Our flight back from the Galapagos stopped in Guayaquil to let off some passengers. Those of us continuing to Quito were told to wait in our seats while odd jobs were being done but for some reason it was essential to undo our seat belts. After about half an hour we were suddenly told to get off the plane and were ushered into the transit lounge. The lounge was full of disorientated tourists who all had no idea what was happening although it was clear that we were going to board a different plane. Eventually we realised that the flight was boarding and we scrambled aboard a much smaller plane for the rest of the flight and got into Quito a couple of hours later than expected. The first thing that struck us was that, for a city actually on the Equator, it was not very warm!

Quito is one of those places in South America where everyone warns you that it is extremely dangerous to go out. At our hostel the young man gave us a map where he marked different areas as safe and unsafe with different times that it would be OK. This mostly seems to the advantage of taxi drivers as nobody feels safe at night going anywhere except in a cab. However, even taxis may not be safe; the hostel suggested that we should get them to ring for a cab rather than just hailing one on the street. Having said all that we saw and heard nothing untoward in the whole time we were there, although we did take cabs at night as suggested.

We quite enjoyed the city as it seemed to have a lot of life and quite a bit of culture. Of course, the chance nature of our arrival dates meant that we just missed a couple of interesting events but we did manage to watch a big screen presentation of a huge Vangelis concert from a temple in Athens. Not necessarily our first choice of concerts but with Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle singing the lead roles, well worth the free admittance.

Quito has more than its fair share of interesting buildings and our hostel was close to one of them. The 'Oldest European Observatory in South America' is a rather curious building occupying a part of the parkland between the old and new towns. We were unable to find out what its imposing title actually means.
The historic centre has dozens of streets of colonial buildings set around squares, often fronting churches.
Of the countless religious buildings, perhaps the most interesting is the city's largest colonial structure, the monastery of San Fransisco.
The church has been substantially rebuilt after earthquake damage but is actually the oldest in the city and continues to function. The ceiling now dazzles the eye with fresh gold after recent restoration work on the roof.

The monastery itself is now open to browse and visit a very interesting museum of religious art. On the wall of one of the cloisters is the 1669 tomb of Fransisco Cantuna. Local legend says that this man had been contracted to build the main atrium of the monastery but the job was taking longer than expected. Cantuna hit upon the idea of offering his soul to the devil if the building could be finished by the end of the night. The devil agreed and went about the task with gusto. However, the wily Cantuna had hidden one of the stones. It was therefore impossible for the devil to completely finish the work and Cantuna managed to save his soul.

The central square has a good range of colonial buildings and where some have been replaced, the architecture seems to blend well. Just off the square we visited the Centro Cultural Metropolitano, which is described as a hub of cultural activities. Unfortunately it was between shows. However, the building is now a part of the university andthe two main courtyards were very attractive.




Amongst other buildings, we were surprised to stumble upon a theatre still functioning despite suffering recent fire damage.

At night the young of Quito (and us) head for the barrio of Mariscal Sucre where several streets are jam-packed with bars, restaurants and discotecas. The music everywhere is deafening as each place tries to out-do their neighbour to convince punters that they are the most happening joint on the block. And it’s not just inside; the take-out licorias are doing very good business and the streets are full of people drinking and shouting at each other. We retired to the slightly more sedate La Boca del Lobo (The Wolf’s Mouth) a trendy and artily decorated cafe/bar selling great food and scrummy cocktails, where we substantially overspent our notional budget. But it was so good that we went back again the next night...

Speaking of money, we have had to get used to a new currency in each country but it has been a bit strange in Ecuador. In the late 90’s the country’s economy slumped and the Ecuadorian Sucre fell to a quarter of its value. The president, Jamil Mahaud, proposed scrapping the Sucre and adopting the US dollar but he received almost universal rejection. In January 2000 Quito was shut down and the congress building taken over by protesters, forcing Mahaud to resign. The protest leaders handed the presidency to ex-vice-president Gustava Noboa, who immediately went ahead with the proposed "dollarisation" anyway! So in September 2000 the US dollar became Ecuador’s official currency. From our point of view, using dollars here is probably simpler than we expect to find it in Colombia where there are over 3000 pesos to the British Pound!