Quito, Ecuador

We fly into the city at sunset. The sun shimmers red on the inside of the planes’ silver engine outside my window. As we begin our descent, I see the highest mountaintops poking holes in the clouds, like a glacier sticking up out of the water. We sink, leaving the light and plunging through the clouds into the gloaming. The sun is setting behind the mountains in a watercolor canvas of red and orange brush strokes. I look down at the city sitting like a bowl surrounded by mountains, its arteries glowing red like an electric anthill with the the nighttime traffic. As we get closer to the ground the color changes. The city is huge and all around, hilltops and valleys glitter like diamonds beneath me. I catch my breath and think I have never seen a more beautiful sight.