Quito, Quito, Ecuador

When I started researching and planning a trip to Galapagos Islands ( here and here ), first thing I learned was, that in order to get to the Islands, you need to fly to mainland Ecuador. One of two options was Quito, Ecuador’s capital. Since most flights from US arrive late at night, and flights to Galapagos leave in the morning, the trip requires an overnight stay. Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to explore Ecuador’s capital and decided to spend 2 days in Quito.

Quito was the first city in the world to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s full of buildings in colonial style, cobble stone streets, beautiful churches and what I loved the most : the mountainous landscape around.

Quito is situated 2850 meters above sea level, which can be felt upon arrival. The altitude is no joke! The key is to slowly acclimate, which was hard to do for us, since we only had 2 days in Quito, and wanted to see as much as possible. Plenty of water definitely helps. A popular way to treat altitude sickness in places with high altitude are coca leaves. Tea made using the leaves, supposedly eases the symptoms. We never used it, but hanging around Plaza Grande, we were approached a couple of times by locals, trying to sell us coca leaves. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).