Friday, February 10, 2017, At the Equator

Mansion Alcazar opened its restaurant early, at 6:00 a.m., so that we could have breakfast before our 8:20 flight to Quito, where we were met by our friend and driver, Jorge. We rode his van through Quito to the teleferico, a cable car that climbs the Pichincha volcano, a steep mountain to the west of the city. At the top we beheld a beautiful view of the city, about 3000 feet below.

A steep trail led upwards from the top of the teleferico to the highest peak of the volcano. We didn’t take it. Alejandra explained that the volcano has two calderas, and the more active one faces away from the city. The more dangerous volcano is on the other side of the valley. If it erupts, it could send pyroclastic ash into the suburbs in as little as 45 minutes. This news made the tornadoes that we deal with in the Midwest seem much less scary.

We ate lunch while overlooking another volcanic caldera to the north of Quito. Then Alejandra and Jorge led us to the Museo del Sitio Intinan, a tourist site situated right on the equator. This had originally been the site of an indigenous settlement. The 170-year-old house of the last person to live there has been preserved, with its thatched roof and clay-and-wattle walls. A photograph of the last resident hung on one of the rafters. Our guide also led us to a replica of a house of indigenous people in the Amazon, just over the mountains to the east. We learned about their hunting and gathering lifestyle that is still pursued in a national park.

We had our pictures taken while standing right on the equator. There were demonstrations of balancing an egg on a nail, water running straight out of a drain, and walking on the equator with your eyes closed, all things that happen differently on the equator, according to our guide. We also learned about the practice of head-hunting and head-shrinking that was until recently practiced by an Amazonian tribe. We saw an actual shrunken head from 170 years ago, but were not allowed to take photographs of it.

We then returned to our hotel from our previous stay in Quito, the Casona de la Ronda, the boutique hotel in a restored building that dates from 1738. On Friday evening the Calle de la Ronda is a happening place in Quito. Only about three blocks long, the street is alive with nightlife – bars, restaurants, nightclubs, handicraft stores and vendors selling food out of doorways. Hawkers stand in the street attempting to lure you into their restaurant. After taking in this scene, we returned to the hotel for a quiet supper. Abby was craving a hamburger, and praised the hotel’s version as the real thing. I had the seco de chivo, translated in the menu as lamb stew, although Google Translate says that chivo means goat. Either way, it was delicious. 

Thursday, February 9, 2017, Ingapirca

Our first stop on the way to Ingapirca was a scenic overlook on the south side of town from which we could see almost all of Cuenca. A short distance away is the workshop, gallery and home of Eduardo Vega, a distinguished Ecuadorean ceramic artist. I could use “pottery” to describe his work, but that word does not do it justice; his work involves a high level of skill and artistic design. We purchased a beautiful fish-shaped serving dish in orange and white for the cabin, and a couple of wine-bottle coasters with limes and a sea turtle portrayed on them. Beth and Sarah/Mark each bought something, also.

Then we drove to a Panama hat factory named after its founder, Homero Ortega. Panama hats are so named because they were ship

ped to Panama during the construction of the canal and popularized by Teddy Roosevelt, who had his picture taken in one. The people laboring on the canal wore them for protection from the tropical sun. However, the hats originate from, and still are made in, Ecuador, where they are known as toquilla straw hats.

When Spaniards arrived in the 16^th century, they found the indigenous people covering their heads in woven hats that the Spanish called “vampire wings.” In 1630, Francisco Delgado persuaded them to convert their headgear into brimless hats known as toquillas that eventually morphed into the Panama hat that we know today.

Jaime then drove us the hour or so that it takes to Ingapirca. We went past the archaeological site to an inn and restaurant called Posada Ingapirca. We could see the walls of Ingapirca from the windows of our dining room. We were first served shot glasses of a pink drink made from flowers we had seen at the Cuenca market and cane liquor. The local hot sauce was quite a bit hotter than anything we had had in Quito, Cuenca or the Galapagos.

The entrance to Ingapirca was labeled in Spanish, English and Quichua, the language of most indigenous people in Ecuador – entrada, entrance and yaikuna. We would find the exit to be analogously labeled. Brown llamas grazed just outside the f

ence. The site was originally developed by the Canaris, the local indigenous people. Eventually the Canaris became part of the Inca empire, and the Incas built a Temple of the Sun at the site. The precise Inca joinery in the temple is in noticeable contrast to the masonry in the rest of the site, which has Canari origins. The temple was laid out so that, at the solstices, sunlight would shine through the doorway in the small building on top of the temple ellipse.

