El Centro de Quito

El Centro Historica y las Iglesias

On Sunday a small group of us went to the Centro Historica of Quito (Aka Old Town). This center consists of a lot of old buildings, churches, statutes, and markets. We started out our tour by taking a cab up to the giant statue of Virgin Mary that is on one of the hills overlooking Quito. We next went to an open-air market where I scored a new pair of slippers/ booties (yes, I am aware I have about 10 pairs by now). I was also planning on buying breakfast there, but after seeing an array of foods (including pig heads) I decided to opt out. After the market we did the tour of the churches. One of the churches was literally covered with ornately carved gold, which was pretty impressive (It took 160 years to build!). It also had a terrifying painting of the deadly sins being punished in hell. Our group was pretty quiet after viewing it. The last church we went to was the Basilica. It is ironic that we went to this church the day after I bragged about conquering my fear of heights in my last blog. The Basilica offers an option for tourists to climb ladders up to its turrets. I was already giving myself a pep talk on the way up the first ladder. Upon reaching the top I was still busy congratulating myself when I realized that there was several more levels to go up. Long story short: I am definitely not over my fear of heights!

Other completely unrelated random facts:

-I have been playing a lot of rummikub with my host mom. This may become my new scrabble.
As of today I can successfully take the buses home without getting lost
-I have been subsisting on a steady diet of bread and fruit (Don’t worry mom, I am taking my vitamins)
-For desert tonight I had hot chocolate with eggs, milk, and cheese in it (Aka : Lilly’s worst nightmare come true)
-I am currently mastering the past tense.
-Our first overnight field trip is this weekend! We are going to see volcanoes and high Andean ecosystems for 3 days. I also have to ride in a very small plane where I will once again attempt to conquer my fear of heights.

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