Day 4: February 17, 2026, Quito

Day 4: February 17, 2026, Quito I didn’t have any tours scheduled today. Quito is a bit of an intimidating city, especially with the language barriers and constant warnings about being aware of your surroundings. It is something that is true in a lot of big cities, but I don’t feel comfortble jumping on public transportation in Quito. Maybe the warning from on the Youtube Vloggers I follow. He did a vlog in Quito that ended last week, and had his phone taken from him while he was on a bus. Therefore, i decided to do planned tours. I might be Tripadvisor’s best customer this week, because I’ve done 3 tours with them already, and I have two more. Mind you, three of those are almost impossible to do on your own. Mitad del Mundo is much easier to do with a tour group, and i get a lot from the guided tours. I’m a big fan, unless it’s a city that I know really well. Today was the exception. I had no plan, nor any major goals for the day. However, I created a rough plan for the day. Go to the Basilica Nacional first, then to a chocolate shop I visited on Saturday, and then go to the Old Town Plaza. I figured I would go up to Panecillo, and I thought about taking the cable up to the top of a mountain. Since I didn’t have a plan, I had a leisurely breakfast. It was relaxing, and I didn’t get started until about 9:30. The chocolate shop didn’t open until 10:30, so I didn’t want to get started too early. First, I headed to Basilica del Voto Nacional. It’s only a few blocks (uphill) from my hotel, and was where my culinary tour started on Saturday. It’s also where the first Popemobile is. It is modeled after Notre Dame, and the architecture is amazing. It cost $2 to go inside, and it was impressive. I have a cathedral theory, which also works with temples. When you’ve seen cathedral, you’ve seem them all. This was like all the other cathedrals I’ve visited, but bigger. It was another $4 to climb up the stairs to the top of the tower. I had heard that the stairs were steep and narrow. I would have been up for it when I was younger, but I get nervous walking down stairs. I passed on the tower. The grounds were amazing, and I got to see the Popemobile. It’s a pickup! It’s a pickup with a bulletproof shell in the bed. There are a couple of seats, but it’s not exactly highway safe. I had a scare when I saw two kids on bike flying down the steep hill towards a major road, with their brakes screaming as the tried to slow down. Fortunately they slowed down before hitting the road. Next was the chocolate shop. I hadn’t had a hot chocolate yet, and to not have a hot chocolate on this trip would be criminal. This was a high quality chocolate shop, so i trusted that the hot chocolate would be good and authentic. I had a Chocolate Caliente con Queso (Hot Chocolate with cheese). The hot chocolate wasn’t nearly as sweet as what you get in the USA, and the cheese made it creamy. It is definitely an experience, and I liked it. The weather was nice, and it tends to rain in the afternoon, so I decided to go to panecillo in the morning. There was another basilica that I wanted to go to (there are three big ones in Quito), but it was closed from 12 to 3, so that played a role in my decision as well. Panecillo is a statue that is on top of a smaller mountain in Quito. It’s popular because it offers a 360 view of Quito, and is relatively close to downtown. Either taxis, or Uber was recommended, and one of my guides specially recommended Uber. I’m not sure why Uber is safer than a cab, but they make a big deal telling tourist what official taxis look like. The Uber was definitely easier to call, so that’s what I did. With that said, I would have felt a lot more comfortable if the driver stuck to the plan. Instead, he was extremely friendly, using an app to communicate with me. I was wary, but I only had $40 cash on me, and I didn’t think my cards were at risk. At worst, he would con me out of $40. He asked if I wanted him to wait. He told me he charged by hour, and I knew I wasn’t going to be at the mountain very long. Literally, get the pictures, and get back. I agreed, maybe naively, but I trusted my instinct. He hadn’t done anything that exposed him as being dangerous. I took my pictures, told him what my next stop was, and got in his car. I was headed to the main plaze, but he recommended i go to the cable car first. It made sense, because it rains in the afternoon. The line at the cable car was very long (apparently everybody in Quito decided to go there as well). He offered to wait, but it was going to be at least an hour in the line, plus the time to get be on the hill. I told not to wait, and he charged me $12 for his time. I gave him $15, and with Uber and fee to enter, he got me for about $20. I wish this world was different, and we didn’t have to worry about good natured people doing good deeds, because he was a good guy. FTR- the taxi down was $6, and I gave him $8. The line was huge,and it close to an hour to get the ticket. They made a big deal that the cable car stops in thunder storms, which scared me as well. I didn’t have wifi, so I couldn’t call an Uber to get back. I had this inner anxiety about getting back to town the whole time. Everything was in Spanish, which is a drawback as a solo traveler. What happened after buying my ticket is something I can’t explain other than being in Quito, and Ecuadoreans are unbelievably friendly. After I got my ticket, I got in another line to get on the cable car. A lady who looked official saw me, and asked if I had a ticket. I showed her my ticket, so she lead to the front of the line to get on the cable. She got in the same line, so she wasn’t official. I don’t understand why I got to the front of the line. Once there, they were making sure there were groups of six, and one of the employees gestured to me while speaking Spanish. She was speaking fast, and I had no clue what she was saying. Finally, one of the customers says that they want me in the single line. I get in the single line, and the lady who controls the final stage of boarding asks if I speak Spanish. I tell her un poco. She then gives me a long warning, in which I heard aribe and un hora. Basically, from what I could understand it was: get up, hurry and get back down in an hour. Despite all the anxiety, I’m glad I went. The view was nicer, because it’s so high (2k above Quito). It was a nice area on top, and there was a cab waiting when I got back down. He took me to the Old Town, and this was the last day of Carnival. It was packed, and very crazy. People had these $1 cans of soap spray, and anybody with a can was free game to be sprayed. FTR, I was spared, but I did get hit by some strays. I watched from a distance, enjoying the fray from the sidelines. My place for lunch was a microbrewery right on San Francisco Plaza. It was literally an Oasis amongst the chaos, but was still busy. I wasn’t the only one who wanted a refuge from the chaos. Good beer and ceviche is always something I appreciate. I walked back from San Francisco, which is about 1k from my hotel. My route was a little longer, because I went through another part that I hadn’t visited. My walk corresponded with the end of the festivities, and a lot of people heading home. Everybody was tired (including me), and with Google Maps and intuition, I made my way towards my hotel. I wasn’t lost, but I didn’t know where I was. One of the drawbacks with Quito’s reputation is that not recommended to be out at night, especially as a solo traveller. I try to eat near the hotel, and get down by 7. There is an Italian Restaurant a block (uphill, but in the other direction) from my hotel that had good reviews. I heard about the lasagne, and I love lasagne. I get Stauffer’s frozen lasagne, which can taste like cardboard. This was served in a pan that was perfectly sized for one person (a big portion), and there wasn’t a lot of sauce in the lasagne, but it was so good Lasagne is usually a home-baked meal, and I’ve rarely seen it in restaurants. It’s also really hard to bake at home, so I usually get frozen lasagne that tastes like cardboard. This was so good that I was crying.