The landing and the first day in the Town

Day one:
The flight  down was peachy - half-full plane and free beer toss in a real meal and it feels like air travel twenty years ago. Copa Air is just as impressive this trip as it was the last trip, a traveller's dream; cheap fares with full service and real steel flatware. Arriving in Panama City, there were fifty-five minute to kill. Finding a gate, time for a visit to the bathrooms and we were ready to take the next leg (Amazing Race lingo!). we will be exploring this airport on the return trip. Back in the air for another ninety minutes, the lasting memory of Panama City airport will be the price of water demanded for 500mls of water - $3.75 usd. We obviously were taken for tourists!!

Snapped a couple of pics, one showing the airport concourse and an interesting one that tells all about the non-smoking law in public spaces. Onto Quito, another flight that featured frr food and beverages (Air Canada take note). Landing on time it was another half hour to clear customs and look for the driver who was going to be looking for us. The first surprise that the trip was not a normal air travel was when we retrieved the one checked bag, the new lock - a combination lock TSA approved, was missing. Normally we do not put locks on the bags but this time it was decided that we had better because we were going to parts unknown. Good job it was a sale price but it's still ten bucks down the drain just because some lazy customs inspector couldn't be bothered to put it back after looking through our jewels.

The Hostal LaRonda had promised us an airport pickup so we looked at all the waiting people holding signs - none for us. Waiting about thirty minutes we spotted a hurried man clutching a piece of paper running toward us. Speaking no English he pointed to the paper, where my misspelled name appeared and gesticulated to mean are we him. "Si", he then apologised for being late "Mas tardes, Senor" and then said the parked car was five minutes away, he seemed surprised to see four people, maybe he had to get another van. But out of the concourse and into the parking lot to a small van. Two bags and four people filled the van and we were off. Pointing to the looming clouds he said"Quito one hour and much rain." He was right the roads we travelled, all of them uphill were deluged with running water, I'd hate to be at the bottom of the hill. Next surprise: the driver's cell phone rang and I heard him say that he was half an hour away and then he said, "It's for you" The hotel owner was also surprised that four people were coming even though I had confirmation of two rooms. "I can put you in a big suite - two bedrooms and shared bath" What can you do and it wasn't as though we hadn't shared an apartment before. More rain and more hills and then we arrived in the middle of the Historical District to face a traffic problem. In streets that can take no more than one car at a time ther was a huddle of cars trying to turn around and move away - the Street had been closed for Saturday night. Well only a short walk to the hotel and then we found the room.

While the ladies settled in and acclimatised themselves to the Quito accommodation, which was large by their standards Stuart and I went of to buy some bottled water and look at the Street. La Ronda Street is the main pedestrian place in the District, every other doorway led to cafes and bars with restaurants - very much a people place. We found a little hole in the wall cafe that sold agua and we bought a couple of bottles each. How much you ask - seventy-five cents. Helluva lot cheaper than the airport price but still way over local price. Incidentally Ecuador uses the US dollar, so we handed over a couple of ones and received some strange coins - Centavos - they use American coin as well so we now have to use some funny money - still money.

Day two
after a long night for those who didn't sleep well, TripAdvisor had published reviews of the hotel that had said it was noisy because of the street. It was true. he street noise didn't stop  until 2am and the people noise didn't stop until three. As a heavy sleeper I never heard a thing I was just relieved that the music didn't have any big Bass speakers pounding away.

Down in the lobby/courtyard area the advertised WiFi was tested. A signal had been picked up in the room three storeys up but it was weak. In the courtyard a strong signal was found but the router was not linked and so we have no Internet link, Just another problem on the list of things we have to present the hotelier with when we see him during business hours. But the weather is cooperating morning temp is not bad and not cold - a cool eight degrees.

A long walk this morning exploring the many Plazas in Downtown Quito, ended up at the Basilica. A service was going on so we didn't see the interior but for two bucks we ascended (in the elevator) to the roof of the church. The next phase was a staircase to the Tower. we got halfway up, on the inside, using a very steep staircase. These stairs led to a balcony below the Tower and another two flights took you to the top. The pic below shows just how dodgy the stairs outside were - enough to make us look twice. This is where we lost our nerve and decided this was far enough.

Meandering back to the hotel took a while and we had decided to finish the afternoon with wine. Going into the local SuperMercado a couple of bottles were selected, taken to the checkout and then we were told "No wine selling on Sunday" Tracking down a place where we could drink wine led us to a five star swanky hotel. We got the wine --- for nine dollars a glass! The final surprise of the day - no hot water in the shower.

Quick update:
Second World  facilities clash with First World attitudes. When we checked in the first thing to be checked out were the communications - wifi and tv. The cable did not work despite the efforts of Hernan the faithful hotelier, the wifi came on but sporadically and we discovered that there was a free wifi zone just outside the window, so goodbye HOSTAL network hello FreeQuito network. The cable was knocked out by the storm we experienced the night we landed and it needs a techie fix - today (Monday) maybe. Next experiment is to see how many piccies we can upload at a time.