Ecuador: Quito Day 2

​Today was our day to explore the old Centro part of Quito.  After a brief orientation from our tour leader, we were on the bus and off to our first destination.

We started out at the Basilica de Voto Nacional. We didn’t even go in to the church, but headed straight to the elevator (!!) to the second floor.  There we could look down on the church, and also see the fantastic stained glass window - made up entirely of orchids!  After a quick pass thru the gift shop (!), we continued up to see the spectacular panoramic view of the city.  We were also able to take a walk OVER the ceiling of the church, and climb all the way up to the top of the tower.  So lots of really cool stuff that you don’t do on a normal cathedral visit.

We walked along the old city streets,  seeing old and new buildings, women in traditional dress on their way to a dance performance, and lots of photos of the Mary with wings statue (about 1 foot taller than Christ the Redeemer in Rio.)

We reached the central Plaza de la independencia, with the full complement of palaces, churches and statues.  We spent half an hour in the Archbishops palace, the front of which has been converted to a restaurant arcade.  In the “Tunnel of Sweets” we sampled about 8 different local candies, and then had ice cream.

After learning a bit about the history of Quito, the establishment of the churches and Spanish government and the “discovery” of the Amazon, we continued down the walk to the Jesuit church.  This was one of  the most gold encrusted buildings I have ever seen (even more than Trump Tower!)

We continued on our traverse of Centro, stopping at Plaza de San Francisco to learn more about how the city came to have 31 churches and many monasteries and convents.  Then we enjoyed a lovely local lunch at Negra Mala, served by the owner and her sister.

Back on the bus, we had an hour drive to get to the “museum” at the equator.  At the Intiñian Museo de Sitio, we learned about all the forces of nature that work differently at the Equator, and why Ecuador really is the Middle of the World.  It was a fun diversion. The guide had several experiments that demonstrated the effect of the equal pull from both poles, such as balancing an egg, walking the equatorial line and seeing water swirl right and left depending on which side of the equatorial line the basin was placed.

Given that it was raining most of the day, we had a delightful day!