Day 88 Oct 30 2014 Quito Ecuador

to the top of the basilica

front of the basilica

on the hill of the Virgen de El Panecillo

from the viewing platform of the Virgen de El Panecillo

Day 88  Oct 30 2014   Quito Ecuador

We toured the historic center of Quito today.  I have never seen such a collection of opulent churches so close together; I believe there are at least 8 churches in the historic center of Quito.  We toured 3 of them starting with La Compania de Jesus which has carvings on every square cm of its interior and is gilded in gold on a very high percentage of its interior.  A few hundred meters away is another church that we entered. It was a Franciscan convent with its attached church.  The church also had a large percentage of its interior gilded in gold.  The convent had a fairly large collection of paintings and other works of art.  The other church we went to see was the Basilica del voto National where we climbed to the top of the towers.  The kids and I took an elevator to the third floor, once there we walked along a wooden platform that was on top of the church ceiling.   At the end of the platform we then went up 3 sets of long ladder type stairs to arrive at the top of the tower approximately 75 meters above ground level.  I was a little worried that Isabel might slip and drop between the rungs to the ground below but she made it OK.  Definitely not the safety standards that we have in Canada but very interesting.  Evy decided to stay at ground level as she is not too fond of heights.  The last stop of the day was the Virgen de El Panecillo which is an enormous winged statue of the Virgen Mary made out of aluminum and was actually very cool with an excellent view of the city.