Following two very full days of getting here from San Agustin, we spent the weekend relaxing in Quito, the capital of Ecuador that sits at approximately 2,800 meters above sea level. We checked into L'Auberge Inn on Friday late afternoon and enjoyed lounging around a rather high end hostal, notably being entertained by Rudy, a 6'3" colourful "clear skinned" Belizean who is chock full of stories (sort of like Shantaram) and who speaks like Bob Marley. We sure lucked out on the room, a beautiful large penthouse room, neatly tiled, with white painted brick walls, a rich wood cathedral ceiling and a window running 15 feet in length by 5 or 6 feet high, providing a beautiful view of the mountains and high rises which characterize the northern and western sections of the city. 

We strolled around the Old Town on Saturday and again yesterday, a very colourful colonial place full of plazas, churches, cafes and ... hole-in-the-wall cevicherias. A cevicheria is a place where the locals go to feast on ceviche, which is cold seafood (shrimp, clams, conch, fish, muscles, squid, calamar) cooked while marinating in lemon juice, cilantro, tomatos, onions, garlic, etc. and wow, in Quito, ceviche is to die for. The streets of the Old Town vibrate with street hawkers selling everything from toilet paper to batteries to cell phones to puppies to cakes to various fruits and coloured sweetened whip cream served on ice cream cones, and with the sounds of musicians strumming their guitars, blowing their flutes and tapping their tablas, of policemen blowing their whistles to direct traffic on the narrow brick and cobblestone streets and with the odd cathedral bell ringing from time to time. 

We're off to Latacunga this morning, 2 hours south, from where we will hike the Quilotoa Loop over the next week or so.