Month: September 2016

Quito Day 3

Here is a quiz that will be answered later in this post. Two weeks ago I didn’t know the surprising answer. What is the official currency of Ecuador?

We went back to Quito old town today. It is a UNESCO world heritage sight. We started at the basilica where there were holding a mass to bless the police.


Then we walked down hill to visit Quito’s cathedral on the Plaza Grande.

Then we took a tour of the Numismatic Museum in the Central Bank of Ecuador. It was fascinaing to learn how Ecuador’s currency has developed with the history of the country. In the late 1990s Ecuador faced hyper inflation. Towards the end of the tour there was a plexiglass box about 1ft by 4ft by 5ft. It was full of coins in the old currency, the Sucre.  When Duke was here about 35 years ago he thinks 1 sucre was about 20 cents. The box contained about 5,625,000 sucres. Today they are all worth $15.

In any case when the value of the sucre went almost to zero Ecuador changed their official currency to the U.S. Dollar!! So we are using our $ here just like at home.

Our last stop in the old town was the Church and Monestary of San Francisco. It is Quito’s oldest Church.


We had a late lunch in the old Archbishop’s Palace which now has shops and restaurants.

Tomorrow we head by bus to Latacunga about 40 miles (98 km) south of Quito.

If you would like to see our itinerary with links to previous posts it is available by clicking on the link below. .

Our itinerary

Quito day 2

Today was a relaxing day. We took a taxi to Capilla del Hombre and Museo Guayasamín. It is the museum of the work of the painter Oswaldo Guayasamin and the home where he lived. 


The art gallery was amazing. Guayasamin designed it and had it built for the art. It was beautiful and moving. Although his paintings in the museum were about the suffering of the people of Latin America there was still a sense of hope and strength. I think it would be worth visiting Quito just to visit La Capilla del Hombre!


His home was just as he left it including his studio and his art collection.  This is the view from the house. 


We couldn’t take pictures in the house or the museum but I’ve included below a couple of pictures of postcards. 

These pictures are in the garden. 


The Capilla del Hombre and Museo Guayasamin were high on a hill above our hotel so although we took a taxi to get there we walked back to our hotel. 

For dinner tonight we went to a wonderful restaurant not far from our hotel. It was called Urko.  The octopus was nothing like we were served in Spain. But the flavors were oh so good!


We ended with espresso. 


And now the Guayasamin postcards. It would be very tempting to buy a print. 

Quito Day 1

Our first day in Quito after breakfast at our hotel (It is a great Hotel- Hotel Zen Suites) we went out exploring. Quito is at altitude 2815 meters or 9,200 feet so I got out of breath very easily. Every time we climbed a hill or stairs I huffed and puffed but we ended up walking probably 5 miles. The temperature was in the high 60s  so it was a very pleasant day to walk. 

Our first stop was the Quito Observatory. It was opened in 1864 and is the second oldest in South America. They have a wonderful museum of old scientific equipment. 


We climbed the tower in the Church of Santo Domingo and got a great view. When we came down the guy who we paid to get in was at lunch and we couldn’t figure out how to open the door doer so we had to sit and wait  in the garden until someone came along to tell us how together out! I love how the bell in the tower is hung with leather straps. 


All the time we were in Spain and Portugal we never saw a yarn shop so when I saw this I thought of Barbara and had to go in!


For a late lunch we stopped at a restaurant on the historic street La Ronda. We ate on an open air second floor  terrace. Duke had Cuy (Guinea pig) and I had potato soup! He said the Guinea pig tasted kind of like rabbit but there wasn’t much meat! My soup was great!


We ended our walking tour at the Plaza Grande and took a cab back to our hotel. Dinner was at Zao Asian Restaurant near our hotel. It was wonderful. We started with prawns then Duke had beef and tempura broccoli and I had a beef and vegetable bowl. 

San Francisco – Fort Lauderdale – Quito, Ecuador

Sunday night we left San Francisco and flew to Fort Lauderdale. We arrived at about 7 am local time after a little over five hours of flying so it was a short night. The fact that JetBlue flights have a couple more inches of leg room than most airlines makes a huge difference. 

In Fort Lauderdale on Monday we rented a car for the day since our flight to Quito didn’t leave until almost 7 in the evening. As soon as we stepped outside the airport door my glasses fogged up. It was very humid!

The first things we did were drive to a nearby State Park, check out the beach, then park the car, recline the seats and sleep. 
After a few more hours of sleep we got some food then drove south along the water to check out Miami Beach.   I’ve never seen a man walking his pig before!

Our flight to Quito took less than four hours. Quito has a beautiful new airport and excellent roads with almost no cars since it was almost midnight. Now we are at our hotel and ready to get a goood sleep before we explore Quito tomorrow. 

Our Itinerary

When I finished blogging about our last trip I found it was difficult to go back and figure out the order of our travels or what I wrote about a specific location. So I have decided to publish our itinerary and add links here to my posts each day as I create them.

