After three months of traveling around Colombia, we said good-bye and moved on to Ecuador arriving in Quito on April 29, 2023.
I had visited Quito only once before in early-2019. I organized and participated in a birding tour that covered many birding spots north of Quito. That was my first trip to South America and it began less than one month after I made the big move to Costa Rica.
After our arrival in April, we would spend three non-consecutive weeks in Quito, breaking up the stay with visits to the north - Otavalo - and to the south - Baños, Riobamba and Latacunga.
Quito is a big city (over 2 million) located high in the Andes (2,850 meters/9,350'). Since we had already spent a considerable amount of time at a high altitude we did not notice any effect. Although at roughly the same altitude as Bogotá, we did not feel as cold so we spent more time walking around the city.
Our impression is that Quito is a city of churches, beautiful and ornate churches. Subsequently traveling around the country, we would say that applies in general to Ecuador. Many of the churches are like museums with incredible paintings and sculptures scattered throughout.
The centro histórico of Quito spreads out from the central park surrounded by churches, government buildings and other architecturally interesting buildings. The park and the entire area near it is vibrant and active.
We stayed in a couple of different hotels in the Casa Foch section of the city, about a 35 minute walk north of the historic center. We explored two other nearby sections of the city, la Floresta and la Carolina. These areas have plenty of restaurants, coffee shops and parks. I have said it before, but we love the coffee in Colombia.
Some incredible sites from around Quito - primarily the historic center.
Guayoyo is a style of making coffee in Venezuela. We stumbled on this little coffee shop in Quito by accident. "Café Guayoyo" is the name of one of the stories in "Slow Descent and Other Little Stories".
Our first hotel in Quito - Casa Foch
A couple of clarifications about the book "Slow Descent and Other Little Stories" and thanks to those of you who have purchased it.
The book IS available on Amazon Kindle but Amazon does not have it available in paperback. If you want to order the Amazon Kindle version, make sure you have clicked on the "Kindle" box (and not the paperback box) on the Amazon page for the book. See the link below.
If you are interested in buying a paperback copy of the book, the only outlet at which it is currently available is Barnes & Nobel. Here is that link.
Here is a link to all of the outlets at which it is currently available.
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