Quito: Day 3

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Day 3. March 10, 2011: Old Town Quito

Breakfast
We got another leisurely start this morning. Steve thinks it was even later like 10 AM! It was awesome because we never get to sleep in.

Plaza de La Independencia
We did a quick walk through the Plaza de La Independencia, as Anne wanted to take a look "at" the Government Palace since we didn’t really look yesterday. Anne's library based guide book that she checked out from the League City library was a few years old, and it said we couldn’t go in it. We saw people up on the terrace, so we asked the guard if we could go in. He pointed to the opposite end of the building. So, we walked around and got in a short line. We were not sure exactly what we were doing and what we would see, but we decided to run with it and call it "an opportunity for adventure". We waited about 15 minutes, then handed our IDs to a man that spoke rapid fire Spanish. We all went through a metal detector, and then into a courtyard. The tour was conducted in Spanish by the aforementioned Ecuadorian man, but we were able to get the gist of the different rooms (Cabinet/meeting room, Banquet room with lots of items that were gifts from other countries). The building itself was beautiful, and someone asked (also in Spanish) if "el Presidente es aqui" (Steve's broken Spanish translation) and the answer was "no" (but a much longer answer). Anne thought of the flag flying when Queen Elizabeth was home, but didn’t know how to ask if they had this tradition in Ecuador too in Spanish. They (the Ecuadorians) were kind enough to take a picture of us on the steps and gave it to us at the end of the tour (none of this "cruise ship" or "roller coaster ride" - pay $10 for a picture business!)

Casa de Benalcazar
Then we went looking for Casa de Benalcazar, a small museum with some colonial (aka old) art. We found the building but the museo wasn’t open, so we then headed over to the Plaza Theatro and sat in the sun for a few minutes and analyzed the map.

Basilica del Voto
Then we headed up the hill towards the Basilica del Voto. What a big hill! We saw a small place to eat on the way with just a list of items (no sign on the outside or anything), and decided to go in. The waiter/chef/bus boy/cashier didn’t have one of the things we wanted, so we choose to share the Churrasco (steak over rice, with two fried eggs on top, with French fries and small salad), and Steve ordered the local beer, Pilsener. It was a big bottle, so Anne drank a glass. Lunch total was $5.50, so we left $6.00 and continued to the Basilica. Then we paid $2 each to take the elevator to the top of the tower. We had to walk across boards that went over the top of the Church's sanctuary and up a very steep ladder. We went outside, looked around and Steve went up two more open air ladders to the top (Anne wouldn't do it. Something about liking how her body is arranged currently). The we climbed up one of the clock tower belfries. There were a bunch of spiral staircases and then we climbed a couple of rebar ladders to get up to top. Then we headed down, stopped on floor two and explored the inside of the church from the balcony (this is where their pipe organ was). Then we went back to the ground floor, outside and into the sanctuary. It wasn't as ornate as La Compana or any of the other historic churches and was quite plain with just grey concrete.

Casa de Maria Augusta Urrutia
This was the colonial (old) house of a wealthy woman that fed poor children off the streets. She was very generous, helpful and caring. The house tour was interesting because they had period clothes, furniture, decorations, and some of the machines that her staff used. The place smelled funny but we left thinking it was a fun and worthwhile tour.

Plaza de La San Francisco
The church was already closed so we wandered. We bought a bottle of white wine and a churros con leche that Anne ate and shared with Steve. When we purchased said wine, the lady asked us if we wanted Chilean or the local Ecuadorian wine. We maybe mistakenly (?) chose the Ecuadorian wine. We'll tell you about the wine shortly. Then we ate in a small corner restaurant with some other "foreigners" such as ourselves. Steve thought they were also fellow Americanos (we saw them eating there the next night too as we walked by). We tried Quimbolitos which are some kind of sweet corn based meatless tamale looking thing wrapped in a leaf. We also ate more empanadas (you'll see a trend here) and some sort of breaded carne with rice. It cost $7.

Hotel
When we got back to the hotel we opened the Ecuadorian wine and poured a couple of glasses. It had to be the worst wine that either of us have had the displeasure of drinking since college (including Anne's Nagano experience!). What's even worse is that Steve drank the rest of it the next morning (it was only a glass). Anne thought it smelled like formaldehyde.

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