Quito 2026

Quito 2026 Day 1; February 14, 206, Quito, Ecuador I got roses for Valentines Day! I think that might be a first for me. Before anybody gets their hopes up, it was gift from the hotel. Yesterday was a very long day. My flight left SFO at 1:30. I wanted to get three hours before my flight, which meant catching the bus to BART 9am. I got to airport a little past 10:30, breezed through check-in, and was through TSA by 11am. I’m not saying I subscribe to airport theory, but a solo traveler with TSA at a big airport is pretty smooth. I flew TACA, which is owned by Avianca. Avianca is doing what a lot of flagship carriers are doing, and becoming a LCC. Here my rundown. The seats didn’t recline, which wasn’t a terrible thing (the guyin front couldn’t recline either). The seats had slightly more padding than a wooden bench. Because there is so little padding, leg room is not terrible. You can buy food on board, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it. They fed us the worlds worst sandwich (wet cardboard stuff between two pieces of dry cardboard. I had a premium seat from San Salvador to Quito, which was more comfortable, but less leg room. I downloaded my own IFE. Wicked: For Good is a better plot than the play, but the added music wasn’t special. I highly recommend I Like Me, the full length documentary about John Candy produced by his son. There lies the first problem on the night. My flight didn’t arrive until 2:50 AM. I need to fire my travel agent for that snafu. The hotel had a car waiting for me, and roughtly 15 ½ hours after leaving home, I got into my hotel room. I had eaten a halfway decent tuna fish sandwich, and the worst sandwich in the history of man.

I was tired, and hungry, which led to my second problem. My hotel was a 5-star reviewed old colonial hotel, and I assumed I would have a decent room for my week. It was literal closet, with no window, and no bathroom. I was so tired that I had no choice to sleep there for the night. There was a small window way at the top, that was too small to look out, but just perfect to let the light from the street shine through. There was no way I could sleep in that room for six nights, and i began to plan alternative arrangements.

Fortunately, it was much easier than I feared to upgrade. I’ve got a corner bedroom that has a window to courtyard (opposite the busy street), a double bed, and most importantly, a shower and toilet. I also got a lovely breakfast from the hotel, and I’ve got to say the staff at this hotel is amazing. They are so nice, and accomodating, I almost feel guilty asking them questions. My first impression of Quito, other than the hills, is that it is a very gritty city. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I’ve gotten spoiled in my travels since I left Singapore in 1988. I didn’t travel much until 2008, and all of my travel has been in America, Europe, and Asia. Vietnam was a bit gritty, but I wasn’t all that concerned about my surroundings in Vietnam. I definitely am aware of my surroundings in Quito. FTR- I feel safer in Quito than I do in Oakland, but it has the same vibe. It’s definitely a bustling city, and it’s a hard city to navigate. There isn’t a grid to follow. And my God is it steep. I spent the afternoon on a culinary walking tour of Old Town Quito. FTR- i highly recommend a walking food tour in cities. I did it in Hanoi and Osaka, and it is a really nice tour. This was heavy on the history, and less on the food. But I did get a good lesson on the cocoa bean, and I learn Ecuadoreans have a huge sweet tooth. I also got to experience the first day of Carnival, which I guess is a bit of a mischief night in Quito. People were spraying foam at each other in the public square (there are like 30 in Quito), and they sometimes targeted foreigners to bring them into the fold. I would have preferred not to be sprayed with foam, but it was mostly harmless. The night ended with a trip to a brew pub. I have a beer index to judge how expensive a town is. It’s basically, how much is a good pint of beer? In Quito, it is $5 (they use US Dollars) for a brew pub beer, which is half the price of one in the USA (¼ the price of one in Norway). By the time I left, I experienced what could best be described as a mountain tropical deluge. it was pouring buckets, and since the roads are so steep, the water literally cascades down the street.