One of the most interesting features of the site is a tomb marked by a large megalith and smaller stones laid out on the ground. The remains of a woman of high social status was found with 10 other bodies buried at this spot. A large open area in the center would have been where people assembled for important religious ceremonies. Various structures were labeled as storehouses, ritual baths, and rooms for Inca women who supervised local workers within the compound.

Jaime and Alejandra then took us to a site about half the distance back to Cuenca known as Cojitambo, a Canari site that dates to 500 B.C., although the visible ruins probably date to a period just before the Incas arrived. Jaime drove the van up a very steep and unpaved hill to the site. There is a large open area, analogous to the one at Ingapirca, where people would have assembled for important events or religious ceremonies. A two-room stone building, almost complete except for its roof, stood near the top of the site. Inside were stone niches similar to those found in Inca buildings, except that these were rectangular rather than trapezoidal. Azogues, the capital of the Canar province, was visible from the overlook at the top of the site.

We got back to Cuenca at about 6:30 p.m. We had drinks in Mansion Alcazar’s beautiful garden, and then dinner at the hotel restaurant. We would go to bed early because of an early flight to Quito the next morning. 

Wednesday, February 8, 2017, Cuenca Old City Walking Tour

We left the hotel at 9:30 a.m. and walked west on Calle Bolivar to La Iglesia de San Sebastian, a white church that marks the western edge of old Quito. We passed a craft brewery called Jodoco Belgian Brew, closed until 11:00 a.m. We turned south then east and walked along the Rio Tomebamba on Avenida Tres de Noviembre. We passed a bronze sculpture of kids climbing a greased pole to get to the prizes on top.

We walked past the colonial architecture of old Cuenca until we came to the 10 de Agosto Mercado. Here were many fruits and herbs, such as bananas, passion fruit and chamomile. An entire aisle of the two-story mercado was devoted to herbal remedies. There were a vast number of different cuts of meat available – beef, pork or chicken. No fish were in evidence. I bought some small bananas, denser and more flavorful than the bananas we get at home. Sarah and Mark bought some peaches and cherries that we ate later.

Alejandra led us to a flower market that was outside a church called the Santuario Mariano, across from the cathedral. Beautiful flower arrangements with eight roses and several other kinds of flowers could be had for six dollars. Roses are a major agricultural crop in Ecuador, many of them exported to the United States. We passed a man selling live beetle larvae from the Amazon that could be eaten, and also lotion made from the larvae that constitutes a good skin moisturizer, according to the pitch.

We walked into the 19^th-century cathedral and admired the stained glass. The beautiful rosette window at the back of the church is sometimes used as a symbol of Cuenca, according to Alejandra. On the side of the nave was another rosette with stained-glass images of Moses and Peter below it.

We ate lunch at a two-story restaurant facing Parque Calderon, which is across from the cathedral. Abby had the seco de pollo (stewed chicken) while I ate the trucha frita (fried trout). Both were delicious. We walked into the park, which is named after Abdon Calderon, a hero of the 1822 revolutionary war, who gave his life for his new country at the age of 18. Alejandra said that every city in Ecuador has a statue dedicated to him.

We walked past more colonial architecture to a small art gallery featuring sculptures of Galapagos iguanas and blue-footed boobies. We visited with the artist and proprietor. Much of the art was modern and interesting. Sarah found a piece that was difficult to resist purchasing, but she did resist.

The last stop of our walking tour was the Parque Arqueologico Pumapungo. This was a Canari site that was taken over by the Incas after their conquest of Cuenca. Only walls extending about a foot above the current ground level remain. The first site was a kallanka used to house Canari, and later Inca, soldiers. We came upon the remains of a building similar to a convent that was used to house chosen women who participated in religious life and also in the production of textiles and other activities. An avocado tree grew on the grounds, and lamas and alpacas were tethered next to an adjoining aviary. Our final stop was the Qurikancha or High Temple that was a center of worship, astronomy, politics and administration of the Canari and then Inca government. 

We took a taxi back to the hotel and rested until about 5:00 p.m., at which time we gathered in the hotel’s courtyard. We drank some wine that Mark had bought and ate fruit that we had purchased at the market. Then, at about 6:15 we walked to the Jodoco Belgian craft brewery that we had spotted next to the church of San Sebastian on our morning walk. We sipped beer and ate tapas as we talked about the events of the day and laughed at old stories. 

