Our first day in Quito was full of new experiences and mind-blowing views. We started the day off with a 8am breakfast after missing a whole night of sleep the day prior. It was chill, though; the South American coffee made up for it. Our first visit was a church that we walked into mid-service. The walls were covered in gold paint and original artwork; mind-blowing. We got a guided tour of the church grounds, and got educated on its history and the stories behind its making. The church campus had a garden plaza in the middle, shaded with palm trees and flowers. I felt so at peace sitting in there until the guide told us it was a cemetery.

We stopped at a small empanada spot for lunch, and even though it felt like a sauna, my refreshing drink kept me cool. After fueling up, I was tempted to take a nap but was peer-pressured into seeing the view from the top of the Virgin statue. I’m glad I faded that nap.

The highlight of the day was incidental, and coincidentally very tasty. After walking down the virgin mountain, a small group of us decided to walk to the cathedral, and on our way there we came across a small chocolate factory named KITU. The owner gave a sample of every single one of his flavors, and was so grateful that we visited his shop that he even gave us free bon-bons. He expressed how beneficial our tourism is to the Ecuadorian economy, and put into perspective how the big chocolate brands (fade Hersheys) monetarily hurt local farmers. He sources all cacao beans locally; I knew this place was legit when I saw his mom hand-cracking each individual bean at the front of the store. I ended up buying his coconut 85% bar, and wish I bought more.

After a nice dinner with the group, Skip brought us to a street full of restaurants and boutique shops. Everything we ordered there was amazing, despite them forgetting about half our stuff. The owners and servers were more focused on dancing with us than actually doing their job, which made for quite a story. Also, I need to catch up on sleep, so let’s please push breakfast back tomorrow.