Saturday 13.9.14 - Quito

Well last nights tea was amazing, can't recommend Vista Hermosa highly enough. Food was great but totally overshadowed by the sensational views over Quito. Before we left to go, I had read the Vista Hermosa means Beautiful Views, so I stuck my tripod in...little did I know...

We started with a salad of lettuce, carrot, palm hearts, corn, tomatoes along with some complimentary things - popcorn and maize (which were a bit like peanuts) I followed this with Steak on a stone, which came out with steak sizzling on the stone and kept the steak warm till last tender bite.

Here is my sizzling steak on a stone.

Here's me with it.

Sue and I and the amazing view.

We finished off with a good mochachino, just enough sweetness to satisfy. It was also a drink we had seen several times on the last trip to South America, but never figured out what is was to order one.

Mochachino, it had stirred up just a
little, so not quite a 3 layered as it was.

There were two bands that played while we there, and then another one was coming in as we left, the place just kept filling up, over and over, and we were out early. We were back home and in bed by 11.00 and very hopeful of a good night's sleep, which thankfully occurred. We also did our homework on AMS (altitude sickness) and the drug we are taking. The tingly fingers, toes and mouth, are side effects of drug, so that was good to know.

Now for some photos of the views.

The Belltower of the Catedral.

One of the domes of the Catedral.

Looking over Plaza Grande, the Catedral, up to the
Panecillo Hill with La Virgen de Quito on top.

The Catedral again.

Now for the actual happenings of Saturday.

Grateful for a good nights sleep, I was awake before Sue this morning, so lay in for a while. We made it to breaky and tried some of the local fruits, Sue was pleased to see something different as opposed to the same old fruits. We tried a couple - a pitahaya which was ok, a mandarina which was just like a mandarin, and something else that ended up being like a big yellow passionfruit, the guts was a bit sweeter, but very nice.

Sue cutting the pitahaya, and with
mandarina and the passionfruit thingo.

Macro pitahaya flesh and pips.

Pitahaya inside.

Pitahaya outside.

A bit like double delight but no smell.

Our plan for today is to cross some things of our lists.
First stop, join the Hop on Hop off bus tour. The bus tour is a good way to orient yourself in the city. We saw some great sights and got off at a couple of stops.
Firstly we stopped at the Basilica del Voto Nacional, we had seen its spires a few times and were keen to get a better look. It has some beautiful stained glass windows.

All the gargoyles are Ecuadorian animals including alligators, armadillos?, turtles, marine iguanas and others we couldn't name. We weren't up to climbing the towers, didn't want to risk the exertion or the rickety stairs and planks.

Armadillos we thought.

Maybe iguanas?

Maybe iguanas.

The Basilica had two amazing clock towers and a steeple. Some good views over the city.

View of Basilica from bus.

As we drove past the first time.

From the bus, this is one you can
climb, see the people?

This is a shot when we got off
later in the tour, when the bus
stopped.

The terracotta tiling
surrounding the Basilica was
lovely this is the Stained glass
window from outside.

An attempt with the big camera,
the others are phone pics.

One part of church.

Looking the other way. It was
huge.

Here we are at the Basilica.

We even squeezed in an icecream before hopping back onto the bus.

All the parks and gardens are very dry as they haven't had rain lately, which is unusual. Although it was raining when we arrived, it either wasn't enough or hasn't had a chance to green up yet.

We also drove past the Volcan Pichincha, which is to the West and towers above the city. The TelerifiQo cable car runs up the Volcano. We hope to do this tomorrow.

The Volcanoes sides are covered in trees, that look like gums, we also saw bottlebrush and other Callistemon.

Along the way we saw lots of interesting things as follows:

The domes of the Catedral from a different angle.

Some reeds growing in the gutter of Mayors house
on the Plaza Grande.

An overall view of the Plaza Grande.

The Ecuadorean flag flying from the Presidents
Palace.

Street signs, indicating the shops below.

Coloured buildings on skinny,
steep streets.

More wires and I like the
yellow house, the street curves
to the right and steps continue up the
hill.

New and modern buildings (some being built
like this new Citimed medical centre.) 

Various sculptures of famous
people.

Street sellers, walking along the cars at traffic lights,
this lady had oranges, TV antennas and what looked
like mobile phone holders for the car.

The building on the right was
called the Pablo Picasso building.

Sculptures, Man with Bike.

Sculptures - El Toro?

A dog balancing on the edge of a roof.

Next stop we got off at was El Panecillo (you don't pronounce the ll's) so it's really El Pan a chee yo. Called Panecillo, as it looks like a little loaf of bread, bread in called pan here. There is a statue, actually made of aluminium called La Virgen de Quito, with a crown of stars, angel wings and a chained dragon.

La Virgen de Quito from bus on way up the hill.

From a distance, looking down
one of the long streets towards
El Panecillo.

La Virgen de Quito.

When we arrived at El Panecillo we managed to walk up the Virgen to a lookout and checked out a basic museum within the statue, as well as perused the local vendors and get back on the bus within the allotted time, instead of waiting for another hour for the next bus to come along.

La Virgen holding the chain of her dragon.

The only Virgen to have wings
evidently.

You can clearly see her Crown of
Stars and the Dragon.

The bus trip up the hill was interesting through the old part of a Quito neighbourhood, we could see into the houses and yards a little. Some look like they front onto the street, but in effect they have a fence then a little yard and then the house. A bit voyeuristic, but interesting to see.

The views from the top of Panecillo were brilliant and has a reasonably clear day too. The houses on hillsides all around are of many colours. Little boxes on a hillside really.

The old part of town where we are staying is very clearly laid out in a square format, we could easily see our street, running beside the Palace/Catedral/Plaza Grande and up to the Basilica.

From a distance the Basilica
stands tall on its rise.

The Old and the New.
Basilica in front and more modern
high rises behind.

Some other things we saw from the bus:

A College opposite the Basilica.

Some detail on the eaves of a building.

The National Bank.

A pedestrian street.

Some sort of avenue/plaza thing.

Tunnels to the North and Centre of Quito.

More building detail.

Selfie on the bus, it was a bit sunny and I managed
a bit of sunburn, evidently the higher altitude means
you burn more easily...oops, need the sunscreen
tomorrow.

We finished back at Plaza Grande, very ready for lunch. I had Churrasco (a traditional Ecuadorean beef dish, it was pretty 'meaty) Sue had Ceviche Mixta.

After lunch we ventured in to look at Catedral, only to find we were in yet another church right next door, with very squeaky floors, it was impossible to be quiet.

Then we walked a little further up Garcia Morena Ave to La Compania de Jesus, another massive church. This Jesuit church is a masterpiece of baroque and Quiteno-colonial art with lavish golden altars and gilded columns, making it one of the most ornate structures in Ecuador. Oh boy was it OTT (over the top). Evidently 58lbs or kilos of gold was used to coat the inside. There was gold everywhere. No photos allowed inside, so hard to describe. I did manage a picture of the door.

Those pillars either side give
a bit of sense of what's inside.

I tried to buy a SIM card, did actually, but it was wrong size, they couldn't supply a nano SIM, will have to try somewhere else.

We had a quick coffee back at Dulceria Colonial and back home to hotel.

I met a couple Joy and David from Brisbane, who arrived this morning. Their flight from Santiago was delayed by 8 hours, their second departure time was 1.30 am they left at 2am and arrived here in Quito at 8.00am, poor buggers, that's worse than our nightmare.

We have asked the Hotel to make reservations for tea at Mea Culpa at 8, this is on the Plaza Grande, so now a couple of hours kick back and write journal etc.