In planning for our trip I booked two nights in a hostel in Quito so we would have somewhere to stay when we first arrived. I remember when booking online how excited I was to learn that our ‘Deluxe Private Double’ would be a whopping $26/night. Not sure exactly what you’re going to get when you book online, we were pleasantly surprised/relieved to learn that our little room had a double bed, a nice-sized private bath (with hot water), and a cable TV. Our hostel also has an amazing terrace overlooking the city and a welcoming lobby full of fellow travelers, day-trip information, computers, etc. Not bad at all.

In addition, the hostel is run by a lovely couple that does everything from changing the sheets and making breakfast to calling the airlines to help travelers find their lost luggage (see previous post!).

In addition to cheap lodging, our meals here (we’ve only had two so far!) have each been at total of $3. Yep, $3 for coffee, a croissant, an egg and a fruit cup for each of us. And $3 for arroz con pollo (rice with chicken, beans and plantain) and sopa de cameron (soup with shrimp and potatoes).

I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities to spend well beyond these reasonable prices, but it’s good to know that we can sleep comfortably and eat deliciously and remain well within our budget.

Upon arriving we were reminded that Quito is at 9222 feet so though it is quite close to the equator, it’s actually cool with temperatures probably in the 60s today. We also learned that South America is much closer than you would think – our flight was only 3 hours and 40 minutes from Miami. We’re on the same time zone as Chicago and Minneapolis which is crazy to think about because we FEEL like it shouldn’t be so.

We spent the day wandering around by foot and exploring different plazas, churches and windy roads of the ‘Old Town’. The ‘New Town’ is on the agenda for tomorrow.

Ted has had to quickly dust off his knowledge of Spanish and is doing quite well. We’re told that the New Town (aka ‘Gringolandia’ – seriously!) has quite a bit more tourists and I imagine English speakers will be more common there, but for now we’re getting by with what we’ve got and are quite enjoying it.

Well, I think that’s about it for now. As we continue to decompress from our last few insanely busy days in Colorado and adjust to the wonderfully overwhelming new sights and smells of Ecuador, I imagine we’ll become more descriptive and exciting bloggers and storytellers!

In the meantime, we’re safe, we’re happy and we’re excited to see what comes next!