Travel to Quito and Day One.

Day 1 DEN to QIU and Beyond

Our first day was a full day of travel. We arrived in Quito after 11:00 pm, cleared customs and immigration fairly quickly and were met by a representative from the Quito Airport Suites.  We were guided to a cab and made the short 8 minute ride to the hotel. 

The Quito Airport Suites is a simple travelers hotel. The rooms are small but very adequate, clean and the bed is very firm and comfortable. We soon readied ourselves for bed and fell asleep to the sounds of barking dogs and a rooster crowing. Being close to the airport, we did not notice any aircraft noise, maybe because we were tired and ready for sleep. 

The following morning we awoke to find the well manicured property with trees and shrubs and a football field. The breakfast here is cooked to order, Lynn had eggs and I chose the pancakes. Both were served with fresh pineapple. I really liked the pancakes and the coffee is nice and strong. 

I would definitely recommend this location for a pre flight or a late arrival hotel stay. 

We arranged for a taxi to take us back to the airport at 0900, this was shared with a gentleman from the UK who was on his way to the Galapagos. He had just returned from the Amazon and stated we will have a great time with so much to see. 

Arriving at the airport we mad our way to the arrivals area and soon there after a driver from ABD arrived and we were off to the JW Marriott. 

We arrived and checked in and a room was available so we dropped our bags and went to meet the ABD Guides Juan and Tiffany. We received a briefing on our activities for the next day. One very nice thing is we can leave some of our baggage here in Quito and do not have to haul everything with us to the Amazon and Galapagos. 

After our briefing we went to our room and geared up for the day. Our plan was to walk to the National Museum about a mile away. We struck out and found a nice empanada place along the way, and shared a carne empanada and a small bag of fresh cherries for our lunch. We arrived at the National Museum only to find it closed for renovation. We made our way back to the hotel and regroup for a walk to the Botanical Gardens. 

About little less than a mile walk found us at the Botanical Gardens. The cost to enter was $3.50 and it was well worth it. Here one finds nice pathways winding  through dense growth with areas of special interest. The Rose Garden was very nice, granted it was not at peak bloom but it smelled great. The carnivores greenhouse was very interesting with the bug eating plants. We did stick heads in a Rain Forest green house, we did not last long as it was very hot and humid. We considered it training for the next few days. The Orchid Green house was amazing filled with many unique colorful orchids. All in all a nice way to spend the afternoon. We walked back to the hotel and cleaned up for the evening.