Quito

My trip to Ecuador and the Galapágos Islands has begun! Sunday night, I landed in Quito after two decent 5 hour flights (I connected in ATL on Delta). I had a full day in the capital city, Quito, on Monday and I stayed in a nice small hotel in the old city. I walked around and saw some of the beautiful churches and cathedrals and even a Basilica (that was visited by Pope JPII in the mid-80s). Old part of Quito was nice, but I was always on guard for thieves and bandits. A couple times, friendly city and tourist police officers approached me to be careful and if everything is OK. There is a healthy police presence around the main tourist areas which was comforting.

That said, I still got “slimed” (twice!) with this mud like substance that people (the locals say it is Venezuelans and Colombian migrants) squirt onto unsuspecting gringos and offer to clean up…meanwhile, they rob you while they clean your clothes/bag. At least the two bandits who tried doing that to me didn’t even offer to clean up the mess! Lol. Oh well - my hotel warned me about these people, so I was just waiting for them. And my hotel laundered my clothes last night.

This morning (Tuesday) I’m very glad to be headed up into the Cloud Forest area in Mindo. I’ve got a few birding trips lined up to, hopefully, see some wonderful Ecuadorian birds! It’s great to be traveling overseas again!!

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