Ecuador Vacation-Quito

mel in basilica
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Nov. 18, Friday:  Melissa had arranged a tour with a guide.  The first thing we had to see was the middle of the world, the equator.  It is called Mitad delmundo.  There is a monument donated by many nations that says it is the equator, however it was put up before the advent of the GPS.  After GPS came into existence, it was found that the equator really was about 200 feet away, so a new company moved in with tourist attractions.  This place actually was built on the ruins where the original indigenous people had already determined was the equator.  Interesting that it takes sophisticated instruments to "prove" ancient legends and calculations are actually accurate!  They did it very simply, by noting the pattern of the shadows.  This was called the Museo Solar Into Nan (museum of the path of the sun).  This had some interesting depictions of the dwellings of the original inhabitants, and also some fun demos of how water spins different directions only one foot off the equator line on each side (which I suspect is staged by maybe a tilted tank!).  There was of course a solar clock which was a big sundial which showed the correct time.  We had to take the usual corny pictures with one foot in each hemisphere, straddling the equator.

The Virgin of Quito
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The same day we went to a large volcanic crater, Pululahua, and looked down from the rim to the crater bottom, the bottom was a good agricultural region due to the way the crater opened to one side and captured the moist winds.  This volcano was (hopefully) now extinct. It was cold and windy on the volcano rim, we didn't stay long.

Middle of the world & neat churches

After coming back into Quito, we went to the old part of the city to see the sights.  First we went to the El Panicillo, the name of the hill which a statue called "La Virgin de Quito" is built.  This is basically a statue of a winged woman crowned with stars standing on a chained dragon.  A passage in the Bible book of Revelation inspired the statue, it refers to a virgin about to give birth, the 12 stars on her head represents the 12 tribes of Israel, the dragon chained is the devil.  The woman was given eagle's wings to fly from the Devil in order that she could birth the child (Jesus).  The devil  would would ultimately be defeated, showing the triumph of a woman (mother of Christ) in defeating the devil.   

fisheye
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Next we went to the Church of the La Basilica, which was started in 1926 and is not yet finished.  Some parts seem to be needing maintenance, & some parts have not yet been finished.  However, one can climb to all the towers, 2 clock towers & one other, using rickety metal ladders (no OSHA here) and see a wonderful view of the city.  It is a fairly vigorous climb, especially in the thin atmosphere (Quito is about 8000 ft above sea level).  When it started to get dark we headed back to the Green Parrot.  There are many places to eat close by, the big decision is which to choose.  The ones aimed more at tourists tend to be more expensive, but on the whole food is pretty cheap.  You can get dinner at a nice restaurant for about $6.00, a drink or local beer is $1.50.  Wine is pricey, since it has to be imported from Chili.