Hi all
Today we set off on a coach with our group of 14 plus our tour guide and driver. It was a rather wet day so wet weather gear a must, and a little cool. We journeyed 45 mins to the middle of the earth...the site of the equator passing through accessible land. There are actually 2 sites very close to each other. One was established in the 1700 s before instruments were as accurate as they are today so the first site we went to was the real one. The site is also one which has replicas of indigenous houses and indigenous handicrafts. We were shown how to make a shrunken head! We looked at plants to make poison darts and tried some scientific experiments on the equator. We spent about an hour and a half there and then went a short distance to the commercial site which houses the big monument and has huge busts of the original scientists. It also has a sundial which shows the solstices and the seasons.
Back onto the bus again and we headed back into Quito and manouvered the Marie steep streets to the hill overlooking the city with a huge monument of the Virgin Mary. There is a huge amount of graffiti on the walls and the buildings are drab and unkempt for a good deal of the city. The nicest part was the old city with a beautiful square and monument with lawns and trees and flowers. There are quite a number of newer and neat apartment buildings but on the whole it is a mishandle mash of housing crammed together.
We stopped for lunch at a traditional cafe underneath the San Franciscan Convent.
The catacombs house a craft market. We then walked to the old city and visited the
Church of the Society of Jesus built between 1605 and 1765. The ceiling and the walls are covered in 23 carat gold leaf so it is quite spectacular. Next we visited Plaza de la Independencia with it's 4 main buildings..the church, the Archbishop's palace, the Palacio de Gobierno and another I can't remember. We arrived back at our hotel at 4 pm. Tomorrow it is off to the Amazon with a visit to hot springs on the way. Probably no wifi for a couple of days..not sure.