Part 3 --> Quilotoa and back to Quito
We started the morning off with a typical Ecuadorian breakfast with the gorgeous view pictured above. We then drove to the small town of Quilotoa where we saw a BEAUTIFUL crater lake. It looked SO picturesque and was the most vivid blueish green color.
There, we ran into some of our tour group members and talked to them as we admired the gorgeous view and took some photos. As we were walking back to our car, we passed by a bunch of cute stalls where local women were selling their beautiful handicrafts. My mom and I stopped by at one of them after seeing a beautiful alpaca wool poncho laid out. As we were leaving with our items, the sweet lady, who I was making small talk with, stopped me and gave me a free little alpaca toy keychain. It's a keepsake I will for sure cherish. We then headed back on the road to continue our journey towards Quito. Before our driver dropped us back at the hotel, we stopped for a quick coffee. There weren’t too many vegetarian options, per usual, so we just ordered a few light snacks. The staff ended up making a mistake and got my mom a chicken sandwich instead of a cheese sandwich. In an effort to right their wrong, they brought us a free chocolate mousse, which was absolutely delicious!
Once we got close to the Quito city center, we stopped by a statue of the Virgin Mary, a popular and beautiful tourist destination. We climbed the steps and walked out to a breathtaking view of the city, realizing in the process how little of the city we had actually explored.
After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we decided to go to a highly rated fully vegetarian restaurant called “El Maple” for dinner. It definitely lived up to our expectations as it was SO delicious! The tofu dish pictured below was my favorite for sure :)
After dinner, we packed up in order to get ready for our early morning flight to The Galapagos!
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