Move over New York City… Move over Los Angeles… There is a city that would overwhelm the both of them. That city is Quito, Ecuador. We drove from Riobamba to Quito in about three and a half hours. Of course I fell asleep almost immediately, but I was awake for about 45 minutes and was able to take a picture of Cotopaxi:

Cotopaxi is the world’s highest active volcano. Ha, now I know this is a bad picture but work with me on this. If you look and see the bright white area (snow) below the clouds you are looking at about the halfway point of the volcano. The clouds hid the volcano from me. I was a little upset, but I’m over it now.

Quito lies in the Andean mountains just below another active volcano called Mount Pichincha. Being that we are still in a mountainous region of the world, we are now about 9300 feet above sea level. The altitude sickness was really starting to mess with me, but just taking it easy has made a world of difference.

Check out just one small section of Quito:

» Read more: Ecuador Part 3 – Quitto

It just never fails! Whenever you’re in a great hotel, the time of departure comes quickly. We had to say goodbye to the Hotel Oro Verde in Guayaquil so that we could head to Riobamba. I was actually excited about the ride because I would have an opportunity to really see the country. I’m usually not hard to please when in group situations because I understand that we all have to do whatever is needed to make things work out. I must say though, this one threw me for a loop:

We had to travel with our luggage and equipment in a somewhat small van. In addition to that, the third row was taken out for storage and we picked up two people for the journey. It was a very cramped ride, but somehow we all adjusted. I did as I normally do, fell asleep as soon as the van got about 10 miles out of the city. I actually slept most of the way there, but I did wake up long enough to snag this pic:

» Read more: Ecuador Part 2 – Riobamba