Quito

Our first stop in Ecuador was Quito, the capital city, situated at 2800 m of altitude and surrounded by mountains that reach a lot higher.

We stayed in a hostel in a great location, and even having their tasty and energetic breakfast we managed to run out of breath, with some of the amazing views it provided.

Quito's old town feels very colonial with parallel streets and perpendicular roads (very much like most cities we've seen in south america) and with some squares and churches. What really caught my eye was was the dress code, with most old women wearing hats and very colourful clothes.

At this altitude the air is rare and we sure experienced it when we rushed up one of the hills to have a better panoramic view of the city, but it was of course worth it.

During the day the sun hits directly on our heads and it gets very warm, while during the nigh it can get fairly cold so we bought ourselves a nice sweater made of alpaca wool on a market in one of the parks.

There we also learned how to play "el jeugo de cox", which seems to be very popular, its some kind of 'malha' in portuguese or 'petanque' in french, but with more rules and tactics.

We also visited 'mitad del mundo', a city crossed by the equator line with monuments and museums with many explanations, but also many tourist stands trying to sell us something. We spent our time crossing the equator line back and forth many times, south, north, south, north, south.

(N of Nuno of course! how did they know I was coming?)

And then we finally said goodbye to the north hemisphere, and decided to continue our way south for the time being.