Our immersion of Ecuador has started off well in Quito! We have started the first couple of days pretty slow. On day one we were destined for the Old Town. It is a pretty place with some colonial archetecture, lots of people and lovely squares. We ended up going into three different churches. The first, Basilica del Voto Nacional, would absolutely be where I would choose to worship if I lived in Equador! And oh, if I were Catholic too. It is done in a gothic style, but instead of gargoyles the church has Ecuadorian animals elegantly gracing the turrets and steeples!! Turtles, iguanna, birds, monkeys and even a pair of crocodiles stare down at you! Inside, incredible stained glass depictions of Jesus' life fill the place with colour. We elected to climb up to the bell tower. This involved lots of stairs, then a rickety wooden plank bridge, three precarious ladders and we were rewarded with a lovely view of the city and the mountains behind. Worth the trek up!
Basilica del Voto Nacional
Different Ecuadorian animals instead of gargoyles!
Caiman gargoyles!
Inside the Basilica
Halfway up, we got to pause at a window, the stained glass windows are also Ecuadorian flowers!
Various Ecuadorian animals
Level with the windows, on the way up
At the top of the bell tower!
The last ladder to get up!
Walking across the sanctuary
We thought that the church needed more animals!
The next church we went into was the glittering gold Monastery of San Francisco. It was absolutely brilliant, just about everything except the pews and floors were glowing gold! Started in 1500 something, and mostly rebuilt in 1800 something after an earthquake
Altar of the Monastery
Nathan felt he was in "National Treasure" (the movie) when we found this half open crypt door
Nate's "angelic face"
Finally, the last one was the Iglesia de el Sagrario,. 1706. I got a kick out of the sign "fotografias sin flash" which I translated as it was a "sin to take flash photography". This was the only church we went into that had a sign saying that you couldn't enter as a tourist if there was a mass going on. We quickly found out what the reason was. Every step we took CREAKED each floorboard! Some of the boards even rose up to meet your step. I can imagine that a priest would have a hard time getting through his homily if there was even one person walking around. Creak creak CREAK creak. I wonder if you are allowed to leave and go to the bathroom during the service?
Should be in the 10 commandments, because it was law in the Galapagos too!
Creak creak creak creak
We continued to do lots of exploringl through plazas and streets, and even found an amazing place with local chocolate who were giving away free samples! Nathan's favourite was the banana chocolate, Krys' was the hot pepper chocolate and mine was the rose chocolate! I have the feeling we will return there again.
We capped off a full first day by finding a restaurant near our hostel that was serving a $4 dinner! We enjoyed a giant bowl of potato soup, pork, rice, salad, and pineapple juice for $4!
The second day we organized and planned our travel for the next little while and then late morning we hailed a cab bound for Le Mitad del Mundo, or the Center of the world! It was a very cheesey place, about 200 metres away from the actual ecuator line. It was all in fun and now we have a picture to match the one we took in Uganda. The complex had multiple tourist souvenir stalls, a giant monument and a few little museums showing different things like a diorama of the city of Quito, amazing paintings by a local artist, and the history of the 16th century expedition who actually marked the place that we stood on as the equator! Quite amazing since all they had to work with were some different metal and wood tools, which were on display. So, even though they were 200 metres off, you have got to give those guys some credit. An unexpected highlight of the trip out were numerous traditional Andean dance shows throughout the afternoon, extremely done up for tourists, but still neat to see the old ladies in their very colourful outfits doing line dances and working with arches of flowers.
0'0'0'0' (approximately)
Traditional dance
Love the dance!
A sextant that was used originally to find the Equator line!
When we came back we wandered around our area of town for a bit. We peeked in another church and watched the recessional and exit of a wedding ceremony.
Over these past couple days we kept walking by this fast food-esque place, basically just a big window onto the street, that always seemed to have a line if locals. We decided to give it a shot. Each person's meal was under $4. Nathan had a hamburger and fries, Krys had charrasco, which is fried steak, rice, egg and fries. But I was fond of my meal which turned out to be fries topped with a hot dog, topped with a hamburger, topped with a fried egg, topped with a slice of processed cheese! It was... filling!
Our last full day in Quito, for now, we grabbed a day tour out with an ultimate destination of Quilotoa, which is the collapsed crater of a volcano. Along the way though we got to experience several other adventures, including look-out points, a painter's studio, a couple different roadside stands selling various boiled beans, potatos and corn, which makes an excellent breakfast! My favourite by far was a quick stop in to a Kiwcha family home. Kiwcha are the "native people" who traditionally live high up on the mountains! Their stature is incredibly small, their smiles are big and their cheeks are perpetually rosy from the wind. This particular home we were able to visit was a one room, mud brick and thatched roof. The house was mom and dad, two young boys (there are apparently more kids in the family but they go to the city to go to school). The very best part of this house was when you walked in the ground was moving!! It took a bit for eyes to adjust, but then I registered the conversational squeaks!! The entire floor was covered with guinea pigs!!! I was handed one to hold, (yes it was my idea) and it was SO sweet, then the little boy started picking others up to proudly show me. He was so adorable. I just don't think I am going to be able to bring myself to try the local traditional dish of cuy, or guinea pig.
The destination of this day trip out was about 3 hours from Quito. When we finally did get there we were blown away, quite literally, I think the wind at the top of the crater was about 500km/hour. No, we were blown away by the beauty of the place and the shifting emerald colours in the water in the crater below. Depending on the light or cloud shadow, and the depth of the water I think there was hundreds of gorgeous varations of emeralds and greens. We hiked, and sometimes tripped and slid down, luckily though we never rolled. Along the way there were stunning views, each one a little different, some wildflowers, and even a couple alpacas. The water was cold when we got there and there were lots of people milling about. For the way up Nathan and I grabbed a horse (so glad I did, because I was absolutely feeling the altitude, which was 1000 feet over what we have been experiencing in Quito. Krys took the 7000 steps of repentance. Ha! No, but she did walk up, in an attempt to keep on track for her training for the Tough Mudder. I think Nathan repented not deciding to walk as he was having an uncomfortable time on his saddle, as it was positioned to the side, instead of the top of the horse.
Quilotoa
It was cold and windy and alpaca butts smell
We made it to the bottom!
Travel wise, so far things have been fairly easy. There absolutely is a language barrier. People sometimes have a little bit of English, we have been relying heavily on Krystal's broken high school Spanish, Nathan can throw in some Fren-ish, and I rely on smiles, gestures and pointing. These first couple of days I have been feeling the effects of the altitude in Quito. At the end of the second day the malise lessened, but I was having tinglig in my extremities, breathlessness at the slightest hill and headaches. Nathan and Krys were, of course, running around just fine. After today's trip to Quilotoa, I am really hoping to shake off the little devil who feels like he has a vice grip on my lungs.
We are really looking forward to the next leg of our journey which will take us into the jungle!!!
