Toured the valleys to the east of Quito today. Impression of rapid growth amidst natural beauty and poverty. Not the sort of poverty you see in the tourist destinations around the Caribbean, but poverty where everyone seems to be working, hustling, doing things with family. Of course, we're here during Carnival, a national holiday, when everyone has a 4-day weekend.
So far on our time in Quito we've met people from all over the world, each in varying degrees of investigating Ecuador as a place to "retire" to (whatever that means) - we've met interesting people from both Carolinas, Canada, Bemuda, the midwest, southern California and more. We've met a good many expats that live here.
Quito has beautiful parks, interesting and varied neighborhoods, but for my taste a little bit larger than I like. It has world class medical care, loads of colleges, a booming economy, and of course nearly perfect climate. With 2.5 million people, it's like Manhattan with better weather and nicer people.
So at this point in the Jeffcoat rankings, Cuenca is still in first (sight unseen), Cotacachi is in second (Mary hasn't seen it) and Quito is third.
On to Cuenca in the morning!
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