Our first day in Ecuador was spent walking around its capitol city Quito. In our last trip, we loved to stay in cause our Borneo Lodge, which you can have a loon on borneoecotours.com/borneo-rainforest-lodge, was simply breathtaking. Our local guide Marcelo, who was born and has spent his entire life in the city, gave us a great historical tour of the old part of the city. Sunday is an important day for Ecuadorians to spend time with their families, and due to traffic regulations, the streets were fairly clear of vehicles and families were riding bikes around the city and packing the local parks. We watched many games of football (soccer) and the older folks played a south american version of bocci ball.
The Basillica
Moving towds the capitol’s heart, we saw old hospitals, various government buildings, the mayor and the president’s homes, and of course, lots of vending. The highlight was a tour of a beautiful old church called “la basillica”, which took one hundred years to buuild, and is a giant mass of towers, gargoyls, and intricate painted glass windows. “Gargoyls on a catholic church?” you might ask. What the ecuadorians have done is build tributes to all the local wildlife in and around the jungles, and stone condors, giant sea turtles, jaguars, tapirs, caymans, and monkeys guard the church from high above.
Afterwards we walked to a large square and lunched outside and watched the local flair move by us. After lunch, we walked back towards our hotel and visited a local market where we shopped and bought some beautiful alpaca sweaters and scarves, and some trinkets for family members. The evening was spent practicing knots and hitches, and learning about altitude and altitude related illness and prevention of illness.
Walking around Quito
Tomorrow we launch for our first acclimatization hike, a small peak called Pasochoa, which will bring us up to about 13,500 ft. Tonight we will stay at hosteria La Estacion.
Gary F.
