02.09.-05.09.11

Quito

After a 10 hour bus ride from the little village of Limoncocha we arrived in QUITO at 1am in the morning. Jo, Ronni and I took a cap to our hostel in the suburb "Mariscal Sucre".I was so glad that I had a reservation at the hostel "Casa Helbling" where the night porter was already waiting for me. After a quick check in I finally went to bed a 2am.

On Friday, 02.09.11 after I came back from a shop and the laundry I bumped into Anna and Anja from Berlin. The two girls recommended me the Hostal Casa Helbling and therefore I knew that I would meet them there…..and it was so nice to see them again after I had met them twice before in Vilcabamba and Tena.

After a long and delicious breakfast on the roof terrace of the hostel I decided to join the girls on their trip to Cayambe to see the REAL "Equator". The two bus rides took two hours but when we arrived at the new monument we were surprised that we were the only tourists there. An Ecuadorian tour guide showed us around the huge "sun clock" with the cylinder in the middle and told us about the astrological and archaeological facts of the Equator.

It was nearly 6pm when we came back and after we went to the Supermarket we prepared a big salad and I was glad to have a healthy dinner instead of rice again.

On Saturday, 03.09.11, Anna, Anja and her German friend Katrin left the hostel at 9am and took a taxi to the "teleferico". The cable cars took us up to 4.100m from where we had a brilliant few over the huge city of Quito (appro. 2 Mill. people). As the weather was quite nice we hiked up a bit further to the mountain of PICHINCHA (4.680m). We only hiked up for about an hour as we didn't have to much time and therefore we returned back to the "teleferico".

Later on we strolled through the "old town" of Quito and walked to the "Palacio del Gobierno", the cathedral, the Basilica del Voto Nacional, the Plaza San Franzisco ect., ect. At 6pm we all returned to our hostel where we had dinner on the roof terrace.

On Sunday, 04.09.11 I took the bus to the "MIDAD DEL MUNDO". On the bus I met the German girl Anne from Stuttgart and both of us agreed just to take a few photos of the "monument" and walk straight to the "Museo de la Cultura Solar"!

The two tour guides including the one hour tour was absolutely fantastic. The museum lies on the 1000 year old indigenous site of "Catequilla" and a bit further is the "Museo Solar" which was included in our tour. The two guides showed us around the site and showed us some "water and energy demonstration" to proof that we were at the equator and on the true latitude of 0.00!!!

After the great tour Anne recommended to take the bus to the ancient volcanic crater of PULULAHUA. The view from the rim was incredible and it was definitely worth walking up there.

At 2pm we took the next bus back to Quito. Before Anne got off at the "Mariscal" she gave me some useful tips for Columbia. I continued further on to the "centro historico" where I wanted to do a tour at the "Palacio del Gobierno" but unfortunately I could only get in there with my passport.

On the way to the "Monasterio de San Franzisco" I bumped into my dear friend Sylvie from Switzerland. We contacted each other before and were planning to catch up in the old town but how funny that I just ran into her in this big city.

So I joined Sylvie and her two friends John and Jennifer from the USA and we took a taxi to the suburb "mariscal" where we had coffee and juices.

On Monday, 05.09.11 I had an appointment at the Chiropracticer and afterwards I returned to the hostel where I just relaxed and organised my next trip to COLUMBIA.

Later on I caught up with my ex-colleagues and friends Dagmar and Mete from Dublin who are cycling from Alaska to Ushuaia in Argentina. Over my whole trip I stayed in contact with them and finally after 11 months on my trip we managed to meet in Quito!!! We chatted for more than 3 hours and everyone had so much to tell about their trip. Wow….I am so glad that I met them as it was very interesting to listen to their cycling stories.

When I got back to the Hostel I also had to say "Good Bye" to Anna and Anja as I wanted to take the bus to the Columbian border at 12pm. So I prepared my back, had some dinner and left the hostel at 11pm.