was possibly the worst I've ever had on a plane (yeah, Iberia). Moving on.
Marco, our tour guide, met us at the airport and Miguel the driver, whisked us to Quito. We were travel weary but they perked us up with a warm welcome during the 40 minute transfer to the hotel. Marco was keen to point out the new airport, and the new road, and the new bridge. The modernisation and development of the town was a theme throughout our stay in Quito and something Marco was clearly proud of. Our hotel, Casa De La Ronda, is in the old town and just my style: a small boutique hotel, with loads of character. Quito is at an altitude of 2850m, the highest capital city in the world, and whilst Louise, Richard and myself felt fine, Ian had a hint of altitude sickness - headache and slight shortness of breath. We crossed our fingers that the traditional Andean recipe of hot coca tea that the hotel served would do the trick. Our rooms were enormous - Louise and Ian's bed could easily sleep a family of 6! We were all dead beat and had no inclination or energy for venturing out and so all we managed on our first evening was a glass of wine and a meal in the hotel restaurant. Louise and Ian were dead impressed with my Spanish, which runs to 'Vino Tinto por favor'. We retired to the comfort of bed.
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Pretty central courtyard of our hotel |
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Typical meal throughout our trip - grilled pork, potato, fried plantain, corn, avocado with a tomato salsa |