Day 1 – Greetings from Quito, Ecuador! Today we spent the morning with approximately half of our tour group seeing the sights of Quito. The 400-year old city is definitely third world, but a bit more upscale than other places we have visited. Quito’s Old Town enjoys UNESCO Heritage status; the cathedral, municipal palaces, and Plaza de Indepencia are very well preserved. New Town has a banking district, nice restaurants…and there are areas where the neighborhoods look pretty decent. We learned about the active volcanos around the city, and saw “Old Town” Quito, the city’s Guardian Angel on top of Panecillo Hill, several lovely churches, and had our pictures taken with the guards at the Presidential Palace. At approximately 1300 we began a long, multi-course lunch that ended around 1600. Once we returned to the hotel Amy opted to stay in for a hot bath and early turn-in (she couldn’t have eaten another thing!) while John attended the Welcome Dinner “meet and greet.”