Tuesday, February 7, 2017, La Magdalena to Cuenca

We started in the morning at about 9:00 a.m. by taking a tour of the vegetable garden, led by Selso and interpreted by Alejandra. Selso and Sylvia grow a variety of familiar and unfamiliar fruits, herbs and vegetables. There were two types of leeks, white carrots (parsnips?), thyme, verbena, lemon balm, jicama, beans, limes, cabbages, beets, lettuce, potatoes and much more. Selso said that two disabled men from the community help him with the gardening. Alejandra remarked that there is a government requirement that most businesses employ disabled people. Selso and his neighbors are not allowed to irrigate their gardens, and must rely on natural rainfall. This being the beginning of the rainy season, the garden seemed quite healthy.

I got a call from work just as we were about to walk up the road to see the view of the mountains and the provincial capital of Ibarra in the distance. The others walked on ahead, while I finished my phone call and a follow-up email. Abby and I then rode in the vehicle with Jorge up to a point in the road where construction workers were laying cobblestones on the dirt road. The stones were irregular shapes of andesite about twice the size of a man’s fist or smaller. The views of the urban valley in one direction and the rural valley in another were spectacular. We admired crops of beans grown on impossibly steep hillsides. Most cultivation was done by hand in this area.

Part of the plan of our homestay was to help the family with some of their chores, to learn more about their lifestyle. Selso produced a large bag of dried beans that we proceeded to shell into a pan. Everyone pitched in, including Jorge and Alejandra. After the beans were shelled we moved into the kitchen and made fresh cheese from local milk. It seemed that every family had a couple of milk cows. A packet of powder was added to the milk to cause it to curdle. Then the whey was scooped out of the pan with a dipper and the curds were packed into a form and squeezed dry. By lunch time we had fresh cheese to eat.

We began the two-hour ride to the Quito airport at 2:25 p.m. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our 6:50 p.m. flight to Cuenca, a flight that would last less than an hour. Jaime met us at the airport with a spacious van, and took us to Mansion Alcanzar, an elegant hotel in the heart of old Cuenca. We had a light supper in the hotel bar and talked about what a great time we had had in La Magdalena. 

Monday, February 6, Otavalo Market

We ate breakfast at 8:00 a.m., consisting of scrambled eggs and locally-baked whole wheat rolls. Alejandra and Jorge arrived at 8:45 to take us to the Otavalo Market, described by our travel agent as the largest and most famous handicraft market in all of South America. Abby’s first purchase was an embroidered black shawl for herself. We purchased a gourd carved with blue-footed boobies. It was one of the few gourds dyed with a color other than black. Abby got an embroidered apron that said “Ecuador” among the flowers. We picked out items for Tom and Laura, also. The vendors were eager to sell, but were neither aggressive nor pushy.

Jorge and Alejandra drove us a short distance to Nanda Manachi, a music shop in Peguche, a suburb of Otavalo. The 59-year-old indigenous proprietor showed us how to make an Andean pan flute out of bamboo tubes. If a tube was out of pitch, he would use his knife to shorten it to correct the pitch. A smart pan flute maker knows to make his tubes a bit too long rather than a bit too short. He demonstrated several Andean instruments, then invited two family members to join him, one on a guitar and the other on a ten-stringed instrument similar to a mandolin or mandola. They played and sang traditional Andean music. It was beautiful.

Another short drive took us to a textile shop where we were given a demonstration of traditional Andean weaving methods. We first saw a very petite woman demonstrate a backstrap loom, the kind used before Europeans arrived. It took so much strength to operate backstrap looms that in pre-columbian times they were normally operated by men. She then demonstrated a European hand loom with a shuttle and pedals, much easier to operate than the backstrap loom. We also saw her card wool and spin it into yarn. She explained, with translation from Alejandra, various natural vegetable matters that are used as dyes.

We also visited a shop where wool hats are made. We saw various forms used to form the crowns of the hats. Alejandra showed us a traditional Andean hat from this region. My favorite hat was the “Modelo Indiana,” of which I took a picture. The proprietor’s son confirmed that it was named after Indiana Jones.