  1. Sat., Sept 3  – Walnut Creek. Blog post Reno to Walnut Creek
  2. Sun., Sept 4 – leave San Francisco
  3. Mon., Sept 5 – Arrive Quito, Ecuador.  San Franciscoto to Quito
  4. Tues., Sept 6 – Quito, Ecuador Quito Day 1
  5. Wed., Sept 7 – Quito, Ecuador Quito Day 2
  6. Thurs., Sept 8 – Quito, Ecuador Quito Day 3
  7. Fri., Sept 9 – Quito to Latacunga, Ecuador Quito to Latacunga
  8. Sat., Sept 10 – Latacunga, Ecuador  Our day trip to Lago Quilotoa
  9. Sun., Sept 11 – Latacunga to Baños, Ecuador Latacunga to Baños blog post
  10. Mon., Sept 12 – Banos, Ecuador – Baños Day 2 – starting Spanish classes
  11. Tues., Sept 13 – Banos, Ecuador Baños day 3 blog post
  12. Wed., Sept 14 – Banos, Ecuador. Baños Day 4 and the waterfall tour
  13. Thurs., Sept 15 – Banos, Ecuador – Baños day 5
  14. Fri., Sept 16 – Banos, Ecuador – Our Last Day in Baños
  15. Sat., Sept 17 – Cuenca, Ecuador – Baños to Cuenca
  16. Sun., Sept 18 – Loja, Ecuador – Cuenca to Loja
  17. Mon., Sept 19 – Piura, Peru – Loja, Ecuador to Piura, Peru
  18. Tues., Sept 20 – Piura, Peru – Our stay in Piura
  19. Wed., Sept 21 – Chiclayo, Peru – Piura to Chiclayo
  20. Thurs., Sept 22 – On the overnight bus from Chiclayo to Chachapoyas, Peru – Chiclayo to Chachapoyas
  21. Fri., Sept 23 – Chachapoyas, Peru
  22. Sat., Sept 24 –  Choctamal Lodge on the way to Kuélap , Peru
  23. Sun., Sept 25 – Chachapoyas, Peru – Our 2 Day adventure to Kuélap
  24. Mon., Sept 26 – Chachapoyas, Peru Hike to Gocta Waterfall
  25. Tues., Sept 27 – Leymebamba, Peru Chachapoyas to Leymebamba
  26. Wed., Sept 28 – Cajamarca, Peru Leymebamba to Cajamarca
  27. Thurs., Sept 29 – Cajamarca, Peru Rest day in Cajamarca
  28. Fri., Sept 30 – Huamachuco , Peru
  29. Sat., Oct 1 – Huamachuco , Peru – Cajamarca to Huamachuco
  30. Sun., Oct 2 – Chimbote, Peru – Huamachuco to Chimbote
  31. Mon., Oct 3 – Chimbote, Peru
  32. Tues., Oct 4 – Caraz, Peru – Chimbote to Caraz
  33. Wed., Oct 5 – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge, Peru – Caraz to Llanganuco Mountain Lodge
  34. Thurs., Oct 6 – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge, Peru – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge Day 2
  35. Fri., Oct 7 – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge, Peru – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge Day 3
  36. Sat., Oct 8 – Huaraz, Peru – Llanganuco Mountain Lodge to Huaraz
  37. Sun., Oct 9 – Chavín, Peru – Huaraz to Chavín
  38. Mon., Oct 10 – La Union, Peru Chavín to La Union
  39. Tues., Oct 11 – Huánuco , Peru – La Union to Huánuco
  40. Wed., Oct 12 – Huánuco, Peru – Huánuco Day 2
  41. Thurs., Oct 13 – Lima, Peru – Huánuco to Lima
  42. Fri., Oct 14 – Lima, Peru – Lima Day 2
  43. Sat., Oct 15 – Paracas, Peru – Lima to Paracas
  44. Sun., Oct 16 – Paracas, Peru – Paracas
  45. Mon., Oct 17 – Nazca, Peru – Paracas to Nazca
  46. Tues., Oct 18 – Nazca, Peru – Nazca to Arequipa
  47. Wed., Oct 19 – Arequipa, Peru – Arequipa
  48. Thurs., Oct 20 – Cabanaconde, Peru – Arequipa to Cabanaconde
  49. Fri., Oct 21 – Sangalle, Colca Canyon, Peru
  50. Sat., Oct 22 – Yanque, Peru – Colca Canyon Hike
  51. Sun., Oct 23 – Puno, Peru – Chivay to Puno
  52. Mon., Oct 24 – Puno, Peru – Puno
  53. Tues., Oct 25 – Isla Tequile, Peru
  54. Wed., Oct 26 – Puno, Peru – Uros and Tequile
  55. Thurs., Oct 27 – Cusco, Peru – Puno to Cusco
  56. Fri., Oct 28 – Cusco, Peru – Cusco
  57. Sat., Oct 29 – Ollantaytambo, Peru – Cusco to Ollantaytambo
  58. Sun., Oct 30 – Ollantaytambo, Peru – Ollantaytambo
  59. Mon., Oct 31 – Aquas Calientes, Peru – Ollantaytambo to Aquas Calientes
  60. Tues., Nov 1 – Aquas Calientes, Peru – Machu Picchu
  61. Wed., Nov 2 – Urubamba, Peru – Aquas Calientes to Urubamba
  62. Thurs., Nov 3 – Pisac, Peru – Urubamba to Pisac
  63. Fri., Nov 4 – Cusco, Peru
  64. Sat., Nov 5 – Fly Cusco – San Francisco