Quito, Ecuador

Hi guys! It's Jess's sister, Erin, again. Today I'm recapping our travels in Quito, Ecuador.

Quito, the capital of Ecuador (and the highest world capital in the world), is where we entered and exited the country. At 2,850 meters (9,350 feet) in the Andean highlands, the air is thin and weather is extremely stable - sometimes we found ourselves above the clouds. We spent a full week of the three weeks in country there. Below I have detailed a few of those days we spent in and around Quito.

Centro Historico

Quito was declared the first ever UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 for its well preserved historical center that boasts a multitude of churches, plazas, palaces and museums. There were paid walking tours offered through Quito travel agencies, but we decided to get a map from our hostel and create our own route to save the money. We ended up wandering around as we pleased and just soaked in the neighborhood - the area was small and we easily saw all of the sites we were interested in in a day. Pictures below are in the order that we visited them (the gilded church, Compania de Jesus, pictures were not permitted, but was by far the most beautiful building in Quito).