Quito

The capital of Ecuador is a beautiful colonial style city with a 1.7 million population located at 2,800m above the sea level and surrounded with mountains. The temperature varies from 23 to 8 degrees centigrade in the same day, because of the altitude. With white walls, red roofs, flourishing patios, fountains and wooden doors, the Ronda is the oldest street in the old city. You can admire a superb architectural ensemble from the Panecillo. Different museums are located in the city centre, such as the Colonial Art Museum, the Art and History Museum of “Alberto Mena Caamaño”, the Sugar House, the Party Temple, the Jacinto Jijon Museum of the Catholic University and the Guayasamin Museum. The anthropology museum and the gold museum of the Central Bank are the most complete and interesting in the country. Other places are also places we have to see, like, Guapulo and its church, the Sugar theatre, the Astronomy Observatory in the Alameda park, the El Ejido and La Carolina parks, and the Government and the Archbishop palaces. One of the most particular places around Quito is the monument of the “Mitad del Mundo”, indicating the exact place of the parallel 0 of Equator. The Ethnographic Museum is located inside the building where you can see the city of the “Mitad del Mundo”, a model of the colonial Quito, the Astronomical observatory and the French stand. A few kilometers from there, you can visit the inactive crater of the Pululahua volcano with its different vegetation species, and the protected areas of: Nono, Tandayapa, Mindo, with an abundant vegetation and animal life. In the north of Quito we can fin the village of Calderon which is well known for the marzipan sculptures.