Stop #2 on our trip was Quito, Ecuador. We redeemed 20,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles plus $74.97 in taxes (120,000 KrisFlyer miles plus $449.82 total) for a one-way trip and flew in business class from Córdoba, Argentina, connecting through Panama City, Panama, to Quito, Ecuador on COPA Airlines (a bit of a brutal flight with the kids since it left Argentina at 1:49am...but at least it was in business class). We arrived at the Hilton in Quito where we redeemed 20,000 Hhonors points per night for 3 nights, and with our diamond Hhonors status we were given a complementary upgrade to a large suite (all the junior suites were taken so we got the one above that) and were given the usual complimentary breakfast and lounge spread daily (we ate breakfast in the restaurant and dinner in the lounge for free every night we were there). Upon arrival, we walked around the park adjacent to the hotel and had some delicious Ecuatorian food (kids really didn't like the platanos very much).
We had planned to go to Cotopaxi, the large volcano near Quito, but it started erupting a couple weeks before we got to Ecuador, so that got taken off the list fairly quickly. Instead, we woke up the next morning and headed out to Laguna Quilotoa, which is a lake down in the crater of a volcano. We were driven to the top of the volcano and headed down inside of the crater on foot. It took us about 30 minutes down a steep and very dusty trail to get to the lake in the crater. We had some snacks next to the lake and rented kayaks and paddled around a bit in the lake. We explored for about an hour and then rented donkeys ($10 each) to take us back up to the top of the volcano. For the kids, riding the donkeys was one of the highlights of our entire trip. Each one of the kids was given their own donkey and we slowly began our journey up the very steep trail. There were many switchbacks and the view was breathtaking. It took nearly an hour to ride up the trail and everyone that was walking would look at us with envy as we slowly made our way past them on the donkeys (the elevation was definitely felt). We stopped for photo ops every so often and the locals gave the kids plenty of attention.
The next day we were off on another excursion, this time to Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) and the Equator. We went to both the actual equator (a much smaller tourist site) as well as the spot where a giant monument, restaurants, museums, and exhibits was built (where they originally thought the equator was, but when digital GPS came along they were proven that they were off by about 200 meters).
At the smaller site, we were shown various experiments right on the equator and on each side of the equator.
At the larger, more touristy site, we went to various museums and wandered around before having some great Ecuadorian food with some amazing juices (Maracuya, Lulo, Guanabana, Mora, and Limon) which brought back many memories of the food from Cody's mission in Colombia.
The 3rd (last) day in Quito we rode the gondola (teleferico) to the top of the mountain and went for a small hike. We got some great views of Cotopaxi, the volcano in the background which began erupting a few weeks before we got to Ecuador.
We then took a city tour of Quito and went to see some of the architecture and Catholic cathedrals.
The elevation at the top of the gondola was quite high, we all had some trouble breathing on our hike, but the views were fantastic and we just enjoyed the quiet and time together with just our family. The kids went to the land of make believe and began picking and collecting wheat alongside the trail while we took a slow stroll higher up the mountain.
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