Touring Old Quito (Again)

Day 13:

Today we checked into our hotel room at Los Alpes. It is a really cool place. We highly recommend it.

After dropping our bags at the hotel we toured around Old Quito again. It was the nicest day we've had in Quito and everyone was out in the streets walking and shopping. We prefer Old Quito to New Quito. If your read the travel forums they say that Old Quito is dangerous. We didn't seem to think so. The city is undergoing a revitalization and they are trying to draw more people there. At almost every street corner there is a cop. Their presence makes your feel safe; however, we wouldn't hang out there at night.

We checked out the La Merced Church and Plaza Santa Domingo. The city was hosting a downhill mountain biking tour around the city. Bikers ran a course around the city. They also had a downhill course which included a jump. It was pretty cool. The Ecuadorians really digged it and was cheering as each biker made the jump (some didn't make it and fell).

Later, we met our friends for a third farewell meal at the Magic Bean Coffee House (no Pisco Sours). The restaurant is just like a Portland Coffee House. Especially, when every customer at the restaurant was a tourist.

In the evening we hung out at the La Mariscal area. La Mariscal is located between Old Town and New Town. This is where most of the tourists hang out. There are trendy bars, Internet Cafes, and a ton of hostals. We particularly like La Mariscal because it is a central location to meet and there are a few good restaurants.

We returned to our German Ski Lodge (Los Alpes) in the early evening because we knew we had to get up at 4 am to catch our flight the next day (hopefully).