Day 64 12.09.15
It was the first day of my next tour. I woke up, had some breakfast, got some quick laundry in (my clothes were so muddy it was definitely a necessity!) and used the Internet. I packed and headed off by taxi to the new hotel I was staying in with the new group.
As soon as I arrived I immediately went to the meeting with everyone and after the meeting threw my bags into my new room and headed out to explore Quito as part of a city tour. We took the bus to our first stop.
We got to see the first observatory of South America, positioned here in Quito due to its advantages in terms of the equator, and as Quito is one of the highest towns of South America.
From the park we moved on to a monument honouring the fight of the Ecuadorian people for their independence from the Spanish.
Along the way we saw several colonial styled house facades.
As Quito is so high up, its streets wind up and down constantly, providing you with a great workout.
The first cathedral we got to is a cathedral built to resemble the European cathedrals such as for example Notre Dame or other Spanish cathedrals.
It was built by one of Ecuador’s more important presidents, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, who was a very catholic man. Hence during his reign he urged to build this cathedral to honour the Catholic church. He was an important figure in the history of Ecuador, as due to his journeys to Europe where he studied at different universities, he returned to improve the school system and build the first university of Quito. He refurbished the school system understanding the knowledge was key.
Very interesting aspects of this cathedral are its gargoyles. As you can see, they are not the usual dragons or other creatures, but each side of the cathedral represents a different region of Ecuador; this side shows the Galapagos islands with its turtles, iguanas and sea lions, other sides show alligators, parrots, guinea pigs and other animals associated with the islands, the shore, the highlands and the jungle.
On our way to the entry to the cathedral we passed a golden door with the inscription of “Muertos levantaos”, meaning, “The dead raise yourselves”. This is the door to a famous cemetery where presidents and other highly ranked people are buried. It is supposed to represent the scene where as soon as the angels play their trumpets, the dead shall rise to be judged.
The front view clearly shows the similarities with Notre Dame.
We entered and took the elevator (yes!) up to a look out point from which you could see the little hill called “panecillo”. On this little hill called little loaf of bread, we could see the statue of the Virgin Mary looking over and protecting Quito. It was constructed out of hundreds of aluminium plates with the job to protect Quito from Earthquakes.
From this look out you can see clearly the well-kept city structure of Quito and the many church towers that peak out over the houses.
We carried on walking over the churches gangway just underneath the roof to reach the tower of the commodores.
From here you had an even better view, pretty much 360° of Quito.
The tower is called the tower of commodores, not only because these can be found as gargoyles on the tower, but also because it was built to the height at which commodores fly. They are the symbol of strength and resistance of Ecuador and every church tower carries statues of this impressive bird.
Inside the cathedral there are beautiful stain glass windows. This wheel illustrates the grand variety of flowers Ecuador has to offer; its main source of income being flowers and chocolate. Ecuadorians should make great lovers on Valentines Day :).
The other sides with stain glass windows show different priests and saints, as well telling stories in the lower half of the church walls (which unfortunately can not be seen from this perspective.)
We headed out of the church and got to observe the typical house facades of Quito. Something that can be seen on all houses are the balconies. They were the Rolexes of the people back then. If you got to decorate your house with an exquisite balcony made from marble from France, or built in the Spanish style, then that illustrated your high social standing, or at least showed what you were able to afford.
The balconies played another interesting role in Quito’s society, as they were the perfect devices for window-shopping. Now brace yourselves, because this context might be a little antiquated. On Sundays the daughters would get dressed up in fancy dresses, put on their jewellery and make up to be as pretty as possible. Then they would stand on these balconies and wait. Suitors would then have the chance to walk along the houses looking for potential spouses. (Reminds me a bit of the red like district in Amsterdam…) But there is some moral codex behind it. The suitors could only talk to the girls AFTER church. Oh yeah, and only with the permission of their fathers. The important point being the conversation AFTER church though :).
Before using the dollar, Ecuador used to have its own currency. However inflation got so high that a loaf of bread would cost up to 25000 sucres.
