Verse of the day: “The Lord is the Spirit, and there the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom. Our faces
then, are not covered. We all show the
Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
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| Roadside pig roast |
The rest of the team left for the
states early this morning leaving just me and Susana again. She arranged another tourist day for me to
see some more sights before skipping town.
Susana’s daughter accompanied us as our expert chauffeur. We started at Café Verde in town for a final
breakfast of coffee and cheese empanadas—yummy!! On our way to Quito, we stopped quick to snap
a picture of a fried pig on the side of the road including some very large
chunks of fried skin. The woman wanted
us to buy some fried pig skin but when we said we weren’t interested she tossed
a small chunk through the window anyway.
You know I’ll never pass up free food—so the verdict is light and crunchy
with a little bit of chewy, overall not bad ;-)
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| Basílica Church |
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| Gorgeous stained glass |
Then on to the Basílica Catholic
church near the center of Quito. This is
a massive and beautiful church made completely of volcanic rock and took 100
years to build. It is almost 500 feet
long and about 250 feet high. The
stained glass and ornate arches are beautifully placed and I had a blast
picturing around with my camera. I
thought we were done when I was escorted to a different part of the church that
allowed you to climb the towers. And
when I say climb, I mean walk a wooden cat walk across the center part of the
church under the roof and then up several very steep ladders up to the very top
of an open tower. The wind was whipping
but the adventure of the climb and the views at the top were worth it. While in Quito we saw many children in school
uniforms despite being a Saturday. This
was because the oldest grades were taking their traditional oath to the
Ecuadorian flag today—vowing honor to their country.
 |
| Super steep climb! |
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| Overlooking Quito from the church |
Next we headed over the large
statue of the virgin Mary that overlooks the city. Legend has it that she is facing north and
blessing the rich but turning her back on the poor in the south—for whatever a
legend is worth. Her statue sits on top
of El Panecilo hill and the whole thing is about 12 stories high making her
very visible to most parts of Quito. While
roaming about I met a family who asked if I would take their picture and then
when they found out I was from the US, wanted one with me in it too. They are from Ecuador, but have traveled to
Los Angeles. A similar thing happened on
top of the statue and so with me and my improving Spanish, I complied, why not,
haha. You could climb up about half the
statue and the views from here were different than from the cable car or Basilica
church because she is situated on a hill with 360 degree views of the
city.
 |
| Spanglish airport humor ;-) |
Off to the airport!
Then on to the Basílica Catholic
church near the center of Quito. This is
a massive and beautiful church made completely of volcanic rock and took 100
years to build. It is almost 500 feet
long and about 250 feet high. The
stained glass and ornate arches are beautifully placed and I had a blast
picturing around with my camera. I
thought we were done when I was escorted to a different part of the church that
allowed you to climb the towers. And
when I say climb, I mean walk a wooden cat walk across the center part of the
church under the roof and then up several very steep ladders up to the very top
of an open tower. The wind was whipping
but the adventure of the climb and the views at the top were worth it. While in Quito we saw many children in school
uniforms despite being a Saturday. This
was because the oldest grades were taking their traditional oath to the
Ecuadorian flag today—vowing honor to their country.
Next we headed over the large
statue of the virgin Mary that overlooks the city. Legend has it that she is facing north and
blessing the rich but turning her back on the poor in the south—for whatever a
legend is worth. Her statue sits on top
of El Panecilo hill and the whole thing is about 12 stories high making her
very visible to most parts of Quito. While
roaming about I met a family who asked if I would take their picture and then
when they found out I was from the US, wanted one with me in it too. They are from Ecuador, but have traveled to
Los Angeles. A similar thing happened on
top of the statue and so with me and my improving Spanish, I complied, why not,
haha. You could climb up about half the
statue and the views from here were different than from the cable car or Basilica
church because she is situated on a hill with 360 degree views of the
city. 
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