Sunday 14.9.14 - Quito

Well dinner at Mea Culpa was a bit flash, very traditional and for most of our meal we were the only ones in the place.  The meal was good, but it lacked atmosphere.

After a lovely meal of Cameron Ceviche (prawns ceviche) and Fritada (an Ecuadorean pork dish) we wandered through the Plaza towards home.

We came across a queue near the army guard beside the President's Palace, so we asked him what was going on. He had NO English and had little Spanish, so by sign language and me working a bit out, we figured out we needed our passports (we had photocopies) and we could  line up, not sure if the 5 fingers he held up meant 5 people at a time or 5 minutes to line up. So we stood with others (no English speakers or Anglos at all).

Sue waiting in line.

Sue holding passport copy ready to go.

Anyway after about 15 minutes a little fella came out and collected passports or identity cards from the group and took our photocopies and in we went. Frederik was his name and he was our guide. Firstly through a security check which didn't seem to be turned on, then our names were called and we received a Visitors Pass.

We joined  the tour of the President's Palace. Frederik did all the Spanish first, then came over to the two of us and repeated it to us in his truncated English, we felt very special.

The President, Rafael Correa, lives here when he is in Quito, though he has a house somewhere else.

We saw a fantastic mosaic mural depicting the history of Ecuador.

This shows the discovery of the Amazon
and the Amazonian woman.

There was also the obligatory roses, which Sue
stopped to smell, no perfume again.

This was a shield on the way in.

Those magnificent roses, up close.

and there they are again, a huge
bunch, as you can see from
Sue standing beside them above.

We then moved into the Presidents 'board room' where ministers etc meet. The most ornate timber ceilings, amazing table and very old chairs, each with a ministers name on a plaque on the top of the back of chair and chandeliers. This room also had been modernised with appropriate technology.

We watched a video about it all and saw the changing of the guards which we hope to see in person tomorrow.

The boardroom. You can maybe see the
name plaque on top of the chair.

Then out onto the balcony overlooking the Plaza Grande.

There we are in the starry lights.

and us in front of the Cathedral tower.

The bell/clocktower over the balcony.

The Plaza Grande Hotel.

From here we moved onto to the President's own chapel, lots of gold again, and then into his salon, which had a huge table with probably seating for 50 or 60 (I should've counted), huge French Chandeliers (Baccarat Aunty Sue reckons). Many of the gifts given to the President (and his view to the people of Ecuador) are on show in this room.

The long, long dining table.

The amazing chandelier and more ornate ceilings.

Then out onto the first floor landing around the courtyard, which held more cases full of interesting gifts and ceremonial stuff from other countries.

Then into another room used for social events, such as hosting celebrities etc, This room had portraits of all the presidents, the only name I recognised was Jose Ibarra, who was Presidents on 5 different occasions. The wallpaper in this room was gold French Silk and yet more wood panelling.

Then it was downstairs again into the courtyard, where we had our photo taken.

One of the courtyards. You can see some of
Murel's work in the arches.

We then viewed an art exhibition by artist - Guillerme Muriel, it seemed to a tongue in cheek, sort of cartoon like. I think he was taking the mickey out of Ecuadorian history, society and politics, but given it was all Spanish it was a bit hard to tell. The viewing time gave the photographer time to develop our "gift from the president" and each group in the tour received their photographs, then we had our names called to exchange our visitors pass for passport copy, then we we were off.

All in all an excellent and very personalised tour - thanks Frederik. A bonus, as the queues we have seen during the day are much longer.

On our way out our little Army friend asked to see our 'gift from the President' he was pretty chuffed to have helped us, so we got a photo with M. Paca. Sue said he had the whitest teeth - when I was earlier trying to figure out what was going on, I was concentrating so hard on what he was saying I didn't notice, I hoped to see those pearly whites in the photo, but he didn't smile!

Here we are with M, Paca.

As we were waiting to cross at the lights a Party bus pulled up, The cameras were packed away, so only managed to get this blurry shot, but I liked it anyway.

Party bus.

So that's last night's mystery solved, now to today. It's Sunday and this is a very Catholic country and there are SO many Churches, we thought it might be quiet.

This morning I wandered around and took some pics of the Hotel we are staying at.

Our room, it looks a lot tidier when we leave each
day.

The courtyard and bar in the courtyard below our
room.

Looking into our courtyard from
the landing just below our room.

Some tromp l'oeil on one of the landings.

An obligatory rose shot.

Some stairs up to possibly a
sunroom area, haven't had the
energy to climb and see yet.

The second courtyard, this is the breaky/restaurant
area.

The traditional dancer from
Cotapaxi in the centre of Restaurant.

After breaky we ordered a taxi to take us to the TelerifiQo, a cable car up the Volcan Pichincha, to the top of Cruz Loma.

