This morning we departed Otavalo to visit Quito, the capital of Ecuador. About an hour into our drive to Quito at the Equator line known as the "Middle of the Earth" where we were all able to take pictures standing in both hemispheres. A guide taught us about the geography of the area and how the Andes are such a good area to study astronomy due to the ability to see the starts of both hemispheres. This is much different than our view in the United States because we are only capable of seeing stars of the northern hemisphere.
After our stop, we continued on for an hour and a half to the city of Quito. We stopped at the museum "La Capilla del Hombre" displaying the works of Oswaldo Guayasamin. Many of his works display the pain in suffering of people not only in Latin American countries, but in areas all over the world. His passion for documenting the social injustice done to people by other humans was very clear when visiting this museum. However, a large number of works also showed hope for humanity and the progress that society was making. It was very interesting to see these works and learn the stories behind them, however unfortunately, the guided tour was in Spanish. Our tour guide from CEDEI was able to translate most of it, however it was a bit frustrating trying to quickly take notes from the translation. After our tour of the museum we stopped at the mall for lunch where again, I was able to struggle my way through ordering my sandwich. It was an awesome feeling knowing I am capable of ordering food for myself and communicating with the restaurant workers at a basic level.
After lunch we went on a walking tour of old town Quito. One of our first stops was at the Basilica which was one of my favorite parts of the tour. The architecture was absolutely gorgeous as was the stained glass on the interior. I also found it fascinating that in place of gargoyles animals, especially those found in the rainforest, were depicted on top of the church. We also stopped at the Compañia de Jesus which was another beautiful church that had an interior that was almost completely covered in gold leaf. This one was also gorgeous, but was decorated in a very different style inside. It was very colorful with many statues of Saints on the interior. While walking through old town Quito so many unique colorful buildings were seen. I absolutely loved so many of the buildings because of the bright colors and the white trim. A Spanish influence could definitely be seen in a lot of the architecture. Our tour ended with a trip to the statue of Mary on the mountain overlooking the city of Quito. The view from the top was simply breathtaking. After a long day of exploring, we arrived at Hotel Quito where we are spending the night. We stuck close to the hotel for dinner, which resulted in eating a cheeseburger, but I didn't mind since we're having a traditionally prepared lunch tomorrow in Riobamba. I'm very excited to see what this new city brings!
