one of my favorite things about quito thus far is that i can wear a jacket here. it’s one of three places on the trip thus far where i haven’t been sweating (or on the verge of sweating). it’s also nice wearing a jacket since it provides me with a lot more pockets. this is especiallu useful when traveling around for a week with a very small daypack (my lonely planet book + xo laptop take up almost 2/3 of the bag).

today, i thought i was going to see most of quito….and i did see a lot…but later learned that quito is absolutely huge (see pic from teleferrico below). it started off with me having breakfast and being interviewed by some college kids for their class. i then walked around quito for several hours….seeing beautiful churches and nice museums. it seems that both art and museums are appreciated in quito. museums are incredibly cheap (even cheaper than panama) and are quite good. they also try to give out free souvenirs (like posters, nice pamphlets, etc.) which often cost more than the cost of entrance (50c – $2).

i then hopped onto the teleferrico — a gondola which takes you hundreds (thousands?) of feet above the city. from there, you observe a sea of white houses as far as the eye can see. quito is huge. up top, they have an coygen bar and coca tea. there’s also a nice little hike up there in the mountains….where the air is really crisp.

back down below, i hopped on a bus to riobamba. the bus ride was fine and the guy next to me was — like all ecuadorians — very nice. he’s from an indigenous tribe, as many people in ecuador are. many wear awesome hats….like you’ve probably seen on the web before. one really nice thing about ecuador is that the family unit seems to be very strong. maybe because of that, most of the kids here are awesome. tomorrow, i wake up very early to ride a train — an experience which is supposed to be very nice….hopefully they still have tickets available.

pics:
1) the basilica (i think) in quito
2) an old street in quito
3) quito from the teleferrico
4) gay pride parade in mariscal