Here are a few pictures from Quito's Parque Metropolitano, on the east side of town. (Google maps labels it Parque Metropolitano Bellavista, but I've never heard anybody in Quito call it that, so I'm sticking with Parque Metropolitano.) The park sits on a ridge and is quite large. There are extensive hiking and biking trails. There is enough room to tire yourself out hiking and biking, if exercise is your goal. There are a few developed areas in Parque Metropolitano, but this is not a soccer field/playground type of park. It is more of a forest with trails. Here is a view east from the park, towards the valley of Puembo and Cumbaya and Tumbaco, with the Cordillera Orienta (Eastern Range) beyond, hidden in clouds. There are some big mountains in the background when the clouds are not there, including Antisana, one of the highest mountains in Ecuador.
This structure is made of upside down trees. You can pretty clearly see a lightning strike on one of them. Parque Metropolitano sits high on a ridge over town, and thunderstorms in Quito are frequent, sometimes daily. I have heard and seen some enormous lightning strikes in Quito. There is sometimes quite a bit of hail in Quito too, even to a depth of an inch or more, which causes floods in low-lying areas when the hailstones clog up the grates that lead to the sewer. You learn to keep one eye on the clouds in Quito.
This butterfly landed on Caro's brother Jacinto's wife Alba's hat when our group stopped to talk. She didn't notice until I showed her the picture.
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