Tour of Quito

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Is this hotel perhaps a bit too ritzy? The tissues and toilet paper are infused with baby powder.  It makes us want to sneeze every time we blow our nose.... Anton says he is going to rub the toilet paper on his armpits and use it instead of deodorant.

After breakfast we took time to explore the lovely gardens here at the hotel.

Today the forecast was for 90% rain here in Quito. They were wrong. This is what we got: 

Today Celebrity took us on a guided tour of Quito.  We had to meet at 9 am in the lobby.  There were 4 buses of us.  They broke us into groups of 12, and each group had a guide and a security guard.  Our guide had a bit of an accent.  When she was telling us about how some people were exploited, we heard her say that the people were exploded.

We started at an overlook 10,000 feet high in elevation.  This is their famous Virgin Mary that overlooks the city.  She has wings to show that she is ascending to heaven.

The homes in this part of Quito are all terraced on hills, it's lovely.

Within 1 minutes walk of each other are 2 spectacular churches, The monastery of San Francisco and la Compania Church.  Construction of both began only a few weeks after the city was founded in 1534.

The monastery of San Francisco took 146 years to finish. The founder was Franciscan missionary Jodoco Ricke. It dwarfs the city. 

imagecredit:https://www.robertharding.com/preview/763-231/monastery-san-francisco-largest-colonial-building-quito-main/

imagecredit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_y_Convento_de_San_Francisco,_Quito

The Quito School of Art began here, and the church houses over 3500 works of art, the most famous being the treasured Virgin of Quito, 1734. She is constructed with wood and gold leaf. We expected a large imposing statue, but she is only 30 cm high.

imagecredit:https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/virgin-of-quito.html

La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (The Church of the Society of Jesus, founded by Jesuits) took 160 years to build.

 

imagecredit:https://www.lonelyplanet.com/ecuador/quito/attractions/iglesia-de-la-compania-de-jesus/a/poi-sig/436306/363359

It seems we've been using our wheelbarrow all wrong (these are coconuts):

After lunch they took us to the Middle of the World Park, located 25 km north of the city. We did NOT stop at this monument because this is only the "historical Equator line".  Hmph.

The park was a lot nicer than we expected.  Interesting paths and themed huts.  The chocolate hut was our favourite.  We sucked on a cocoa bean (they pronounce it ca-cow).  It was very slippery and tasted like mango.  The beans get dried out and ground into chocolate powder.  They add sugar and milk and that's the chocolate we know.  She told us to avoid white chocolate, it's mostly cow fat.

At this spot you can stand on the line of the Equator, calculated by GPS no less.

Only they miscalculated. They don't tell tourists that the actual Equator crosses the highway several hundred meters north. When we brought that point up, she said it depends on which GPS system you use. Sure.

They had a bunch of campy Equator experiments that we tried.  Like pouring water north or south of the line.  Or balancing an egg on a nail head.  Here she used Anton to show how your strength diminishes when you are right on the line.  But he says she used a different way of pushing.

It was a 45 minute drive back to the hotel.  We were picked up an hour later for dinner at a nearby restaurant.  After dinner we had to pack our luggage and bring it down to the lobby.  This saves us time because Celebrity has a Galapagos customs guy check luggage here tonight rather than at the airport tomorrow.  We've met lots of fun people, and all of us are exhausted.  Good night!