Ecuador - Quito.

Quito is the capital of Ecuador and rivals La Paz fo its high altitude and beautiful surrounding mountains. After a night in an overpriced cheap hotel we moved to an even cheaper but more pleasant one with a balcony looking out onto one of the main roads of the old town, a good spot for people watching. It turned out however that people watching within the hostal was actually more interesting as it became apparent that it was fully functioning brothel, airing all of its dirty laundry in public - there was never a dull moment. Hosting kids partys and providing rooms for backpackers was just an extra way of making cash for the weird owners and the doorbell rang non stop, allowing entry for all mannor of shady characters from the grimy underbelly of Quito and much to our delight the first extremely rare and refreshing sight of South American transvestites. What with this excitement, along with the fact that we were both riddled with nits and needed hours of treatments, we had no need to leave the hostal and actually explore the city too much. When we did however, we were impressed by the beautiful colonial architecture of the old town and the grandure of the churches and cathedrals dotted around. Time was ticking though and we had to move on if we wanted to see much else of the country in only 2 weeks.