ECUADOR 217 
the milliners’, who would make up a hat to any design quickly 
and cheaply. In the leading hotel there was a sort of fashion parade 
daily from 11 a.m. till lunch-time, when all the smart people as- 
sembled in the lounge for coffee and aperitifs. We soon got to 
know some of the best Ecuadorian families and found them 
charming and hospitable. The same rigid code as in other Spanish 
countries regarding seforitas prevailed here, and if Delys went to 
the cinema with an Ecuadorian girl in broad daylight there were 
always relations sitting a few seats behind them. 
At that time the rate of exchange was so much in our favor that 
Ecuador was probably the cheapest country in the world to live in, 
and it attracted a number of English and Americans who had 
decided to make it their home. Apart from the low cost of living, 
the clear and invigorating air of the Andes, the mountain scenery, 
good food and wine in lovely restaurants where one dined to the 
strains of tango music, all combined to make the capital a place 
of charm. 
We decided, first of all, to visit a small village called Santo 
Domingo de los Colorados at the foot of the western Andes, which 
is famous for its Indians and also rich in bird-life—being in the 
humid tropical zone. We were able to go about eighty miles by 
car from Quito, but then we had to resort to mules for three days. 
I was horrified when I saw that the bigger of the riding mules— 
the one allotted to me—was saddled with a Mexican-style wooden 
saddle. This was as hard as a rock, and not having ridden for two 
years, my anatomy was the worse for wear after the first day 
when we spent nearly thirteen hours in the saddle. We were ac- 
companied by a muleteer and four pack-animals, his remarks to 
the mules providing an education in baser Spanish! 
This being the rainy season, it poured down nearly all the way 
and the narrow trail was in a terrible state. It was very rocky in 
some parts, and in others so boggy that the mules sank to their 
bellies in the mud. One seemed to be completely hemmed in by 
the mountains all the time, but the trail wound its way through 
the valleys, following the river on its tortuous course to the open 
plains. Waterfalls hundreds of feet high were a frequent sight and 
at short intervals streams were rushing wildly from the mountains 
