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.