Dia Nueve en Quito, Ecuador

Up at 8:30. Usual breakfast. Our amiga from La Ciudad de Mexico, Zulyanar, was downstairs waiting for a friend to come and take her to see the Middle of the World sites, the equator sites we saw our 2nd day here. We had a nice farewell with her and exchanged invitations to come visit. We grabbed a taxi and headed for the historic old part of town.

We got dropped a block or so from the Iglesia de Santo Domingo. Outside the church was a plaza surrounded by shops and restaurants and personas y familias filled the plaza. We visited the Iglesia and stayed for part of the Domingo mass. The beauty of the church and service were marred by the poor choice and poor performance of the music. This is a living church. Not a museum, but hearing Simon and Garfunkel performed poorly in a church built in the 14th century just doesn't work for me. I want to hear good quality sacred music, preferably which matches the period of the church. The church is also considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site and to hear out of tune folk music in such a stunning place. . . We talked about the 1962 Vatican 2 directive that took away the Latin mass with the idea that it was to help the people become more a part of the service. I think we were in agreement that was not happening in the church we were visiting. The congregants sat when they were told to and stood when they were told to. Seldom did we see them much more actively involved than that. They didn't sing. They recited prayers from memory. They showed no connection to what was going on. It was pretty much the priest's show.

It was out in the plaza outside the church where we saw the only bit of trouble so far on the entire trip. A couple of men seemed to be arguing over a woman. There was a lot of screaming. A couple of punches were thrown, but the interesting thing was that within seconds a motorcycle policeman had literally driven at high speed across the plaza and, with his bike, separated the men. I mean it was so quick.

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While I'm on that subject, let me just speak bit about security here in Quito. While planning this trip we went onto the United States State Department website to find out about any concerns we should have regarding our safety in Ecuador. The website warned us about pick pockets, muggings, petty theft, some incidents of people having been murdered. Enough to scare hell out of me.

But we have found Quito to be filled with warm, friendly, helpful and honest people. Sure we are wearing our money belts but we do that when ever we travel to foreign countries. We are aware of where we are and who is around us. We walk like we know where we are going. We educate ourselves before going so we know where and when to go and not to go. Finally, we can't help that we are Americans, but you would do well not to advertise it. Play down the natural tendency we Americans have for being aggressive, sometimes demanding. Leave your conspicuous wealth at home. Most of the world doesn't wear white tennis shoes. Be kind. Try to speak their language. Don't expect them to speak English even though they probably do, and well. It really seems that a little knowledge, good manners and common sense will, as in most cases in life, save you a lot of grief down the road. Just some random thoughts.

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We walked through the streets, down La Ronda with it's black, cast-iron balconied buildings reminiscent of New Orleans. We ran into a street that was filled with people celebrating something. A band played while dancers in local costumes twirled and turned to and fro in the middle of an intersection. A few steps away was the Monestario de Carmen Alto which we stepped into briefly. It was also lovely. Though cerrado (closed) the day of our visit on Sunday, this church's claim to fame is the pan or bread the sisters bake that is for sale. After a brief look inside the church, we headed across the street to the Museo de la Ciudad de Quito. Exquisite! Housed in the beautifully restored 450+ year old first hospital in Quito, the exhibits are well worth your time. Do check out both courtyards. The second is an especially lovely place to sit and relax for a bit.




Entonces, we walked over to what we both agreed was one of the top 4 or 5 churches we have seen in the entire world. La Compania de Jesus is an absolutely stunning church. The walls, the chapels, the ceiling, the alter, the entire interior of the church is covered in 23 k gold. You must visit when in Quito. I had to sneak my photos which I did discreetly and with the flash and shutter noise turned off.




The Plaza de San Francisco has been beautifully restored by the government. We had read in the Lonely Planet that the Tianguez Restaurant in the plaza was a good place to stop for lunch. Well, I disagree except for one very important thing. It is a lovely place to go and sit and gaze out across the plaza. Do not eat at this place. The food is not worth the price. Buy a beer or a hot chocolate and just enjoy the view. The restaurant also has a very pricey gift shop but is fun to look through. There are lovely Ecuadorian handicrafts and the quality is very high, but unless you have the money, just enjoy wandering through the various rooms and down the really cool narrow tunnel that goes and goes and goes taking you past all of the store's offerings. No dickering here either.

Out on the plaza however you are likely to run into young girls selling scarves or handmade bracelets of yarn. Others are pedaling helados, ice cream, kept frozen with dry ice, or other handicrafts. We fell in love with a little girl who was using every bit of her sweet personality to sell scarves. She held a stack of them almost as tall as she was. Dressed in the native costume with the black hat women and girls so commonly wear in this part of the world. Leslie went through half the stack before she found the three scarves she had agreed to buy from the little girl for only $6. The two of them haggled a bit at first. Two for $5 was the girls first offer. Leslie said, "three for $5?" The little girl, with a practiced business manger came back with, "three for $6?" Leslie nodded in agreement and the search for the right colors was on. The deal and scarf selection complete, I took a few photos of this pint-sized entrepreneur and we were off to our next stop.

It was getting on towards 4 and I was bushed so we walked over to the hotel we are supposed to stay in when we get back from the Galapagos. We went in and checked the lobby and asked to call us a cab. In a few minutes the cab pulled up. The hotel was much nicer than our hostel. But then it should be considering the price. Sadly, the desk clerk wasn't real friendly. So we are now considering cancelling our reservation there and saving the money by staying in our hostel upon our return, a very friendly place even if it isn't the classiest hotel. We took the $3 taxi ride back to the hotel where I piled out and left Leslie to take cab over to La Carolina park.

I went on up to relax until she returned an hour or so later. Today has been a bad day for food. Lunch was a bomb and tonight we took a taxi over to another Lonely Planet recommendation, La Canoa, a place they said would be a great place to eat Ecuadorian cuisine without emptying your wallet. We'd disagree on both counts. We walked in to find the huge dining room mostly empty and those who were there were all Americans. The menu looked like a Denny's menu, the prices reflected it's gringo clientele and the food just didn't stand up to much of what we'd had elsewhere in Quito. I had a tripe stew with little lengths of tripe filled with different ingredients. Leslie had Caldo de Verde which is plantain soup with camerones and a side of rice. We also ordered our favorite Empanadas Verde. Two came on the plate which made a nice little appie. We asked to see a postre menu but when the waiter brought it to us he indicated that, of the full page of dessert items, only two were available, ice cream and the last piece or two of a chocolate cake that looked like it had been sitting out most of the day. Never mind. La cuenta por favor (the count, please). Our dinner, which also included two small bottles of water came to $20. We paid up, asked the waiter to get us a cab, hopped in and were back in our room in 5 minutes. Great site seeing today!