May 25 -26
Denver – Quito Ecuador
We flew overnight from Denver to Panama City. Kevin had enough points to get business class tickets, hopefully the kids don’t get used to flying like this. In Panama City, there was a surprise gate change while we were sitting at the original gate waiting for the plane to arrive. We asked Noah to check the gate and departure information and he kept saying it was fine. When we double checked the information we ended up in a mad dash to the gate, even though we had plenty of time left.
Both flights were uneventful, thankfully, and we arrived in Quito around noon. Noah and Annaleigh and Sarah got a few hours of sleep on the first flight, Kevin didn’t sleep much. Total travel time was around 14 hrs from airport entrance to airport exit. Customs and security took less than fifteen minutes and we were on our way to the hotel.Our hotel, Quito Airport Suites, is only a couple of minutes from the hotel and they had a driver waiting for us. The hotel is at 8000 feet elevation but feels tropical. The grounds have many rhododendrons, hibiscus and poinsettias growing throughout.
We wanted to hit the ground running so we arranged for a local guide to give us a tour of the Quito area. His name is Angel Rea, and was very informative and was very flexible. We started out with a geological study as well as a historical lesson about the area as we climbed out of the valley toward Quito Old Town. The old town was founded by the Incas and later decimated and rebuilt in 1534 by the Spanish. The old town is at 10,000 feet in elevation but feels like Spain or the Mediterranean with palm trees growing throughout.
We climbed up (in the car) to the statue of the “Virgin of El Panecillo” that overlooks the city. This statue is of the Virgin Mary standing on the world with a serpent bound in chains underfoot. Sarah decided to leave the coats behind at the hotel since the temperature there was almost 80 degrees, but at the statue, it was in the 60s and raining. Kevin got to practice his haggling skills to purchase two sweaters from local vendors, one for Annaleigh and one for Sarah. Up until this point we had only a small snack for lunch and everyone was hungry, so our guide found a restaurant overlooking the old town and we ate lunch with our guide who edified us further about the history and buildings of the old town. After lunch, we had to decide where we were going to next.
Since we only had a few hours of daylight left and the clouds had lifted from the mountains we decided to visit the cable car above Quito. The cable car ascends from 3100 meters to 4100 meters in 2.5km taking 18 minutes for the trip. The terrain changes from lush eucalyptus forests to lush mountain grass somewhere around 13,000′. At the top of the cable car, the valley below and the volcanoes surrounding the city of Quito can be seen. The clouds cleared from the volcanoes, allowing us to see their forms. From the cable car, we continued to ascend several hundred more meters to well over 14000′. This is the highest elevation that any of us have stood upon. As the sun was setting we watched the volcanoes and the city turn shades of orange. The display of colors continued throughout our descent back to the base. Our gracious guide offered to take us into the old town to walk around, but we were exhausted and opted to return to the hotel.
On the way back Sarah and the kids slept while Kevin went through our future travel plans in Ecuador with our guide and received a lot of very good information about our destinations. We returned to the hotel and sorted our luggage since Ecuador has four very distinct climates and we had to pack clothes for each of these areas. The hotel allowed us to securely store the bags we didn’t need in the Galapagos, making traveling a little easier. When we arrive back from the Galapagos we will exchange it our gear.