Quito Day 3

So today we have our tour of Quito that came with the Galapagos package we booked. There are only 3 other people on the tour with us, just like we like it nice and small. 

We started off with a visit at a new church that was built approximately 100 years ago. It was very impressive but not nearly as nice as the ones we would visit later in the day. Ecuador is mostly a Catholic country, Andre was the only Catholic test, at one Church the guide asked what symbol is not on display at any other Catholic churches, picture the front of the church with about 1000 symbols on it and Andre was supposed to find the stars and be able to say they didn`t belong. Needless to say he failed the test, even after the guide told us it was the stars that didn`t fit, they are there because of the link with the native Indian culture from Ecuador. One of the churches had more than one ton of 24 carat gold plating decorating the inside, very impressive. 

Between church visits we spend a couple of hours in the old section of Quito.

In the old section is where the Presidential Palace, or their White House is. This part we all found fascinating. I have been to Washington for work and couldn`t get anywhere near the White House, you were only allowed if you were booked on a big tour, individuals were not welcome.
This was amazing, we were there on a Monday, which from what we could understand is the day that the president comes back to work from the week-end off out of the city.
Every Monday there are protesters lined up and parading around the plaza in front of the palace, the thing was you couldn`t tell who was supporting the president, and who was opposing. It was quite peaceful, but a little noisy. Lots of police presence, on horseback, and foot patrol. The most police work we saw being done was they were moving the local merchants that were trying to sell their crafts to the tourists on the street along, very dangerous!

We were all kind of in awe when we arrived at the plaza, our guide took us straight by all of the police and students that were lined up and took us up to the main floor of the palace so we could over look the plaza, we were all kind of shocked that we were able to do this. It was very strange looking out over the plaza full of Ecuadorian people and here the north Americans were looking out over them.

We were able to walk right up to the guards and take pictures, picture Buckingham Palace and being able to walk right up to the guards to have your picture taken with them. Definitely not the same scale as Buckingham Palace or the White House, but still very impressive.

We walked around the outlying buildings and then came back to the Palace when the president came out to wave to the crowds. Ecuador has had its share of corrupt presidents over the last few years, but I guess this president is quite popular. He has some roots in Ecuador which it sounds like helps, the last few have been Lebanese or Columbian I guess, I am certainly not up on my Ecuadorian politics. We watched a little of his speech and then moved on to our next stop. 

Protestors Outside Presidential palace

Next visit is to the middle of the world. The equator runs through Ecuador, but just outside of Quito is what is considered the middle of the world, or at least that is what we were told.
There is a nice little interactive museum (museum used very loosely) here that was quite interesting. We learned about shrunken heads, how walking on the equator with your eyes closed affects you, how guinea pigs let people know whether you are hyper or calm, and how easy it is to balance an egg on the end of a nail on the equator.

We also learned about the sun dial and the calendar that was used by using the sun, it was all very educational, but I especially liked how much stronger I was than Andre when we stood right on the Equator. We also weigh about 1kg less on the equator than we do at sea level, but I think I`ll still go to the Galapagos anyway. 

From here it was off to lunch and then back to the hotel. Another great day, but I think we still enjoy getting out of the city more than exploring the city. Our guide was fantastic, but we both like the rural life and seeing the farms and beautiful mountains.

Right now we are at supper at a Tex Mex restaurant. We wanted to be within walking distance again from the hotel so we didn`t have to walk too far in the dark. Another great meal and very inexpensive compared to home. Before supper we walked around our hotel area and found a fantastic craft market, on the way back to the hotel he found a store that sold the big beer for $1.00 a bottle.

So on to our ship mates we have met so far:

On our tour today there is Les, he is a retired fish and wildlife guy from California that left his wife at home, she has put off traveling for a year because they just had a baby granddaughter. Les puts Andre to shame with the number of pictures he takes. It is amazing, you should see his cameras, he hasn`t even brought out all of his lenses yet, they were too heavy to carry today, but I`m sure we`ll see lots on the Galapagos. I don`t think we need to take any pictures, just ask Les to burn us a copy of his pics.

The other couple on our tour today are Mark and Risa (not sure of her name). She just had her 40'th birthday and didn`t want a party so here they are (does this sound familiar to anyone) They are from New York and should be lots of fun.

On the way out of the hotel this afternoon we ran into another man and spoke to him, they are also on the same ship as us. He and his wife have been traveling around Ecuador for the last week. I would say he was in his early 70`s and they have no interest in snorkeling, this could be interesting.
They are also from California but we didn`t meet his wife yet.

Time to head back to the hotel, there is some confusion as to what time we are being picked up tomorrow for the Galapagos flight, our itinerary shows a 6:30 pick up, but the guide picking us up thought it was a 5:30 pick up, I hope we are right.

Next report will be from the Galapagos!!! And I hope the reports get more interesting!!