In the queue, I wrote my diary. Our taxi up only cost $5.00 -everything is very cheap. Given the length of the queue we figured about a half hour wait, then the cable car cables stopped and nothing happened for at least 15 mintues, despite some guy climbing up into the works and a few workers ambling around. 15 minutes or so later it whirred back into action. We met a lady from QLD on LSL, travelling around South America for 3 months, she was doing a homestay here in Quito, interesting experience.

Anway up we went.

The cars held 6 people. Here's
Sue, already cold and donning my
jacket!

The trip to the top took maybe 10 minutes and took us up to an Altitude of 4100m. It was a bit cooler up there and Sue was feeling the cold, she already had already donned my jacket while we waited in the queue.

It was a little windy but not bad, we got some pics straightaway.

Looking into what we assume is the volcano
caldera.

One to prove it really was 4100 metres, with a view of
some of the city behind the Volcano.

Sue looking cold at this stage.

From there we went inside to see what there was to see, purchased a pretty ordinary machine coffee. Sue checked out a shop there and purchased a Llama scarf/wrap for a mere $10, to help ward off the cold. A tad hairy, but it did the job. Still can't believe 100% alpaca for 10 bucks.

Then we walked over the other side to see what we could see.

Here's Sue jumping for joy.

and me landing after my jump

A view over some farmland, which looked better
 than the pics can capture. 

Then we walked around to a different direction and watched a Canadian couple take off on their brave hike further up the mountain.

That's us at the dot on the
bottom right, they were hiking
up to the condor, another
5 kms. No way Jose!

We walked a little further UP the hill, came across some flowers 

This daisy grew low to the ground.

purple one?

From there, Sue cruised back to the toilet and I ventured up a tad further to see if I could get a better view into the Volcano. It was hard work climbing, very hard to get breath to the bottom of the lungs, lots of rests on the way.

The cable cars, one going up, one going down.

More views of the city.

Looking down on the city

Interesting yellow wood or
other bark under the bark.

The cloud in that valley from higher up.

More City, it just stretches forever to the left
and right and quite a distance to the front as well.

The top (the condor part is lost in cloud.) 

Here's me, with the city behind, this was as far as I
went.

I was really taken with this cloud over the farms,
it was really silver to the naked eye. not so much
to the camera.

While we were queuing to come up, there was a couple standing outside with a lovely dog, looked a bit like a lab/retriever cross, with the loudest bark. Anyway, turned out he and the dog got on a car a few ahead of us. I figure that people take their dogs for a walk up the hill...maybe. He must have had friends in the line, cos his girlfriend waved them off and he snuck into the front of the line with the dog. It was very happy to get on the car.

I saw this kelpie walking up, and running back to
his owner, I'm certain he was wanting them
to hurry up. He was a beautiful dusty brown grey.

There was a Chapel, This shot from an angle
that hid they ugly shed behind.

Once I got to where I was going, I couldn't really see into the volcano, so back down I came, I had seen this guy on the way up, and thought I might reward myself on the way back. Cost me 50c, I gave him a dollar.

Yep, these are growing what Aunty Sue is Wearing.

Some other flowers on way down.

Found Sue, swotting up from the Lonely Planet, quick loo stop, then into the queue to go down.

There were cows grazing
under the cable cars, couldn't
get a shot on the way up.

After asking a security guard to call us a cab, he called, made US wait in the waiting room, while he waited outside for taxi, then he called us, very helpful guy. We were only asking where we could find a taxi, and we got 5 star service.

We planned to visit a museum, but once we found it, it is closed for fumigation and maintenance until the 22nd. We tried some coconut drink from a street stall, tasted like liquid coconut ice - yum. Then we found another square - Plaza San Francisco - another Church, of course it was mass, so we quietly went in for a look, almost as grand as the La Compania de Jesus, just not QUITE as much gold. Very full, lots of good Quitenos at mass. We sat for a bit and people watched.

A statue of a girl by the roadside on trip back to
town.

A vendor of some sort.

Here he is chatting with one of the ever present
Police. This was on our walk up to the plaza.

The top of La Compania Church.

A scarf seller on the steps
of Monasterio de San Fransisco.

La Compania again, with sunshine.

and again I like the glistening tiles.

On the walk home, looking for lunch at Vista Hermosa which was shut, we saw more of the gorgeous eaves and some other bits and pieces. We lunched at another Lonely Planet recommendation Cafeteria Modela, and tried a lot of the local foods. very nice indeed.

The coloured houses up the
street on the hill.

Most of the streets have been
bitumen, this one was still cobbled.

A nun returning to a church near
our Hotel.

Lunch, empanadas, tamales,
quinchitos? Morocho, and other
stuff I can't remember.

That's it for today, we are off to finally have our complimentary drinks, we haven't been able to till we acclimatise and get off the drugs...