The next morning, we had breakfast before meeting with Tomas for a tour of Quito. Neither of us had seen Tomas since graduating, so it was fantastic to catch up after so long! We started by meandering through churches and beautiful public squares in the Old Town portion of Quito.
Afterwards, we found rooftop seating at an aptly-named nearby restaurant, Vista Hermosa, for beers, empanadas, and pizza.
It was a perfect day, but we accidentally left our sunscreen in our bags at the hotel. Afterwards, we drove out of Old Town, got coffees, and visited a park before Tomas dropped us off.
Upon check-in, we received complimentary drinks, then met with our group to discuss the itinerary and to make introductions.
We were a little bummed to find out it might not be possible to scuba dive without prior certification. It would have been nice if they were more forthcoming with some details like this (although we should have asked because that seems to be standard procedure). After checking in, we had 1 failed ATM withdrawal attempt followed by a $15 call to the bank and then a successful ATM withdrawal. To finish off the day, we shared sushi at the hotel restaurant (Mercure Alameda), Spicy Bistro.
Awesome pictures…. The churches remind me of the Vatican! I hope that the next post reports that you were able to sort out the scuba diving!!
Thanks!! Quito was such a neat city, and so wild that it’s over 9,000 feet above sea level!