View of central hill of Quito from the Basilica bell tower. This hill is the highest point in Quito and is the site of the Virgin of Quito, which looks toward the Basilica. This is also the site of the ancient Inca sacrifice grounds.
This morning we woke up somewhat well rested after being exhausted last night. Don Pablo (the rooster) woke Jackie and me up for the first time this week. Gandalf was up to his usual antics of jumping on Katie. We left the house at 8:30 and took the bus into Quito. The plan was to see two churches and the Plaza Grande.
Quito Basilica
Quito Basilica
Inside the Basilica
The first stop was the Basilica, which was built in the late 1890's and finished in 1906. We all discovered that the altitude was definitely more of an issue when you're attempting to climb 301 stairs to the top of the towers than at other times. We were able to climb both a clock tower and the dome. But we all made it, even PD Luke, who is afraid of heights! On the way out of the Basilica, we had a special tour of the cemetary where four previous presidents of Ecuador are buried. Before leaving the complex, we also grabbed some popsicles for a quick snack. Katie and I highly recommend the orange popsicles with ice cream filling.
Walking on the bridge to the dome over the Basilica
View from the dome
Our group on top of the dome
View of towers from dome
We then went to Plaza Grande, which has the Presidential Palace and the National Cathedral (the oldest church in South America). The Plaza has extra meaning now because it was the site of the September Police Coup that was attempted in response to Correra changing police contracts. He addressed the mob outside the Palace from a window ledge...if you're still interested, check out YouTube videos like we did tonight. It really puts a lot more emphasis and meaning behind the location.
Monument in Plaza Grande
Presidential Palace in Plaza Grande
We stopped by a small church (also beautiful) on the way to lunch. The Cafe had legendary Empanadas. After taking a poll of the guys who ordered both Carne and Pollo, the Carne wins, although the Pollo was excellent as well. After dinner, we stopped back by the Jesuit Church. No postcard pictures could capture the intricate gold leaf throughout the church or the intricate carvings. The tour guide took us around the church, the fallen belltower from the 1800s, and showed us the paintings located around the church. The most interesting thing I found was in the front where there was a real spiral staircase and a painted one because the Baroque style requires symmetry. The painted one is also supposed to symbolize the stairway to heaven.
Jesuit Church in Quito. The interior is entirely gold, but we weren't allowed to take pictures.
After leaving the church we left Quito to head back to Rumiloma to meet up with Christian and Laura from Añamisi. We went to a woman's garden to help her do some of planting, weeding, and bean picking. She works on it with her children and produces lots of vegetables for both consumption and to sell. We split into groups to work on planting onions, picking beans, and pulling weeds out of the beet rows. We had worked for a little while when a huge storm started up and drove us all inside, ending our work for the day. The woman had cooked up corn on the cob from her garden, which was absolutely delicious. We ate it with salt, Ají sauce (Austin's favorite), and cheese (traditional to eat with corn). I loved how the corn came off the cob so clean, unlike the corn in the US, and the kernels were huge. It was great talking to the lady through Christian as a translator about her life and family. She had a great time joking with us about if any of us were single for her sons!
The rows of onions we replanted and the rows of corn and beans.
All of us with the family and Christian and Laura with the impending storm in the background.
We went to Christian's house to hang out, eat some more corn, and talk about different cultural differences between Ecuador and the United States. Then, we came back to the house and convinced Brock and Luke to let us have breakfast for dinner (a collective favorite). I'm wrting this now while Austin and Morgan cook in the kitchen (pancakes, yummm) and Brock shows off his blog to Katie, Katie Beth, and Carter.
Off to dinner, then Mindo tomorrow! Ciao!
Post by Ashley Miles, Vice President Fundraising
No comments:
Post a Comment