Day 76 - Iquitos, Peru to Quito, Ecuador

Up bright and early today for our 8am flight and get so see a wonderful sunrise. Red sky in the morning. 

We have to go back via Lima on the way to Quito with a two hour stop off in Lima. 

We soon take off again after a short delay. Great views of the snow capped mountains when we get close to Quito. 

Some really huge clouds though that create some pretty bad turbulence when flying through them. I mean, it even knocked my sandwich off my table!!!

Great scenery coming into land. It is so lush and green. 

Some really interesting landscapes too with deep valleys meandering their way through the mountains.  

We arrive in Quito and it is a delight. It is so modern, although we are at the new airport. Randomly our first sight is a TGI Fridays  in the airport which isn't so great. We jump in a cab - all very easy as they use US dollars here and all prices are listed. So nice to not have taxi admin and negotiating to not get ripped off when arriving somewhere. 

The airport is quite far out of own and it takes us about an hour and a half to get to our hotel. This country seems a lot more wealthier than others we have visited so far. We opted to stay in the lively part of town and it really is just that. Our hotel, the NU House Boutique hotel is literally ground zero for the nightlife, set right in the Foch square (pronounced exactly as the swear word is!). It's a nice enough hotel but we have a of trauma when we get stuck in the lift on the way to our room. It's the tiniest lift in the world and we are in there for 15mins whilst they sort it out to our amusement. We didn't even want to get in the damn lift as we are only on the 2nd floor but were ushered in by the bell boy!

Our room overlooks the square which by this point on a Friday night is absolutely pumping. It's actually a nice place with nice bars and restaurants - more soho than magaluf. We have a few beers in a German beer place and listen to them pumping out some old Roxette classics!

This is Nat with make up and her hair done. You won't have seen this for a while but I assure you it is her. 

Our hotel. Our room is the left hand side on the second floor. It is going to be a noisy night.

Such a heavy police presence around this square to keep it safe. Apparently venturing a few blocks away is a big no no which is strange as it feels so safe. We stick to the advise though and stay around the square. Even the hotel tell us not to venture too far which is surprising for a hotel. They usually say its fine. 

We eat at the restaurant opposite our hotel called Azuca beach. It's a lovely restaurant and we actually sit on a beach. We have the ceviche and a few beers and then head back to the hotel. I have a serious amount of blog admin to sort out but more on this tomorrow!