New place:  We can walk everywhere from here!

We love our 5th floor Melissa I apartment with on-demand hot water, good water pressure and a doorman!

When our first five days were coming to an end at Hotel Andino we asked if we could stay on, but the hotel was booked. At first we thought about moving on but then decided we could use more time in Quito and we didn’t want to be traveling during Carnaval when students were on vacations and families were traveling.

First place: “Awesome Location – 3rd floor private suite”

It took time looking online, but we finally found something that fit our budget for the next 10 nights. We walked to the new neighborhood on Saturday and found it very close to the large Parque Carolina which has walk/bike trails and fitness equipment. There were new tall apartment buildings, some under construction, and

commercial buildings. The suite was the third floor of a home with its own entrance, a kitchenette and lounge area in addition to a bedroom. The photos looked great.

Be careful when looking at those photos! Consider what they DO NOT show. There is a reason. We were disappointed with the general shabbiness when we entered, but there was lots of space so we thought we could make the best of it.  By the next morning we had changed our minds!

Old place:  If you push them together  can you call it a KING BED?

That Sunday night we were sleeping comfortably and soundly together when we were awakened by the host’s German Shepherd barking echoing loudly in the concrete stairwell. The dog would bark, quiet down for a moment, only to resume barking. Wide awake and unable to return to our peaceful slumber we could hear a multitude of neighborhood dogs barking as well. Come morning, there were other loud sounds: car alarms beeping and building alarms wailing, cars honking. I sat up and said, “We can not endure another night here!” It sounded like NYC! This was not the quiet neighborhood we saw Saturday and Sunday.

Car alarms were running repeatedly through their cycle for hours! The host said the building alarms have to go off each morning since the employee unlocks and goes in! They’ve never heard of the 60- second grace period. Since then, I’ve heard these car alarms so much I’ve dubbed it the National Anthem. As I write this, the windows are open and I can clearly hear the wail of a car alarm!

The new Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen floorplan

The AirBnB hosts offered to refund us our money or move us to their other property in a “luxury” apartment building for the same nightly fee.  It’s really been very, very nice, and we’ve slept great.  The AirBnB hosts were so kind about this that I really can’t bring myself to write anything negative about the first place.

The new apartment has a combination Wash & Dry laundry machine.

Four days remain here at these accommodations and we’ve started making plans to take the bus to the coast.

Accommodations are our greatest expense and the only way we can keep to our budget is to rent a place for a month as it brings the daily rate down. I had hoped to avoid using websites like VRBO and AirBnB because they are mainly “gringo prices” but it’s high season at the coast and I need the security of having a place to go to when we get off the bus!

The new bedroom has lovely closet and drawers for unpacking everything.