Ecuador Day 1 – Denver to Quito

Tilden and I had been talking about climbing some mountains in the Alps. When we started looking at the pricing, we decided to switch to Ecuador. From Tilden’s work at the travel agency in Boulder, he knew quite a bit about the trip and set us up with some good rates on a fully guided tour. So, we made the deposits and before we knew it, it was time to climb!

At the Houston Airport
Here I am waiting for my flight to Quito, at the Houston International Airport. The flight to Quito was 4.5 hours, so I made sure to eat a good meal before I got on board.

When I arrived in Quito, it was very late at night. I had arranged for a driver to pick me up and take me to the hotel San Francisco. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the hotel. The drive wasn’t bad, but the old road was chewed up in many spots. The driver assured me that by next year, they would be opening up a direct highway from the airport to downtown Quito, which would have brand new roads!

Hotel San Fransisco
The Hotel San Francisco is a charming hotel right in old town Quito. It has a lovely garden patio area with lots of plants and flowers. It also had 2 computers with internet for use by the guests and wi-fi for those with their own devices.

Hotel San Francisco - Quito
Room Number 21. It was a really nice room with it’s own bathroom and a huge corner tub…but it’s right above the breakfast service, so starting really early in the morning it’s very loud. Clanking dishes and tourists talking, all that noise gets funneled into the room.

My Five Pairs of Shoes for Ecuador
Proof that I’m on a mountaineering vacation! My five shoes! Although, I wished I had also brought my own crampons…more on that later.

In the Courtyard of Hotel San Francisco
The next morning, on my way to check email…

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