My recent visit to the Galapagos Islands allowed for a couple of free days in Ecuador’s Capital city, Quito, which proved to be an adventure in itself. Not to tarnish the idea of what was otherwise a very interesting historic colonial city, safety for a single white female with a nice camera quickly became my biggest concern, culminating with some guy trying to steal my phone—he didn’t succeed because luckily I was bigger than him. Well that, and I’m a Superhero.
I opted for a visit to the Quito Botanic Garden, safe and serene by any account. I had high expectations being that Ecuador is said to be the “World Capital of Orchids” with over four thousand species, and 1,700 of those being native to Ecuador. I’m not sure why I imagined the orchids would be large, but this collection is mostly teensy-tiny flowers that hardly resemble an orchid. Here are the ones which particularly caught my eye.
Overall, the garden is fairly small but well-maintained and worth a visit for their collections of exotic orchids, carnivorous plants and Japanese bonsai trees.Thank you to the Quito Botanic Garden and Swissotel Quito for hosting my visit. And thanks for visiting my blog!
