After arriving at Quito’s new airport at midnight via three flights from Philadelphia (including a very tight 35 minute connection in Panama City), I was greeted by the son of my guesthouse manager for the long drive into town. Perhaps I should have been a bit more concerned when he asked me whether I would mind if he drove fast. I just shrugged my shoulders and said fine, thinking “as opposed to what? Slow?”
Well, I think I won’t clear that request again. The roads were mostly empty at that hour, and it seemed he was keen to put his Chevy through its paces. With his girlfriend in the back seat and me in the front, he reached speeds of around 140 kph on a number of stretches along the mostly new but twisty and hilly highway. Numerous cops were passed along the way who gave no response as my driver turned what was normally supposed to be a ninety minute drive into fifty minutes.
Upon arrival at the guesthouse in a trendy restaurant district on the far side of town, a large metal door slid open to reveal a secret, secure, small compound surrounding a nice little two story house surrounded by high cement walls embedded with broken glass on top. The compound was just big enough for him to reverse his car, Bat Cave style, before the gate rolled shut again. Ecuador has a bit of a crime problem, you see. He quietly led me to my nice comfortable room upstairs and showed me the things I needed to know about staying there. Among the quirks was a shared coed bathroom with two toilets and two opaque glass showers facing each other.
The guesthouse is run by a very friendly hard working family who go out of their way to make sure everyone is happy and comfortable. For a mere $20 a night, which includes a generous and tasty home cooked breakfast every morning, the accommodation is easily better than many places I’ve stayed in that have charged a lot more money.
My first day on the street in Quito was consumed with finding tour operators who could speak English well so I could investigate what options I had for doing tours around the area. The Galapagos Islands were always high on my list, but I was a bit put off by the high prices that didn’t even cover all the expenses – an 8 day tour blitzing the total expenses I have had in every individual country I have visited so far. And these prices were 30% off last minute ‘bargains’!
Seeing as I was already getting my body acclimatised to the 2800 meter elevation of Quito and really enjoying the perfect humidity-free and mosquito-free sunny climate, I thought it might be wise to work my way up The Andes rather than down. There are quite a few day tours out of the city that I could do, but a 3 day mountain biking excursion up around a number of very high volcanic and snow covered peaks sounded like the most fun. So far. Still seeing what’s out there.
