Wednesday 8.10.14 – Quito, Ecuador to Lima, Peru.

Our last day in Quito, all up we have spent a month here in Ecuador, including a week in Quito. Slept well again and up and packed cases…eek! Overweight already! No idea how this has happened.

Breaky: this hotel makes its own bread and it’s delicious, has guts and grains and is NOT sweet, so have really enjoyed toast and jam here.

Out to visit Casa del Alabado – a brilliant museum and exhibition of Pre-Columbian artefacts dating from 350BC to 1500AD. It was amazing to learn of the intelligence and to see the talents of the Incan craftsmen, they were making things from ceramics, minerals and working them in such amazing ways, using fire and tools in ways that are so advanced…and SOOOO many years ago. Their beliefs about the world around them were also very clever, their strong relationship with Earth, Moon, Sun and Water – amazing. I think if they had IQ tests, these folk would’ve blown the scale.

Pre Columbian (PC) stone carving.

PC ceramics.

More and different ceramics.

Bronze.

Another ceramic.

I think this one was stone.

Ceramics. Probably a Shaman.

This one was ceramic and amazing
14 sided perfect Tetrakaidecagon.

Then again to our coffee shop…lovely photo with our man. Happenstance again on return to hotel, visited Munoz Marino’s Watercolour Museum which was free and quick, but we liked his work. Again another Ecuadorian who has painted all around the world.

A couple of the many types of
corn here, in a store along the street.

Here's me with our little man at the
coffee shop. Both Suzie and I feel
tall in Ecuador.

Then he offered to take a picture of us.

Later in the day, we needed lunch,
near the hotel, not a lot o offer. We
ordered 3 empanadas at a little place
down the street. We are still puzzled,
but we think that big one is cheese! It
was on the menu as 'wind' empanada!

While wending our way home (or so I thought) we came across the rehabilitated Barrio San Marcos – which is a residential area that has been revamped in the last few years, and pays tribute on each home to the original residents/families. It was good to see the areas that folk actually live in.

Street scene.

An example of the tiles on the houses in Barrio San
Marcos.

And up close. Translation:
San Marcos : Great Neighborhood
Colonial tradition , must be
respected and preserved for future
generations.

Back to hotel again for showers and final preparations for our departure to Peru.

Roberto (and his wife, Maria) arrived 10 minutes early, we had to walk uphill in the rain to meet the car though. We thankfully had a great run out to the airport and Roberto was a tad more relaxed that when he had a busload of us to organise. We arrived about 5.00 for our 8.15 flight. Checked in pretty easily, lost my sanitiser at security –grrrr it was only about 50 mls or so, there was a bit of an issue with my backpack and computer, but eventually sorted that too.

Then we checked out Duty Free, sat and fiddled with our technology, me blogging and Suzie looking for better accommodation in Santiago with no luck – it’s all very expensive.

Plane was on time – phew, that’s almost a first for a South American airline on this trip…we arrived at Lima at 10.10pm – onto the tarmac and into a bus to the terminal, pretty quickly through immigration and customs…bags pretty quick too. Arranged a car to hotel, arriving at TierraViva, Miraflores about 11.45, off to sleep about 1.00am.

The hotel is new and clean and good.

Bathroom shot - Tierra Viva
Hotel, Lima.

The room.

Need to find out where in the world we are tomoz.