The Middle of the World - Quito (Ecuador)

After a more or less comfortable night bus ride, we arrived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The city has about 2 million inhabitants and is located at 2,850m in the Andes. On a clear day, you can see the mighty Cotopaxi (one of the highest active volcanoes in the world at 5,897m) from Quito. We were lucky and saw it smoking in the distance upon arrival.

We stayed at the Secret Garden Hostel right next to the old town. It was one of the best hostels in the country and rightly so. There was a large rooftop terrace from which you could overlook a large part of the city, many cozy common areas, and you could conveniently book any imaginable tour directly at the hostel. We had booked a 4-day tour to the Amazon, which we were particularly looking forward to.

In Quito, we took part in a free city tour where we learned about all sorts of things about the city. For example, where to eat cheaply and well, and also a lot about the country's turbulent history.

The equator ran a little north of Quito, which we naturally had to visit since we were here. The place where the equator line ran through was called Mitad del Mundo (the middle of the world). Standing in the middle of the world was also a funny experience.