We moved on to a lovely building with a courtyard in the middle. Back in the days families used to have many children and so the houses contain many rooms. To many to be able to sell entire houses nowadays. The solution is to rent out some rooms and live in others to be able to afford the prices. Or to rent out parts of the house to restaurants, bars, or shops.
The set up of these houses usually saw the courtyard to be covered in grass, in the middle you could find a fountain and the roof (that can be seen in this picture) used to be inexistent. This space was used to keep cattle and other animals in overnight, after they had been brought in from the fields, in order to avoid them being stolen by someone.
Here we also stopped at a sweet store, where I purchased some coconut balls coated with milk chocolate – divine.
We moved on to the public independence square honouring the Ecuadorian fight against the Spanish (again you can see commodores).
Here it is breaking the chains of the Spanish reign.
Opposite the monument you can find the house of parliament. The presidents can decide whether they want to live there or not – the current president doesn’t.
It is along the walls of this house of parliament where we could see the plaque showing the place where Gabriel Garcia Moreno was murdered. Due to his loyalty with the Catholic Church he handed a lot of his power over to the church, which didn’t sit right with the liberals, which then decided the only way to stop him was to assassinate him. At this point he was stabbed in the back. When people gathered around him, supposedly he didn’t ask for help but his last words were “Dios no muere” – “God doesn’t die”, meaning that God would live on in Quito after him, and that the Catholic beliefs had been strengthened enough to outlast him.
From the house of parliament we carried on walking passing by several churches. This church for example was built for the slaves during the Spanish reign. The slaves in this case were the Ecuadorian indigenous, who were not allowed to go to the same churches as the Spanish, should still follow the Spanish religion and so had their own church built.
We passed other churches along the way, as well as the cultural centre of Quito, housing also the first university of Quito.
We then reached another interesting church. This church was first built by the Jesuits to impress the indigenous and show them the true power of God. The indigenous agreed that if they were shown the power of God, they would accept and turn to this religion. So what the Jesuits did was build this impressive church, which inside is covered in thousands of panels coated in gold.
You can see the beginning of it on the entrance door. I couldn’t take a photo from the inside, but it is impressive! If you ever go to Quito go and check it out.
So the Jesuits closed all the windows allowing no light to enter the church, let the indigenous enter, closed the doors behind them and let them wait in total darkness. Then one of the Jesuits who had been waiting at the top of one of the towers opened a little hole in the roof and let a ray of sunshine enter the church. Here the ray broke on a position on the altar and then reflected all over the golden panels. Of course the indigenous hadn’t noticed the Jesuit on top of the roof, and were all blown away by the “obvious” power of God.
Opposite the church is a building that shows that not all inhabitants of Quito were pro church, shown by a little figurine that shows what he thought of the church. (See the right figurine, compared to the left, hint: look between his legs…)
Next to the church is the central bank of Ecuador – I really liked its architecture.
We carried on along the street of cotton (where most traditional clothing stores are found) where the celebrations for Quito as a cultural heritage town where in full swing.
We reached the church of San Francisco, where our walking tour ended. Here we got to see the lovely sunset and how the sun broke in all the clouds.
We then headed on to the “Calle de la Ronda”, the street in Quito that is kept just as it was back in the days so that tourists can see it.
Here we stopped at a place that served giant empanadas. They are sweet dough, and in this case filled with cheese and topped with sugar. (Too much sugar for my taste).
Accompanying the empanada we had a drink made from cinnamon and a local fruit (that I can’t recall the name of), which was warm and tasted a little like German apple wine or apple cider. It was quite nice and I think I had a couple of glasses. After that I was keen on getting some food into my belly.
We headed by taxi to a diner where we got to eat some local food. It really looked more like a fast food diner than a place where you would expect a great local meal, but I was open to the suggestion of our guide.
I had secado de pollo, which is chicken, rice, lentils, tomatoey sauce, which tasted really nice. After dinner we stopped by a supermarket to quickly stock up on rum for the Galapagos stay (as rum costs a fortune on the islands) and headed back to the hotel.
