I always smile when I re-learn things while traveling. Today it was recalling that not everyone has seedless grapes. I also like trying fast food, just to see the differences. World Cruise readers may remember the Pizza Hut in Hong Kong offered lobster bisque! There was a McDonald’s right next door to our hotel. There was nothing unusual to report, but I liked how a Quarter Pounder is a “Cuarto de Libra con Queso.” Yes, it’s exactly what it means, but I still thought it was cool.
Silversea offered an included “Quito by Night” tour Friday night starting at 5:00pm. However, I wanted to be able to go inside places, so I paid for an additional 6-hour daylight tour. Quito has a famous old town, it was one of the first UNESCO World Heritage sites.
However, we started our tour by visiting the Basilica del Voto Nacional, which is obviously designed with a nod to Notre Dame. An amusing story is after the first section was built with classical European gargoyles, the locals thought they looked too evil. So newer sections of the church use local animals, spread around the Ecuadoran biomes – ocean and inland rain forest.
We then went to the Church of La Compania and went inside. In my experience there are three types of church interiors – 1) photography is allowed, 2) only non-flash photography is allowed, and 3) no photography. Unfortunately, this was the third type. Unfortunately for two reasons – the architecture and ornamentation are amazing. I’m not a fan of decorate-every-inch, but I admire the craftsmanship. The second reason is the national orchestra was practicing for a show they were performing that night. I can assure you not only is the orchestra amazing, the acoustics in the Church are as well.
From there we visited the Basilica of San Francisco, which has an attached convent. We started in the convent, which had a classic courtyard. My guide claimed the flowers growing up the palm trees are a type of Forget-Me-Nots, but I’m not so sure.
We they entered the church via a connection between the convent and choir. Here photography was allowed, even with a service ongoing (no flash). The sharp eyed may spot a large number of mirrors around the back. Seems the church used hand mirrors to teach the locals about the concept of the soul while they were baptized.
Note: there is a whole Jesuit vs Franciscan vs Dominican thing going on here that I’m not even going to touch. Same with the European colonialization. Do your own research about those.
Before leaving the historic district, we visited Independence Plaza, which is bracketed by city hall, the presidential palace, the archbishop’s palace and yet another church. There was a striking statue under renovation, just like in every other big city.
Cool story about the archbishop’s digs, when they converted hundreds of years of records (birth, baptizing, marriages, etc.) to computers they had many empty rooms. So now they rent them out to stores and restaurants. I am not used to seeing so much religious art around the balcony while eating.
After being offered packaged fresh coca leaves from a street vendor (!!!) we left downtown to visit other sites. After a quick empanada (the chicken was fantastic) we visited Pululahua, a sunken caldera. Seems Ecuador has several lakes that filled in such caldera, but there is no water source for this one. We caught the weather perfect for clouds coming over the edge.
Now to the equator. There are all sorts of touristy things, including last post’s picture. Here they performed sketchy north vs south Coriolis experiments and talked about the Chandler wobble and how it affects the actual location of latitude lines.
After a full day of being a tourist I returned to the hotel for an hour’s rest before heading out for the evening tour. We visited many of the same places, but I got to hear different stories from a new guide. He also knew a chocolate shop. The new place was the city’s giant Madonna statue – El Panecillo. It was now dark, and the view of the lit city was great. I’m not amazing at night-time photography, and the rain was starting, but I think this turned out OK. The lighting was such you can see the individual aluminum plates of the statue.
The next day is an early flight. Island stories next!