Day 18 - Quito Ecuador
This morning, we started our tour of Quito. We had a police escort with our bus as it was helpful because they would block intersections to help our bus move freely around town.
Our escort through Quito
First we stopped by a chocolate store called Paccari that was near our hotel. Ecuador is known for its high quality cocoa. Much of it is exported to other countries like Belgium that also makes chocolate. The store we went to prides itself on making single source chocolate, meaning they only use cocoa from Ecuador.
Chocolate Store!
They had a large selection of chocolate bars, cocoa powder, and a nutella like spread. We did our best to limit our purchase, but it was difficult as the prices were so much cheaper than even Duty Free. We ended up with one full grocery bag!
So much Chocolate!
Our next stop was Itchimbia Park. The park includes a glass house, known as the Palace of Cristal, was apparently designed by Eiffel. It is privately owned and used as a convention center. The park overlooks the Old Town of Quito. You get a spectacular view of the city with the mountain range surrounding it.
Palace of Cristal.
View of Old Town.
The Virgin of Quito statue is also visable from here. It over looks the town and protects it. The statue is based on a painting of the same name. With a total height of 135 feet including the base, it is the highest statue in Ecuador and one of the highest in South America (taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro). It is also the tallest aluminum statue in the world.
Virgin of Quito.
The park is filled with running and hiking paths and one of the most beautiful playgrounds I have ever seen. It looks like a sculpture of flowers, but is made for children to play on. Amazing!
Playground in the park.
We drove down into the old Town of Quito, where the bus dropped us off to walk the city. Our tour guide took us to the Plaza Grande. Here there are monuments to celebrate the heros that gave Quito independence from the Spanish in 1809.
Monument to the hero’s.
Next we walked down the street of seven churches. Yes, you guessed it, there are seven churches on this two block street. We stopped in one of them, La Compañía, Ecuador’s most ornate church (some say the gilding here required seven tons of gold). I have never seen so much gold in my life. You could not look any direction without seeing surfaces covered in gold. The architects were big on symmetry. (but also cheap). In the back of the church there is a spiral stair case on the left. They did not want to spend the money on two staircases, so they painted another one on the wall to give the appearance of another staircase.
La Compañía, so much gold!
Symmetry - Stairs on left are real, stairs on right are painted on wall.
In fact they were so cheap that they did not pay the craftsman that completed the building well enough. The craftsmen were hired to work on the building across the street. In protest to the church stiffing them, the put cherubs with large erections pointing at the church.
Cherub across the street from La Compañía.
Next we strolled to the church and Convent of San Augustin. Here we got to walk through the church and convent and see the art that inspired the Virgin of Quito statue that over looks the city. We also got to tour the Brewery made by the monks to provide them with safe drinking beverages.
Monks making beer.
A monks typical meal. Bread, cheese, potatoes soup and beer.
There are volcanos everywhere here. For lunch our guide took us out of Old Town and drove us to El Crater, a restaurant located on the edge of a volcano crater. There were clouds blowing up from the crater, so the views were limited, but now and agin it cleared so you could see the bottom the the crater. The food was delicious and the location was very unique.
View of the crater.
The restaurant had an unusual way of identifying the men’s and women’s bathrooms. (see photos).
Men’s restroom.
Women’s Restroom
After lunch we stopped at the “Middle of the World”. This is the location that marks 0 degrees latitude, or the equator (By which Ecuador gets it name). The Monument to the Equator is built here with a line that separates the northern and southern hemispheres. You can stand over the line and have one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot on the southern hemisphere.
One foot in the Northern Hemisphere, one foot in the southern Hemisphere.
The 0 degrees designation was determined in 1935 and the monument was made in 1972. As techology improved, it was discovered that the actual equater line is off by 200 feet. Following the true line, they discovered ancient carvings on a nearby mountain that mark the true line as well as a slanted line that matched the earth’s tilt. How did the Incas so that!
We then returned to our hotel where our rooms are reserved for late check out. Later this evening we transfer to the airport for our overnight flight to the U.S.
