At 9,400 feet it is the  2^nd highest capital city in the world. The highest is La Paz, Bolivia at nearly 12,000 feet, hold onto that for Jeopardy.

It is surrounded by volcanoes- some active.

It is the closest capital city to the equator, only 25 miles from the city border.

The lovely and preserved old city, with its magnificent basilicas, museums and grand plazas was the first city designated a UNESCO world heritage site.

Its currency is the US dollar, and it is in the same time zone as Philadelphia.

The answer- Quito, Ecuador.

I felt the altitude walking up the jet bridge from the plane, and more so climbing the stairs to our 2nd floor room at Hotel Patio Andaluz. For those of us who dwell at sea level 9400 feet is a change. The old city is lovely, well preserved yet up to date.

The weather is temperate all year round- you are on the equator, with 12 hours of light and dark all the time. Crops grow year round with some variation due to wetter and drier periods. High temperature was in the low 60’s low in the 50’s and this is the rainy season. It rains then clears up to beautiful blue skis. For travelers Quito is the jumping off point for other things- the Galapagos, the Amazon basin for ecample. But there are lots of other options- the cloud forest, Andes, volcanos, haciendas in the highlands. But the old city was well worth the day we spent there.

We had a fantastic guide for a half day tour, arranged by Quasar, the company who arranged this adventure. One highlight was a visit to the El Albado Archeological Museum to see their colection of items prom the period before the Spanish appeared. Despite being closed, Quasar had arranged for us to visit anyway. It was just us with our guide. Fantastic!

Food historians are not sure where the cocao bean originated- maybe the amazon basic or Central America. But when Emperor Montezuma served Cortez the royal chocolatl beverage in giant golden goblets he realized they had found something special. Of course they stuffed their ships full of all the gold they could carry but brought some of the magic beans back too. Though it didnt really catch on until someone thought to add sugar cane to the bitter stuff. Likecoffee, there are different kinds and qualities of breans. Equador claims to grow the best. Cannot prove it but it’s awfully good.

We wrapped up our day with a lovely dinner at Lavid, a restaurant on the central plaza around the corner from the Presidential Palace.

Next morning we were off to the next adventure. An hour to the airport- over the mountain, through the valley and the town of Cumbaya (yes like the song) dubbed CumbaYork for the number of expats who have settled there. We had a short 40 minute flight followed by a 2 hour motorized canoe ride. Then we changed to paddle canoes (we were not doing the paddling) for a 30 minute trip through the lagoon to our home fora completely the next 3 days. There we will see spectacular wildlife, lush forests and a chef named Elvis will turn out some of the best food I have had in some time. Stay tuned!