Being a tourist in Quito!

Our tourist day began in Quito around 5:30 in the morning when our bus arrived at the apartment of Raul's parent's.

We could see the volcano from the balcony of the apartment!

Quito from the apartment balcony!

We were all tired after a sleepless bus ride, but also very hungry!  After unloading all of the luggage and getting a little refreshed, we went to find breakfast.  The apartment is in a part of town near lots of stores and a mall, but it was still hard to find a place open for breakfast.  There was even a McDonalds nearby that many of the youth wanted to go to, but it didn't open until 9:00.  No sausage biscuits for us today!  

We found a small café, however, and had an excellent last Ecuador breakfast!  

I got an empanada that was a Empanadas Chilenas.  I also got a cheese quesadilla that was more like a cheese danish.  Nathan got a bolon that was a plantain type of pastry.  Raul had been talking about them and many of our group wanted to try them.  We cleared them out of bolons!  And Nathan really liked them!     

Walking over the cat walk to cross the street.

A sculpture at the park in Quito.

Our group decided on taking a tour bus...one where you can hop on and off at different stops.

The soccer stadium sponsored by Marathon

We planned on getting off at two stops; the first being the market.  This was a number one spot that everyone wanted to go to.  Last year when I went to the market, I stayed with Mitzi the entire time as I was very nervous about not speaking Spanish.  This year I braved going out on my own.  I had learned how to say cuanto to ask how much things cost.  No matter how much I mispronounced the language and didn't say it all correctly, the sellers at the market understood what I was asking.  Next time I need to work on learning numbers so that I can understand what they tell me!!  Fortunately many of them knew English numbers!

I was able to find a nativity set as that was what I really wanted to buy!  I saw some pretty shirts and tried on one on a whim.  Since it fit, I bought it....after a little bartering!  I also got more chocolate!  I bought a hat for Dave (with help from Raul), but it meant I had to wear it on the plane!!  I also wore it some on the rest of the tour just for fun!

After riding through Quito taking in the sights.....

(There is a volcano between the mountains)

Iglesia de Basilica

(This is the cathedral that we toured last year.)

(The window boxes were very pretty!)

(There were many steep hills in Quito)

(The statue that we were heading to)

(a map of Quito)

(a lady fixing the shoe of a police officer while he waited)

San Francisco Church and Convent

 ...we took the steep climb to the top of the mountain to see the statue.  The Mirador el Panecillo, the Virgin of El Panecillo.

 Nathan and I paid $1 each to climb up into the statue and walk on the balcony around the statue.  This was at the ball/world section of the statue.  It was interesting and gave us a great view of Quito!

A view from the balcony of the statue

The inside of the statue

Nathan taking a turn at wearing the hat!

A picture of the building of the statue

The statue is based on Mary in Revelation.

The ride down the hill from the statue was a little scary.  I sat near the front, beside an open window!  And on the side of the bus by the edge of the mountain!  And Sarah and Greg sat in the very front.  I could hear them as they were also scared!  It was like a roller coaster!  Without the safety harnesses!

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Most of the homes had clotheslines on their roofs.

People with goods to sell on what looks like a bridge.

A street sign on a building

Roads were very tight in Quito and I would never want to have to drive there!  There were many times it seemed as if the bus would not be able to make it without hitting a car or a building!

There is a plaza dedicated to Abraham Lincoln

 By the end of the bus ride, most of us were ready for it to be over, and many were actually sleeping!!  Nathan was continuing to notice the sights....I guess I have trained him well!  All those non-stop long days at Disney have helped him with sight seeing!!  After the tour ended, we all headed to the mall to get lunch.  It is a huge mall with lots of food court restaurants!  It was like an American mall (although much bigger and busier then Citadel Mall!), but you still had to get your TP outside of the stall.  Good thing to remember to do!  For lunch, I got pasta, but Nathan was craving more Yuka!!


After lunch, everyone but Nathan and myself went back to the apartment to chill or sleep.  He and I headed to the big park to walk around.  It was a really cool park with lots of different sports areas set up from soccer to basketball to BMX style biking to CrossFit training!  We need this in Charleston!!

The running path around the park

One of the playgrounds

Sculptures

The crossfit area

BMX style biking trail

Nathan sitting in the bleachers

indoor soccer outdoors!

roller skating

Nathan got coffee...looks like a Quito version of Starbucks!

After all of the walking and touring, we were finally getting tired.  So we went back to the apartment with the rest of the group.  By this time the youth were starting to get silly!  They had a contest with the luggage scale to see who could guess how much things weighed!  And the 4 boys went out and bought some snacks and were kidding everyone about how they bought them from shady people.  Yes, we were all beyond tired!!  

The view form the penthouse apartment as we were getting ready to leave.

It was finally time to load up the bus and head to the airport!  Our plane left around 11 or 12 at night, so we were going to have another long night without much sleep!  As much as I was looking forward to getting home, right now I was just looking forward to the hotel bed in Fort Lauderdale!!