Quito:

Colonial, charming and quirky

Quito is a large city up in the Andes at around 8000 feet. To a greater degree than in most of the other LatAm capitals we visited, you can really feel the Spanish influence here.

Civilized, charming and (mostly) well-mannered, Quito has a wild side: the weather. We were in and out of Quito several times over the course of our time in LatAm, and each time it was like visiting a different city: hot, cool, rainy, foggy, and on one memorable occasion, host to the craziest hailstorm this side of the Ten Plagues. The citizens of Quito were unfazed—the next day, they built a hail-and-hearty snowman!