Quito

Greetings from Quito! Traveling on the flight is the first part of the adventure. Traveling from Florida in the summer is even more.  You have to try to reason with hurricane season. We were delayed in arriving into Miami yesterday and delayed leaving Miami to arrive in Quito.  But after the uneventful flights, we arrived in Quito, made it through customs and met the transfer to take me to the hotel. Today I woke up to the Mountains.  This is exciting for this Florida girl.  Quito can still take my breath away at 9,200 feet above sea level, whew! Today I am off with Paulina our in-country partner to explore the city.  Even though this is my second trip to Ecuador there is so much to do and see.  During my last journey here, John and I traveled to the Galapagos, but Ecuador offers so much even though it is one of the smallest countries in South America. It was a nice day today. The weather was about 23 Celcius, no jacket required.  Couple photos from the day.  The first are roses which are everywhere in Quito.  I had to take time to stop and smell the roses at each place!  The photo of me at the City Center and the three photos are showing the four different parts of Ecuador: the coast, the highlands, the Amazon and The Galapagos.  The last photo was our desert from lunch.  We ate at the Grand Plaza and lunch was terrific, happy we still had a bit of walking to do after we finished this. Anyway, come Monday, I am off to the Amazon and not sure when I will update the blog again, but stay tuned for updates.  Have a wonderful evening.   [gallery]