Day 2 in Quito, we woke early, had breakfast of scrambled eggs, burnt toast (Tami made her own), and bottled water…Oh did I forget to mention that nowhere on this trip could you drink any water from the taps, or brush your teeth with that water, all had to be bottled.
Today we had signed up for a tour of Quito and the “Middle of the Earth”.
Daniel came early and along with our faithful driver Carlos, we first went to beautiful downtown. We visited the Basilica, a huge church located in Old Town Quito. Great views of Quito's compacted housing from the top of the Basilica...and we climbed about 200,000 stairs to get there. We also saw the main square “Plaza de Indepencia”, famous for the monument to Marshall Sucre, second only to Simon Bolivar in fighting for South American Independence. We had to take some detours because the teachers were protesting, a recurring theme on the trip. They were protesting the Government's trying to have them tested periodically before allowing them to teach. We visited the "Virgin of Quito" statue, overlooking Quito. This was made entirely of aluminum plates, in the valley, disassembled and carried up to the top of this hill and reassembled. All the plates are numbered in order to correctly put her together again.
We next went to “Middle Earth”, (not the J.R.R. Tolkien version), but Mitad del Mundo the actual Latitude of ’00.00.00’. The place was called “Inti Nan Museum”, lies on the equator, and at this place we saw demonstrations of strange phenomena, including the clockwise, counterclockwise and lack of both in draining water. Also real SHRUNKEN HEADS, they even had How To Guides, so watch out…Then we fed ourselves at Mama Clorinda’s, GREAT Tamales wrapped in plantain husks…and waddled back to the hotel.
The info on the website was laid out very well. I did some comparisons with other tours and found Adventure Life met a lot of what I wanted in an Antarctica trip at the cheapest price. Requested a quote on Claudia contacted me right away. She answered a lot of questions the I had via email even though she offered to discuss via phone call. I’m more of an email person so appreciated how she accommodated that and answered all my questions. And when I was ready to book, she quickly got the ball rolling with getting our spots reserved on the trip my friend and I wanted. Thanks again, Claudia!
Hazel Araza
10 hours ago
(1) great information on the website and throughout all the "materials." (2) Jane Packer is great: knowledgeable, responsive, takes a personal interest and tone, seems to care about the customer as a person not a sale.
Larry Bethune
18 hours ago
great people doing a wonderful job to make our voyages happen.
trudy
1 day ago
For our first trip to Costa Rica, Adventure Life designed a tour that meets the interests, ecological and adventure, of our party; but also takes into account our physical limitations sine we are all septuagenarian. We are looking forward to the trip.
John Zent
2 days ago
Adventure Life is my favorite travel company due to their genuine care for their customers. They make every effort to ensure a wonderful travel experience for you. Their personal touch really gives the customer a lot of confidence with their travel plans and the trip leaders are always outstanding. They are truly consistent and accountable with the great service they provide. I can't thank Adventure Life enough for the incredible trips I have enjoyed thanks to them and their attention to detail.