We completed our last day in Quito, for now. We plan to leave tomorrow for Ambato, a couple of hours south of Quito. We didn't have any plans for this day before arriving, but it turned out to be full of enjoyable experiences. After breakfast, and Susan got her hair washed, we headed up to the Teleferico, which is a tram that starts at about 10,350 feet, and carries passengers up to 12,940. Once we arrived there, we climbed on up to a lookout that was 13,185 according to my GPS. The picture was taken from up there, overlooking Quito.

We then rode back down and caught a taxi to Parque La Carolina, which also hosts the Botanical Gardens of Quito. It was beautiful, with a very wide variety of plants and flowers, including a building dedicated to orchids. We then stopped in a small fruit shop and bought a couple of avocados [Susan is eating 3-4 per day], a small papaya, four small bananas, and a fruit that we are not sure about. The lady who sold it to us told us its name, but we couldn't understand her clearly. Susan ate half the papaya, and said that it is one of the best pieces of fruit she has ever eaten. It makes a real difference to eat fruit that has ripened on the tree, and is eaten within a day or two of being picked.

We then visited an indigenous market a couple of blocks from here, where we scoped out all the offerings. We did not buy anything, as we will be back here our last afternoon in Ecuador, and we don't want to carry stuff around for two weeks if we don't need to. I am already concerned about being able to fit in everything that we need to carry on our bus trip tomorrow. Assuming I have an internet connection tomorrow evening, I will update you on how it went.