Next morning, I thought I’ll head to the Peruvian embassy and apply for a tourist visa. I knew where it was, but didn’t know what was the best way to get there, so I went down to the hostel reception to ask. The lady at the reception didn’t seem to understand what I wanted and made a quick telephone call. I assumed she was calling someone who could speak better English, but when a taxi driver showed up and said he’d parked right outside and we should go quickly before the cops show up, I understood the lady’s misunderstanding. But since the taxi was already here and since the lady was really nice, I thought what the hell and just took the taxi to the embassy.

At 12 USD, it turned out to be quite an expensive ride. The taxi driver assured me that there was no way I could get there for cheaper and also assured me that he’d be available to take me there every morning if needed. He said he’d wait for me outside the embassy to take me back to the hostel. It was quite difficult to convince him that I didn’t know how long I’d need in there and that I’d find my way back by myself.

There was disappointment in store for me at the embassy. They said they couldn’t give me a tourist visa to Peru, and that I should’ve arranged for it in India itself. I was really looking forward to go to Macchu-Picchu, so this was a big blow. Anyway, Macchu-Picchu has been around for thousands of years, and I think it’ll be around until I can come back to South America another time.

Getting back to the hostel by trolley bus was far easier than I had imagined, and cost me only 25 cents, that is 1/48th the price of the taxi. I doubt I’m ever going to take a taxi in Quito again.

Once back at the hostel, Matt & I decided to check out the famous Basílica del Voto Nacional. We walked all the way there, and after seeing the interior, went to climb the towers. One can climb really really high on the towers (above the clocks, and almost all the way to the spire). There’s also a wooden walkway via which one can walk the length of the cathedral right above the ceiling of the main section, and then climb higher still. Once there, you get to a pair of powerful binoculars whose main purpose is to provide a zoomed-in view of the distant statue of Mother Mary on El Panecillo. But Matt & I put it to the more interesting purpose of spying on unsuspecting people in their houses. However, the only thing of note we actually managed to spot was a woman hanging out clothes to dry on her terrace.

This young footballer was keen to have his picture taken

Front-view of the basilica from a distance

Side-view of the basilica

The interior of the basilica

Walkway above the ceiling

The bread shaped hill - El Panecillo - as seen from the basilica

After checking out the Basilica, we walked around the historical city center. Matt did some last-minute shopping as he was flying back home the next day. At one of the roadside markets, somebody tried to sell us a 8 GB pen drive for a ridiculously cheap price. We were both tempted to buy it at first, but then thought better of it. The only way it could’ve been offered at that price was if it was stolen and we’d only be encouraging theft by buying it. We also later noticed cops hanging around, so it might also have been some sort of a sting operation aimed at catching buyers red-handed and then extracting heavy fines from them.