Quito, Ecuador: Days 1 & 2, Beautiful Mountains & More On Pennies

Weather: It is late October and the weather has been consistent: Brisk, sunny, and beautiful in the morning, from 6 AM to about noon. Rainy and cloudy from then on. You do not want to be a late riser at this time of year in Quito because you will miss the mountain and city views from the winding, hilly streets. Below is one such street, with a view winding down hill and ending atop El Panecillo (Bread Loaf Hill), where sits Quito's Statue of the Apocalyptic Virgin, possibly the only statue in the world of a winged Virgin Mary. According to Wikipedia: This madonna represents a turning point of the Quito School of Art (one of the most renowned of the Americas) because it shows a virgin in movement that is practically dancing in contrast with the traditional static Madonnas that were produced during the 18th century.

MOUNTAINS: Absolutely beautiful here. Quito is situated in a valley. The mountains are the main reason I came. I'll go climbing over the weekend, in the very early morning of course, to catch the best views of the city and avoid getting lost in the fog. Below, the view from Parque El Ejido.

Pennies: If you remember the observation I made about U.S. pennies in Panama, here is a photo for you. A photo of a handful of money in Quito, Ecuador which also no longer prints paper currency, and instead, like Panama, uses the dollar. Worn bills, aged U.S. dollar and Panamanian dollar coins, a half U.S. dollar coin, a Panamanian nickel, and, a bunch of shiny new pennies.

Breakfast 1: Hay Pan, an French-style bakery and eatery situated on a hill. Its main draw is a beautiful view of the city. It's fine food and well worth it for the view, below (from the top floor), an unedited photo that , barely makes the grade at a 5.5/10 on my scale, just trust me.

Breakfast 2: La Panaderia La Union. A charming local spot that also opens early, at 6. I've been back 3 times since and will go again. Features the best chicken empanada I've had in my life, delightfully huge sweet pastries and cookies, and for under $4, a perfectly good and filling scrambled egg breakfast with coffee, a small panini, and a tempting juice/smoothie that I wouldn't drink all of (even 1/4 makes my stomach a bit upset - it's the fresh fruit, if you read my post on food to avoid when traveling). It's called the Desayuno Americano and tons of locals order it too.

Hotel Mas Arte / Hotel + Arte: I have never disliked a hotel more. It is not even a hotel. I would have preferred bunk beds in a hostel.

Problem 1: I am frequently locked out, because the front door is locked, and there is rarely anyone at the front desk. I went for a run one morning and rang the bell for 15 minutes before another Hotel Guest came and let me in. Last night I had to ask the front desk guy how I would get back in after dinner. Would he be here in a couple of hours (it was 6:30)? No, he would not. So I asked how should I get back in, is there a code he can give me for the door? He looked at me confusedly so I asked if he would leave the door open for me. Of course, he said. He was waiting there at 8:30, which I was glad for, but it shouldn't be a favor or request to be able to access your hotel room, right?

Problem 2: Speaking the of door bell, someone rang it at 1:30 in the morning my first night, and continued to ring it for 5 minutes when I think again, a Hotel Guest had to let them in. I wear earplugs at night and am a heavy sleeper, still woke me up.

Problem 3: The curtains in my room are white and face the lobby/hallway. The light is activated by movement and is bright. If I didn't have an eye mask, this would definitely wake me up when people come and go. It still bothered me a lot when I was reading at night. My eyes would adjust to my dimly lit kindle only to be jolted by a bright clicking on every 2 minutes as someone walked by. I would rather they just leave the lights on, so I tried to adjust it to no avail.

Problem 4: I switched rooms because of the above problems, and also because my room also smelled (ugh) unless the window to the lobby/hallway was open. I was wondering why they had it open until I closed it, left, and came back to a smelly room and noticed the buckets of air freshner outside the window. Anywayyy while it's nice (although a pretty standard request) they let me switch without trouble, the bathroom in my new room has full-on mold on the ceiling. Straight up, full developed, furry mold. I will bring this up eventually but for now I'm just keeping the windows open because I know it's bad for my health.

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