Galapagos Islands - April, 2024
Day 2 – Quito, Ecuador
Saturday, April 6
I'll admit I spent most of my pre-trip research time on the islands themselves. I probably should have looked a little more into Quito (pronounced key-toe). One thing I did learn in advance was that Quito is at a high elevation and some people experience altitude sickness. I dismissed this because I have spent some time in Denver and if the "mile high" city didn't bother me, surely I'd be fine (serious voice: I was not).
For comparison:
Even though I was exhausted from the travel, I woke up in the middle of the night after about 4 hours with a massive headache and could not go back to sleep. I was later advised you really shouldn’t drink alcohol in the first 24 hours after arriving due to the high altitude. That would have been a useful fact to have picked up ahead of time! Did I mention the 8-course dinner with wine pairing from last night? Ugh.
Fortunately, water, caffeine and Advil eventually tamed my headache and, although somewhat sleep deprived, I was ready for the day's planned activities.
We went down to breakfast, enjoyed a great selection on the Marriott’s buffet, then got ready for a VERY packed day of activities arranged by Celebrity. We were sorted into groups of roughly 15 people (our group consisted of 13) and loaded onto five different full-sized buses. This is the group we would travel with throughout the day and tomorrow to the airport. I will say that Celebrity really shines here. They could have easily packed us all on to 2 or 3 buses. I don't know if small groups were put in place after Covid or if they've always done this, but it was nice to be able to spread out and not be shoulder-to-shoulder with 30 other people on the bus.
One other note about Quito: Due to the elevation, the temperatures are about 20 degrees colder than the islands; 40s at night and 60s during the day. You definitely need to pack jeans and a jacket for your time here.
Here is the schedule for the Quito tour day:
1st stop: Virgin Mary Statue on El Panecillo hill
As someone feeling the effects of altitude sickness, I was ecstatic to learn we were journeying further up the mountain to 13,000 ft elevation! As it turns out, I didn't experience any issues and the view of the city was nice:
2nd stop: Old town and Iglesia de San Francisco
After a brief walking tour of the old town, we visited Iglesia de San Francisco, which is the oldest church in Quito; construction began in the 1500s and it took about 100 years to complete.
3rd stop: More old town and La Compania Jesuit church
No photos or videos are allowed in this church. Part of the inside was destroyed by fire during conservation work in 1996. A restoration was completed in 2005.
4th stop: Independence Plaza and lunch
We stopped in Independence Plaza and snapped some photos of the Presidential Palace, then it was off to a buffet-style lunch at a Monastery.
After lunch, you are presented with the option to go back to the hotel or continue on approximately an hour drive to the Equator line. Based on the amount of sleep I got over the last two days, I would have been tempted to take this option if the order had been reversed, but we definitely wanted to visit the Equator, so off we went. No one from our group opted to go back to the hotel.
Once back on the bus and on our way, I was very happy that the guide stated she would not be talking on the intercom during the trip and encouraged us to take a nap if we wanted. I wanted! Zzzzzzzzz....
5th stop: Intinan Solar Museum - On the Equator
Then, back to the hotel. Our original schedule had us arriving by 4:30, but we were running late and didn’t get back until 5:00, which meant we had about an hour before we needed to report back downstairs to go to dinner. And they gave us homework to do. Form filled out, we decided to work on packing, re-filling our water bottles, getting more coffee pods and change at the front desk, then it was back on the bus for about a 10-minute trip to the restaurant.
6th stop: La Gloria restaurant
Five of us were seated at a table. As luck would have it, we got along great and proceeded to have dinner and go on excursions together throughout the remainder of the trip! We had the choice of one of 4 appetizers, one of 4 entrees and everyone got a sampler plate for dessert. I chose not to order any alcoholic beverages based on this morning’s fun, but little did I know it still wouldn’t be a great night sleep!
Back to the hotel. It’s now close to 9:00 and we’ve been going pretty much non-stop for about 12 hours. But we’re not done yet! Now we have to put our cruise luggage tags on our checked bags, take out something to wear tomorrow and take the bags downstairs to drop off at the Celebrity desk so they can be inspected tomorrow morning before being loaded on our bus.
Finally, we got to bed for some much-needed sleep by 10:00PM. But no, fate wasn't on my side. I woke up about every 30 minutes feeling nauseous, and had to sit up long enough for the feeling to pass, then back to sleep until the next 30 minutes. So this ended up being day 2 of only getting 4 hours of sleep. Looking at my Garmin watch stats, it looks like the elevation of Quito is taking its toll on my body; resting heart rate is up, Pulse Ox down to 82% from it’s normal of the high 90s. HRV is in the red. At least we fly back to sea-level tomorrow!
Final step count for Day 2: