The front desk of the hotel (very nice staff here by the way) provided us with a Quito tourist map, which featured four different walking routes that one could take to see the sights. I also reviewed Fodor's travel advice on its web site to get an understanding of what the top sights might be. With this information, we formulated a plan!
Of course, as soon as we departed the hotel, we began by taking photographs of the adjacent Plaza Grande. The square is dominated by the cathedral to the south. To the north is our hotel flanked by the archbishop's residence. On the west side is the presidential palace, and opposite that to the east are some newer municipal buildings, including a tourist information office.
We discovered that it was too early to enter the cathedral, so we continued south along Garcia Moreno Street and went into the Church of El Sagrario (sanctuary), which is next door to the cathedral. A service or mass was underway at that time, so we just stood in the back for a minute to take in the view and then we left.
We continued south about one half block and came to another church (there are quite a few in this historical center) called Compania de Jesus. Again, it was a few minutes before opening time, bu this time we elected to wait. While waiting we admired the bank building across the street, which is now a numismatic museum (museum dedicated to coins). After a few minutes, the gate to the church opened up, so we went in, paying about $5 per person. As with all of these churches, it seems, no photography is permitted, not even without flash, so we strolled around a little bit, then looked for a shop to buy a post card or two. The shop was also not yet open, so we left.
We proceeded on our walk to the next church on our tour, the church and monastery of San Francisco. This may be the oldest church in the New World. Construction of the church began in 1534. Sadly, there is a large construction zone in front of the church, which means that the large plaza of San Francisco is mostly closed. This is for construction of a subway system in Quito. As we approached the entrance, it appeared that there was a long line of people waiting to get in -- but we were mistaken in thinking this. The line of people was actually a line-up of beggars who were waiting to ask for money from those who were departing the church. This is, or course, very sad. Inside, again, there was no photography, so we just looked. As we exited, I did give a few coins to one of the beggars, which meant that all of them were immediately attracted to me! Fortunately, there was no trouble walking away.
We continued on our tourist walk, following the map's recommended route along Calle Hospital, passing a nice looking museum called Museo del Carmen Alto, which was across the street from the city's historic old hospital site. This museum explores the lives of the nuns who lived in this monastery. We did not go in. In the old hospital building is the museum of the city of Quito's history. Our guide Mariana had recommended this, but we elected to keep on with our walking tour at this point.
We crossed the street south and came across a newer looking plaza with a statue of Eugenio Santa Cruz Espejo, called Quito's most illustrious son on the statue's plaque. He lived from 1747 until 1795, the son of a native father and a mother who may have been white or mixed race. Espejo was considered mixed race (mestizo). He practiced medicine, having learned this from his father as well as having been educated in medical school. He was also a highly educated person who wrote on a variety of topics, including improving sanitary conditions. He was a prolific satirist who criticized the government. He is also considered the founder of Quito's journalism, having published the city's first newspaper; and he was also director of the city's library. Because of his liberal views he was imprisoned in 1795 and died later that year from dysentery that he had acquired while in prison.
From this plaza, we entered a tourist shopping street called Calle de la Ronda, named after the town in southern Spain. It was too early for most of the shops to be open, but the colorful, lower level street is very charming.
We made a short climb up to the Plaza of Santo Domingo to admire the church there. There was no entry fee for this church, so we took a peek.
From here we followed the street called Venezuela to find the Casa de Sucre. This was the home of Manuel Sucre, for whom the airport and the former Ecuadorean currency is named. He was a top general of Simon Bolivar and was assassinated at the young age of 34. His home is now a museum of armaments.
We continued walking back towards the Plaza Grande, stopping to admire the charming Plaza Chica with an old green theater across the street.
Returning to the Plaza Grande, we stuck our heads into the tourist information office, then stopped for a few more photos of the presidential palace and our hotel.
A nice policeman then directed us to the side entrance of the cathedral (now open). Again, there was no photography permitted, but we were able to go behind the altar to see many tombs of famous Ecuadoreans, including Gabriel Garcia Moreno (for whom the street is named). He was a president of Ecuador who was also assassinated. In a side chapel, we found the mausoleum for Sucre and took a forbidden photo.
Then before we exited, we took another forbidden photo of the cathedral's beautiful wooden ceiling.
At this point, we have seen the sights that were on our recommended walking tour, plus a few more. With a few extra minutes at our disposal, we went back to the city museum in the old hospital building. I thought they might have a book in English with a short history of the city of Quito, but an inquiry at the front desk yielded a negative answer. We were able to poke our heads into a couple of the hospital's courtyards, and they are very pretty!
Since it was getting close to our pick-up time at 12:30 PM, we returned to the hotel for a quick (or not so quick) pork sandwich, then went to our room to collect our suitcases to check out. Mariana and the driver promptly met us at the appointed time, and our luggage was stowed in the van. We would not be returning to the hotel -- after our guided tour, we will be delivered to the airport for our flight to Lima, Peru.
Our first stop was up the hill south of the city center for an up-close look at the statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the old town. She has wings for some reason (but is not an angel!) and is stomping on a snake. I kind of like it! There is a smaller version in the San Francisco church/monastery.
The views up here were really nice, and it was a sunny clear day. For the first time, we could see to modern Quito with its high rise buildings. The city seems to go on and on both to the north and the south. Mariana told us that the expansion to the north (where the modern buildings are) is more recent. Rob asked if there are areas with bad slums, to which she said no. She said that the poorer areas are toward the south, but then confessed that she hasn't been there in many years. She said there are bad slums in Guayaquil.
When we told Mariana what we had done and seen this morning, she seemed a little taken aback. I don't think she thought we would be so ambitious. I felt a little bad, since perhaps we had co-opted what she had planned for us. She did recommend that we return to the church Compania de Jesus so that she could tell us more about it, and we agreed -- we pretty much just walked in and out this morning. Once inside she told us about the interior of the church, particularly the gold leaf, and then showed us a secret door. We were also able to buy a few post cards at the gift shop (now open).
We then walked to the presidential palace, where she took us behind a gate where we could peer inside the building's entrance, but we were unable to go in. Outside the cathedral, she pointed out an interesting architectural feature -- all of the posts along the walkway are designed differently. We don't stay long on the main square as a demonstration of transit workers was underway. There were many people, plus a band playing music! One more comment about central Quito: everywhere you walk you come across traditionally dressed women selling some type of food product. One will have potatoes, another may have corn, some were selling apples -- they were everywhere! Must be good business!
From here we re-boarded the van and were brought to the exterior of the basilica -- a most imposing building. We admired the side of the basilica, which features gargoyles -- only these gargoyles are all different creatures from the Galapagos Islands -- pretty neat!
Apparently time was running a little short, so we did not go in, but drove through the modern neighborhoods of northern Quito, seeing modern apartments and shopping. It was also more distinctly "white."
At the airport, it was time to say thank you and goodbye to Mariana, so we did! Check in was easy and Mariana has given us passes to the VIP lounge. The lounge is crowded with a lot of loud talkers. The food is just okay. About 45 minutes before departure, we made our way to the gate, and it was a good thing that we did. With 35 minutes before the scheduled departure time, the agents were already making the final boarding call! Wow -- glad we didn't miss the flight -- it left 10 minutes early!
The flight was uneventful, and we were met in Lima by our A&K representative, Julio. Unfortunately, due to heavy traffic on a Friday evening, our ride to the hotel was about 1 and 1/2 hours long. Julio was also very talkative and seemed to want to warn us about everything that could go wrong in Peru. At one point, he seemed to run out of things to say, so he just decided to read us our itinerary for the upcoming week. It has been a long day, and our patience was running low, but we maintained a polite facade. Unfortunately, the crazy driving style of the driver was making Rob physically ill. Finally, we arrived at the Belmond Miraflores Park Hotel, which is quite lovely. We had a quick check in and then ordered a delicious Malbec called "Reto" from room service, while Rob tried to recover from the ordeal of the drive. We turned in early.
Final note: Julio did have one memorable thing that he said. When warning us about buying knitwear from vendors in Peru, he said, "Be careful -- they will tell you it is made from baby alpaca, but it is really 'maybe' alpaca!!"
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