#masayaquito

[tandrew]

Most of my prior travel experience has been in Southeast Asia (since a majority of my family is in Malaysia and Australia and I also studied exchange in 2011 in Singapore and lived there/traveled around Southeast Asia for 5 months). As much as I'd love to go back, there's so much more of the world to see!

South America has been appealing to me for a while because similar to Southeast Asia, you can really stretch the dollar and I can sort of blend in and pass as a local haha. But unlike Southeast Asia, I only have to learn one (ish) language!

You can't fly directly to the Galapagos Islands so the first part of the trip was exploring the beautiful mountain city of Quito, Ecuador. Touching down in the Andes Mountains in Quito, I was able to take my very first steps in South America and also was immediately out of breath as I carried my bags out of the plane due to altitude sickness. But I immediately fell in love with the mountainous terrain!

Some highlights from Quito before we headed to the Galapagos:

- We went to the equator and learned about the history and significance of the equator and had fun with some interesting demonstrations with phenomena that only happen right on the equator!

- We went on a walking tour of the city where we took in views in, around, and at the top of the Basilica del Voto Nacional (Basilica of the National Vow - the largest neo-Gothic basilica in South America).

- We cooked some traditional Ecuadorian dishes at a local restaurant (Masaya) which we were able to eat afterwards!

- On our way to the Virgin del Panecillo (Virgin Mary sculpture), our van broke down just as our tour guide was explaining how even he would not walk around in that area. We survived and were able to make it there eventually and enjoyed a panoramic view of the city!

- We managed to fit 8 people into a tiny hotel hot tub!

For more pictures/videos of my journey to and exploring Quito, here is a link to an iCloud album I set up with commentary -> https://bit.ly/3Nxh10B

#quito #10xtravel #galapagos #andrewsadventures #museodesitiointiñan #basilicadelvotonacional #masayaquito #virgindelpanecillo #hottubparty (at Quito, Ecuador) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8nnVPr8u0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=