Today was our first full day in Quito, and honestly it was a pretty crazy start to the trip. We started the day by going to the Church and Convent of San Francisco. Inside the church, there were a ton of paintings and cool architecture, and then we got a tour of the place. It was cool seeing how much history there is there and how different everything looks compared to back home. After that, we got churros and empanadas, which were really good. Once we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the Virgin of El Panecillo. Since it’s way up on a mountain, we debated about whether we should Uber or walk. The Ubers were taking forever, so a couple of the guys and I just decided to start walking while the others waited for an Uber.
To get up there, we had to go up so many stairs. Every single step was numbered, so it was nice to see that we were getting closer and closer. The stairs did not stop the entire way up, but some people in our group wanted to stop, so it was nice to see the views then. After about 25 minutes, we finally made it to the top and got greeted by the people who took the Uber (lazy). Personally, I did not think that the hike up was that bad. Once we got there, we went into the Virgin of El Panecillo and got a nice view of the entire city of Quito (see picture). It was definitely worth the climb. After that, we spent some time walking around and checking out the little shops at the top before heading back down. Overall, a pretty successful first day in Ecuador and proof that walking up the mountain was the better choice.