We drove to Cotacachi, a favorite community for American expatriots, for lunch at La Marquesa restaurant. Most of us ordered el almuerzo – the lunch special – which consisted of fried yucca sticks, meatball-potato soup, a thinly-sliced pork chop, rice, beans, and mixed vegetables on a bed of fresh cucumber and tomatoes. We walked to a nearby park where we admired a statue of Lady Liberty and got cash from a bank’s ATM.

Upon our return to our house, La Casa de los Girasoles (sunflowers), Alejandra took some pictures of us in front of and behind the house with Selso and Sylvia. We watched a couple of shepherds leading two cows and a flock of sheep up the road in front of the house, trailed by their dogs. For supper we had thin cutlets of breaded, fried beef, rice and hominy. Dessert was an unfamiliar fruit in syrup. Everyone else went to bed early while I finished my blog. 

Sunday, February 5, 2017, Giant Tortoises in the Wild

After breakfast, the Zodiacs took us and our carry-on luggage to the dock at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. We boarded a bus to a private farm and natural tortoise reserve called El Chato Ranch, where we could observe Galapagos tortoises in their natural habitat. We were not disappointed – there were tortoises in abundance. We also found, in shady areas, a round white fungus growing up like a flower out of green ground cover.

Tortoises were gathered in large groups at water holes. We saw one large male attempting to mate with a small female, and we all felt sorry for the female. We saw one tortoise walking down the gravel-paved path. As we left the reserve, the Germans all shouted “Stop, stop,” as we drove past a sign that said “Stop, tortoise crossing.” We stopped to take a picture of the sign. The bus drove us to an ancient ferry boat that ran from Santa Cruz Island to Baltra Island, the site of a World War II air base that has been converted to a modern airport. The ferry, with a capacity of 66 people, carried about 90 of us. Fortunately, life jackets were provided, but were not necessary.

We were met at Quito airport by our former driver, Jorge, and by our new guide, Alexandra. We loaded into Jorge’s van, which took us two hours north to the Karanki community at the village of La Magdalena, near Ibarra. We arrived at about 6:00 p.m. to be met by Selso and Sylvia, our hosts. Selso ran down the hill to meet us at the intersection nearest the house and rode the rest of the way with us.

Sylvia and Selso own a three-bedroom house adjoining their own house that they rent out to tourists such as us. The house includes a modern kitchen, a large dining room, a room with a wood fireplace, and – best of all – three en suite bathrooms. The house is about six years old and is made of adobe, which was especially interesting to Sarah and Mark because of their adobe house in Arizona.

Sylvia and her younger sister, Josette, along with their mother, Rosa, cooked us a nice dinner of peas, fried potatoes and fried tilapia. Dinner was preceded by a delicious fruit juice served warm and laced with locally-distilled cane liquor. We learned later that a lot of fruit juice is consumed in this country.

After dinner we had a delightful conversation with Selso, translated by Beth, whose Spanish translation skills were awesome. Selso’s native language is Quichua, so he learned Spanish in school, which made him easier for me to understand. Sylvia handed out hot water bottles for us to put in our beds. Later they would feel really good in the cool mountain air. 

Saturday, February 4, 2017, Floreana Island

 After breakfast, the Zodiacs took us to an olivine green-sand beach in the Devil’s crown area of Floreana Island. We hiked inland past some sandalwood trees to an overlook from which we could see the island’s famous flamingoes. An endemic species of flycatcher, with its yellow belly, followed us.  The flamingoes were wading in a brackish lagoon, looking for crustaceans to eat. Alexandra warned us to be quiet because they are very skittish of people.

The trail led over a hill and down to a white-sand beach where sea turtles had laid eggs the night before. We could see the female sea turtles lolling in the shallow water. Alexandra explained that they stayed in shallow water because they were tired from laying eggs, and they wanted to avoid the males in deep water that would try to mate with them. We could also see small sting rays in the shallow water and were strongly advised not to step on them. We saw a pelican, a killdeer and something like a sandpiper along the shoreline. Boarding the beached Zodiac to return to the Coral I was much easier. This time as the ocean was completely calm.

