Northern South America Travel Diary

2012

Northern South America Travel Diary 2012

 

Having not done any exploring yesterday due to the need for travel, I made the most of the day today, walking around the old centre of Quito for hours until my hip could take no more.  And unlike my walks during the past week or so, today’s walking wasn’t limited by the heat and humidity.  The temperature was 14 degrees Celsius when I set off this morning at about 9:30 am (a later start than I had intended as I had quite a few work e-mails to answer), and rose to a very pleasant 20 degrees in the ‘heat’ of the day at a little after midday.  For a city that is, for all practical purposes, right on the equator (the central square of Quito is just 25 kilometres, or 16 miles, south of the equator at 00°15′S), these temperature conditions combined with blue skies and patchy cloud cover made very pleasant conditions for walking.

Quito comprises three broad zones.  At its heart there is the old city, established during Spanish colonial times.  To the north of the old city is modern Quito, known as the New Town, where high rise buildings house major businesses, shopping centres, embassies and so on.  The third zone comprises the suburban area with small, mainly working class individual houses.

My hotel was situated in the New Town about 5 kilometres from the city centre, which I considered to be just a fraction too far to walk, so I took a taxi to my first stop, the Basilica del Voco Nacional.  This large Gothic cathedral is located on a hill overlooking the old city centre.  Despite its architectural style, it is a relatively building, having been built over several decades commencing in 1926.  The main body of the cathedral was closed, but this didn’t really matter to me as my main purpose in visiting was to climb to the top of one of the bell towers for the views across the city.

The first part of the climb was surprisingly easy – it was in an elevator.  The climb upwards from there was more nerve-racking though, as it involved a climb up a very tight metal staircase, across a wooden plank and up a metal ladder.  The views were definitely worth it though, and it helped me to orient my walking over the next few hours.

The walk from the Basilica to the Plaza Grande (which marks the centre of the old city) was a fairly easy, mainly downhill walk along a couple of narrow (one car width) streets that were almost completely clogged with traffic.

By the time I arrived in the Plaza Grande, it became clear that a major ceremony of some kind was about to take place on the north-western side facing the Palacio de Gobierno (Presidential Palace).  Traditionally dressed soldiers lined the lower verandah of the palace, and on an upper balcony, many dignitaries had gathered with the Vice-President (Lenín Moreno) himself in a wheelchair in the middle of the line.  At ground level, a large gathering of neatly uniformed school children were seated to have a great view of the ceremony that involved mounted soldiers, a military band and several ceremonial passes, all accompanied by lots of flag waving, some speeches, and a hearty rendition of the Ecuadorean national anthem (almost long enough to constitute an operetta in its own right).

The ceremony lasted for about half an hour, after which I began exploring several of the buildings in the immediate vicinity of the Plaza Grande.  Quito was first settled by the Spanish in 1534, and many of the buildings date from the colonial period following this time.  Many of the buildings could only be admired from the exterior, but I did make a point of entering several that were especially recommended, including Quito’s Cathedral (no photos allowed) and La Compañía de Jesus, a brilliantly gilded Jesuit church, the construction of which began in 1605 and was finally completed in 1765 (also no photos allowed).

My favourite building for today was the Monasterio de San Francisco, built in honor of St Francis of Assisi.  The exterior of the building was certainly impressive, comprising white walls against a large open plaza with a backdrop of the green slopes of the Volcán Pichincha, one of Quito’s many surrounding mountains.  The monastery is Quito’s largest colonial-era building and its oldest church, having been built between 1534 and 1604.

There were three highlights.  First, there was a beautiful courtyard surrounded by cloisters, under which several extremely welcome bench seats were provided.  Second, there was a museum with some superb examples of religious paintings, sculptures and other art work.  Finally, there was a beautifully ornate (some might say, a little over-done) chapel in baroque style.  It was a wonderful finish to my city centre explorations.

I did, however, have one more place to see that was a little further away from the city centre, which was El Panecillo, a small hill that is topped by a huge statue of La Virgin de Quito.  In order to avoid the muggings that apparently occur routinely on the stairs leading up the side of the hill to the summit, I took a taxi to the top, and then spent some time admiring the views of the city, including those from a viewing platform just below the Virgin’s feet.

It was now mid-afternoon, and the cloud cover was rising darkly from the horizon.  I returned to my hotel in the same taxi, handled some more e-mails, and then headed out for one final short walk to see something that is not mentioned in any of the tour guides.  The Brazilian city of Curitiba is famous for its environmental planning, including the creation of a public transport infrastructure that uses buses on dedicated lanes was a low-cost alternative to metro rail systems.  I was interested to see that Quito has also adopted the “Curitiba Solution” , and I wanted to have a look at what had been built.  Although I felt Quito’s construction was a little more basic than that in Curitiba, it seemed to be working well and was attracting substantial numbers of users.  As an aside, I did find it curious that Quito’s air was so clear and fresh when its many buses were belching out such huge clouds of black exhaust smoke.

Many people had warned me that the high altitude would cause breathlessness if I did too much strenuous activity, such as walking.  Fortunately, I haven’t experienced any symptoms of altitude whatsoever, much to my relief.

Tomorrow I have made plans to venture out beyond the city limits of Quito and explore some of the surrounding rural areas and towns.  More about that tomorrow.


Day 9 - Quito, Ecuador

Monday

2 July 2012

Today’s extra bonus images