Quito City Tour

Weather: Sunny and hot in the afternoon. No rain today.

Today we got to take a city tour of Quito, and it was beautiful! We left USFQ around 8 this morning and headed up to the heart of Quito. We hit major rush hour traffic but it allowed for time to get some pictures on the bus while it wasn't moving. Our first stop was Panecillo which is a huge statue that overlooks the entire city of Quito. The view was incredible and off in the distance you could see Cuicocha volcano (aka Cotopaxi) off in the distance, which is the largest volcano in Ecuador. It's actually still active! While the scenery was so beautiful, there was a good amount of strays running around the monument. While some of them run up to you, you can't touch them since they could have diseases or fleas. It definitely has become the new normal for me which is very bizarre to grasp.

After walking around the monument for a bit, we hopped back on the bus and headed to San Francisco Museum and Towers. This featured
Plaza de la Independencia (Independence Square). This is where Ecuador's president works, some of them could choose to live there as well. This is what I remember the tour guide saying, I'm not too sure if he meant currently or in the past. Independence Square had impeccable architecture and it was simply breath-taking. Being gringa (slang for being a white foreigner) here, I stick out like a sore thumb. When I'm with one other friend the stares are not too bad. However, today in Independence Square we were in a group of 20 or so, and the amount of looks we got was immeasurable. It was

actually kinda funny at first seeing how everyone of all ages just stared and even slowed their strides while they were walking to look at us. There were even little 10 year old kids staring and then laughing hysterically, I just let it roll off, but after a bit you begin to question if you're doing something wrong.

We walked around Independence Square in its entirety and went into building that had a bunch of cafes in it and a beautiful courtyard. Just outside this building were a bunch of shoe shining stations. There was probably about 10 stations set up and each one had an attendant, and if you needed your shoes shined or fixed you just walk up and have a seat. I have no idea why but I thought this was so cool! We kept walking from the square to La Compania Church. This church took 60 years to build and is absolutely incredible on the inside. A lot of the church has extremely detailed woodwork painted in gold leaf all throughout the church. We weren't allowed to take

pictures inside, but I was able to sneak one, and I took some of the outside (see pics below).

From Independence Square we walked over to the Church and Convent of St. Francis (this is also called Government Palace). The Convent was located in a beautiful square loaded with pigeons and local vendors selling anything you can imagine. The Convento y Museo de San Francisco was another extraordinary church, the details were incredible and it had a really nice courtyard that featured a couple of parrots! They can be found in the Amazon region but for some reason the church had them as pets. They mocked us because we were laughing at the noises they were making so then all of a sudden out of no where they let out a big "HA-HA-HA."

We got the privilege to go up into the towers of the church which provided another breathtaking view of Quito. To get to the top of the

towers and onto the roof of the convent we had to go up this narrow, windy staircase that was a tad claustrophobic. Mixing a narrow windy staircase along with slight altitude sickness doesn't make for a great feeling. So far the altitude hasn't bothered me much except for when I'm walking uphill from the bus. As long as I keep doing that I will adapt quicker. The problem was Cumbaya is in the valley of Quito, it's considered a suburb of Quito so it is lower in elevation. When we went to Quito we gained about 3,000 feet in elevation. The entire bus ride there is pretty much uphill. So, climbing up this narrow staircase was even more painful than it normally would be but the view was worth it.

After leaving Government Palace/The Convent of St. Francis we walked up a giant hill that I'm pretty sure took the breath out of all us due to the altitude. When we got to the top we walked down a side street to Basilica which is the only Gothic looking church in Quito.

Instead of having gargoyles like traditional European churches, it has turtles! It's also the tallest church in Quito. Overall, there are about 80 churches in Quito alone, and 95% of the population here is catholic. Our tour guide was saying how in Quito and other places younger people are no longer attending masses. This is due to the fact that they have more to do and more available to them nowadays. He pointed out that in some communities this isn't the case but it certainly is becoming a trend.

After leaving Basilica, we headed down the road to lunch. Once again it was delish. The main course was fish and after the fiasco the other night I was hesitant to try fish at a restaurant so I had them bring me the vegetarian option which was a quinoa veggie burger. Once I saw the fish served there were no bones in it! That was definitely reassuring because if I get tired of rice and beans for lunch in the islands I'd like to try fish occasionally. So at least now I know if I order a fish, and it's not homemade it will be cleaned.

After lunch we headed back to campus for Spanish. Later in the day I went to the mall with a few friends and bought myself a backpacking backpack for the Amazon and a new water bottle. We explored the

Megamaxi too which is equivalent to a Walmart in the states. I got some last minute things I may need while here or in the islands. My options will be limited in San Cristobal so I got more mousse for my hair cause who knows when they would have that. It all depends on what comes over on the barge from the mainland. Overall, it was a great, exhausting day. I learned more about Ecuador and the culture which is a huge part of why I'm here so it was an amazing day trip. I'm definitely looking forward to our trip to Otavalo. I learned bartering vocabulary yesterday in Spanish so I think I'm somewhat prepared to bargain in Spanish. Most sellers know English since it's a popular tourist destination, however I think they would appreciate my effort to learn their language.