An hour later, at 11:00 a.m., we re-boarded the Zodiac for deep water snorkeling. The two Zodiacs took us to Champion Islet, named after a whaler, Andrew Champion. We dropped over the side of the dinghy and began snorkeling. We had been issued yellow, inflatable life vests to assist with buoyancy. We saw large schools of yellow-tailed surgeonfish, king angelfish, a large stingray, parrotfish, and several other species that I was not able to identify. Alexandra warned us to stay out of a bay that the male sea lions consider to be their territory. However, some of the sea lions came to us and swam so close that we could almost touch them. After about 45 minutes, Alexandra was getting cold, and we all climbed the ladder to board the Zodiac. Back on the Coral I, we were fed a traditional Ecuadorean meal, starting with ceviche and including roast pork, fish, fried plantains, potato cakes, rice and guacamole.

After lunch the Zodiacs took us to Post Office Bay on the north side of Floreana Island. In 1793 Captain James Colnett installed a wooden wine barrel at this location that would serve as an informal post office for sailors passing through. They would leave letters in the barrel for others to take to their homes. The wine barrel is gone, but the tradition remains. Now tourists leave postcards to be delivered by other tourists. We each took a sheaf of cards and looked through them. I found one addressed to someone in Madison, WI, that I gave to Dick and Ingrid to deliver. I left cards addressed to my parents and to Abby and me.

We returned to the beach on got on our snorkel gear. Lolli (Delores) led us along the edge of a line of rocks where we encountered two or three green sea turtles. (We encountered the same turtles more than once.)  We swam with the sea turtles and watched them eat vegetation off the bottom. Fish would try to eat the vegetation that the turtles had loosened, and the turtles would snap at the fish. We saw angelfish, parrotfish, and a large school of blue fish that I did not recognize. The water was neither as clear nor as deep as it had been in the morning, but the turtles were amazing. 

Friday, February 3, 2017, Espanola Island

We expected a dry landing at Suarez Point on Espanola Island, but the tide was too high and the concrete dock was awash. Instead, we beached the Zodiac and waded ashore. Beth had stayed on the Coral I. Abby and Mark took the short hike while Sarah and I took the long one. The shoreline was festooned with sea lions, including a nursing mother and baby, and marine iguanas. It was iguana mating season, so the males were colorful – turquoise and red with black spots – while the females were a more subdued red and black. Both sexes of the marine iguana on Espanola Island, geologically the oldest of the Galapagos Islands, were more colorful than their counterparts on San Cristobal Island.

Lolli led us to nesting Nazca boobies. Like their blue-footed cousins, they lay their eggs on the ground. The Nazcas like to nest near a cliff that overlooks the ocean. The cliff of Espanola Island had a large colony of nesting Nazca boobies. We saw many baby boobies (Sarah’s favorite expression) - fledgling Nazca boobies. An occasional blue-footed booby stood alongside the trail. Also lava lizards and iguanas.

Lolli became excited when we came upon a group of three fur sea lions, a sub-species with longer fur, thicker necks and bigger heads than most of the sea lions. A rare sight, a good day, she said. My favorite sight was the Soplador blowhole, a fissure in the volcanic rock that would shoot water up to 27 meters into the air when a big wave came in. I don’t remember ever seeing a blowhole before.

The afternoon was dedicated to swimming and snorkeling from a beautiful white sandy beach at Gardner Bay on Espanola Island. Abby and I tried snorkeling, but found that her mouthpiece was too big and my mask was too leaky. We swam instead, bouncing up and down as some rather large waves came in. Rick from Madison found a skeleton of a beached whale that had been laid out above the high tide line.

When the time came to leave the beach, the waves were tossing the Zodiacs around. The boats were beached stern first, to allow people to climb over the low end. As I was one of the first aboard, Heine, the German guide,

asked me to sit in the bow, adding some weight up front to keep the Zodiac from flipping. I had a wild ride up there, holding on to a couple of ropes like a cowboy on a bucking bronco. I could see the waves coming in, so I knew when each was going to hit and could brace myself accordingly. In between waves, people from our party slowly boarded the boat, stepping across the transom, which normally was frowned upon as being too close to the motor and its sharp propeller. Finally we were all aboard and pushed away from the dangerous beach for the much quieter ride back to the Coral I.

Thursday, February 2, 2017, Walking with Iguanas

The morning excursion was described as an easy one-hour hike over sandy terrain, followed by snorkeling. We each picked up snorkel gear – flippers, a mask and breathing tube - and put it in a mesh bag for our use for the rest of the trip. We climbed into the two Zodiacs bound for Cerro Brujo beach on San Cristobal Island.

Before going to the beach, though, our Zodiac headed for an unusual rock formation known as “the cathedral,” an inlet in the sheer cliff that funneled ocean water to a trio of caves in the back. Occasionally a large wave would come in and cause foam and spray to well up in the caves. We then backed out of the cathedral and headed for a rock arch at the end of the headland that jutted into the sea. The far end of the arch looked neither wide enough nor deep enough for our Zodiac to pass through. However, our pilot timed the swell rolling in from the west, and the swell carried us up and over the shallow, narrow end of the arch. After we passed through the arch, I took a picture of Kicker Rock, visible through the arch.

We passed perched pelicans and marine iguanas on our way from the arch to the beach. At the beach we were greeted by Sally Lightfoot crabs and sea lions. We walked down the beach past a spot where marine iguanas were building nests. The iguanas were rather tame and walked along side us, not three feet away, for a short distance. Abby and I waded into a water for a swim and were soon joined by Beth. An 18-inch shark quickly swam away when it saw us coming. We rode the incoming waves up and down for a while and then walked back to our snorkeling gear at the beach where we had landed.  I tried snorkeling, but found it odd to breathe with my face in the water, so I mostly swam. When I came out of the water, a swarm of tan-colored biting flies descended on me and bit my legs and back. They

seemed to prefer me over all others, and I was covered in welts from fly bites by the time I got back to the ship.

During lunch the ship motored to Pitt Point at the far end of San Cristobal Island from the airport. Abby stayed on the boat while the rest of us went ashore for either a long or a short hike. Beth and Mark opted for the short hike and stayed close to the beach, while Sarah and I scaled the steep terrain of the long hike.  Our guide, Lolli (Delores), led us to blue-footed boobies, in pairs and nesting on eggs laid on the ground. We also saw red-footed boobies nesting in trees and a grey lizard with buff stripes down its back. Lolli pointed out the rare, white-feathered red-footed booby. An iguana hid from the sun under a rock overhang. Having seen everything we came to see, we headed back to the ship, visible in the distance when we crested the cliff on the way back.

Once aboard the Zodiac our guide took us out to a rocky islet where we could see Nazca boobies nesting, along with swallow-tailed gulls. I watched a couple of frigate birds chasing a sooty tern, taking turns knocking it out of the air into the water. Sea lions basked on the rocks and played in the surf.

Back on the ship, the Coral I, supper was delayed, so Mark and I had time to watch the sunset at about 7:15. At 7:30, complimentary eggnog was served, and we were greeted by the ship’s captain in his white nautical uniform. We all introduced ourselves and went into the dining room for supper. 

Wednesday, February 1, 2017, Quito to San Cristobal, Galapagos

Jorge met us at the hotel, Casona de la Ronda, at 7:15 for the 45-minute ride through hilly terrain to the airport. The flight to Guayaquil and then to the Galapagos airport on San Cristobal island was uneventful. While waiting at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno for a dinghy – a rubber raft with a 50-hp Yamaha outboard motor, also called a Zodiac – to take us to the boat, we admired the sea lions and marine iguana that had the freedom of the port.

After a late lunch on board the Coral I, we were taken ashore to ride a bus to the Cerro Colorado tortoise reserve. This is a large, fenced, natural area where Galapagos tortoises – just those from San Cristobal Island – may breed and lay eggs, which are then collected by park rangers who incubate them in boxes to protect them from non-native rats.

Once hatched, the young tortoises are raised in a protected environment until they are about eight years old, by which time their shells are tough enough to protect them from rats and they are released into the wild. We watched a ranger gather up young tortoises and take them to where he had laid down some food, mostly cabbage-like local vegetable matter. The baby tortoises would swarm over themselves to get at the food.

As we continued our hike, we saw some artificial ponds that had been created to give the tortoises water to drink and a place to cool off. The larger the tortoise, the more likely it was to be hiding in the brush where it would be difficult to see from the trail. After the warm, humid hike, we rushed back to the air-conditioned bus for the half-hour ride back to the waterfront. 

We were given a half hour to shop in town for last-minute necessities, but instead we went straight to La Casa Blanca, an open-air bar where I ordered a chilled bottle of Sauvingnon Blanc. The four of us – Mark had stayed on the boat to avoid the long bus ride through hilly terrain - had no trouble finishing a bottle of wine in the allotted half hour. 

Quito, January 31, 2017

On Monday, January 30, 2017, we flew from MSP to Atlanta and thence to Quito, landing at Ecuador's capital city at about 11:20 p.m. By midnight we connected with Jorge, our English-speaking driver, who drove us the 45 minutes to La Casona de la Ronda, a heritage boutique hotel in the heart of old Quito. We were in bed and sound asleep by 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

By 9:30 a.m., we were dressed and ready to go on a half-day tour of old Quito. Abby decided to stay behind because severely dry eyes the day before had left her tired and sensitive to light. Sarah, Mark, Beth, and I set off on foot with Natalia, our petite Quitena tour guide.

As luck would have it, we happened upon a parade of local school children honoring Antonio Jose de Sucre, a local hero of the war of independence against Spain. Sucre was the hero of the Battle of Pinchincha on May 24, 1822, which liberated Quito from the Spanish and led, eventually, to the founding of Ecuador.

The parade was led by high-school girls twirling batons that had black and white pom-poms attached to one end, followed by a drum major, a marching band, a float with foam cannons, and girls dressed in indigenous costumes doing indigenous dancing. The drum major and marching band members wore quasi-military uniforms, including helmets with horsehair plumes. The helmets and "horsehair" were made of plastic, but the effect was quite striking from a distance.

In colonial times, Quito was divided into four quarters, the Augustinian, Dominican, Franciscan and Jesuit quarters. After the parade, we walked from the Plaza de San Domingo to the monastery of San Augustino. The monastery surrounds a Spanish-style courtyard with a fountain and palm trees in the center. Murals of the life of the saint, exposed to outside air, but covered from rain, line the outer edge of the loggia around the courtyard. The loggia ceiling is decorated in the Moorish style with carved pine cones suspended from each rectangle in the ceiling.

Natalia took us into the Chapter Room, where an Ecuadorian declaration of independence was signed in 1809. The original table and one of its chairs was still preserved inside the room. On the opposite wall was a gilded crucifixion. Natalia explained that sheeps’ stomachs were used to polish the skin of Christ to make it shine. The 1809 revolution was unsuccessful, and all those who signed the document were later executed by the Spanish.

We walked to Independence Square, where the presidential palace faces the square, across from city hall. On a third side of the square is the building that houses the national assembly. A short Ecuadorian man in his early sixties approached Natalia and asked what country we are from. When she said “Los Estados Unidos,” he asked how we felt about Trump. Sarah gave the thumbs-down sign. The man smiled and walked off.

Our next stop would be the most beautiful church in all of Latin America, according to our Insight guidebook of Ecuador, the Church of the Company of Jesus (Jesuits). Although the façade is unremarkable, carved andesite stone, the interior is magnificent. Gilt is everywhere. The arched ceiling is made of brick that was covered with red – or dark pink – plaster and then gilded. Then the gilt was selectively carved away to reveal beautiful arabesque patterns. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so I purchased some postcards so that Abby could see the interior.

Natalia pointed out the blue ceiling inside the dome that imitates the sky, and the light coming in from windows in the dome that evokes the sun. Frescoes of the four evangelists circled the dome, each with his symbol, Mark with a lion, John with an eagle, Luke with an ox and Matthew with an angel.

Running short on time, we hot-footed it to the church of San Francisco, set higher on the slope of the mountain. Just below the church is a gift shop advertising fair trade goods. Earlier I had expressed interest in buying a Panama hat, misnamed because they are actually made in Ecuador, so we stopped at the fair trade shop and I bought a good one. Sarah found a white blouse with embroidery from northern Ecuador. We took a quick peek inside the church and then headed for the statue of the Virgin of Quito.

Known formally as the Virgen del Panecillo, the statue has a height of 30 meters, set on a plinth of 11 meters. Stairs inside allowed us to climb to the top of the plinth and walk around the outside.  We could see the aluminum alloy plates that were first bolted onto a frame and then brazed together. The virgin is portrayed as an angel with wings standing on a snake that she controls with a chain around its neck. The virgin, as she subjugates evil, overlooks the city of Quito.

For a late lunch we sat on a rooftop patio of a restaurant not far from the hotel. We had a variety of Ecuadorean fare, including empanadas, a tamale, chicken soup, shrimp ceviche, roasted chicken with hominy, potato soup, and fried yucca. After a short rest, we gathered in the hotel lobby for a bottle of Carmen Sauvignon Blanc from Chile and a plate of cheese and crackers. Dinner was at a 6^th-floor restaurant a sort cab ride away with a great view of the city.