Doing the tourist thing

Pre-Script:
I started a google map with areas of interest in and around Quito marked.  You can click on the names of things on the left to go straight to the right balloon.  I'll update it with more places as I do more stuff.
http://goo.gl/maps/NhEJq

Actual Script:
Friday of our first week here, the whole group had a tourist day to see some of Quito together.  We started at La Mirador Guapulo, (guapulo meaning 'the big potato', go figure) which was a beautiful outlook.  It had a great view though, this was the valley that Francisco de Orellana marched through on his way to Brazil (over the far mountains) on his way to find the Amazon.  You are looking at La Iglesia de Guapulo.

Next up was the old part of the city, El Centro Histórico, where the architecture was spectacular.  We went into a couple different churches which were stunning, and (bummer) we weren't allowed to take pictures in.  The main areas were completely gilded in gold, statues everywhere.  Totally stunning.  Maybe google the names and see if contraband photos of the insides come up.
 
Note: I checked, and there are photos.

La Iglesia de la Catedral

Close up of the roof.  That is a rooster on the spire, although it's a horrid angle.  Please read the following for the accompanying story.

So the story goes, some guy named Ramón was drunk every night outside this church, and there was a rooster on the top of the church that would fly down and peck him.  Since this was rather unpleasant for poor Ramón, he decided to stop drinking.  Hence, the rooster.

La Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus

Imagine this façade, but all covered in gold, and 12x as much.  In a giant hall with arches everywhere.  And more statues in alcoves.  And paintings on the ceiling surrounding skylights.  That's kind of what the inside was like.  Kind of.  Maybe you should just google it.  I'm not really doing it justice.

La Iglesia de San Fransisco

This is the oldest church in Quito, construction started in 1550.  The inside of it is all gold and beautiful as well.  We poked our noses inside during a service and stood listening for a couple minutes.  It was beautiful music and fun to hear in Spanish.

We had lunch at La Parque Itchimbia which had this view:

I took pictures to make a panorama out of, there's two more pictures in each direction.  Don't hold your breath for when the stitched panorama will appear though.

Then went to El Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the earth, at latitude 0 0" 0'.  There are an awful lot of lines on the ground around there, but I'm pretty sure that I did cross the real equator.  There is giant monument in La Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, but it is actually a couple hundred meters off.  We went to both places.  At the real equator we took a tour where we heard about the indigenous people of the area, making shrunken heads, and different customs of the area.

We also saw some demos about the equator and the Coriolis effect, which I went all skeptic on.  We saw a basin right on the line have the plug pulled and it drained without making a vortex.  Then moving the basin on either side of the equator, pouring the water back in and pulling the plug, the water made a vortex as it drained going clockwise and then counterclockwise on the other side.  I'm pretty sure it had more to do with the water being still, or which direction it had been poured in from than the 20 feet between demos.  Water in motion will stay in motion no matter which hemisphere it is in...

Our guide Javier telling us about scary animals of the Amazon

We saw the skin of a 12 foot anaconda, giant tarantulas, shrunken heads of a 12 year old boy and a sloth. (I actually didn't catch why they bothered to put the sloth through the shrunken head process)

This is the actual equator, as determined by GPS, or say the sign.  I choose to believe, meaning I was on both halves of the world at the same time!

This is the big impressive monument, but not the actual geographic equator.  Still makes a good photo.

And see what I mean about there being lines everywhere?

I also found my first real life Ecuadorean llama/alpaca/vicuña at the Equator.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how to tell the three apart.  Let's call it a llama, shall we?

And to finish, this was one of my favorite pieces of graffiti from the day.  It translates to 'live free'

Post Script:
I have a thing for graffiti.  Kind of a big thing.  Expect a blog post devoted to the graffiti of Quito, of which there is a metric ton and a half.  It makes me incredibly sad that I can't take pictures of everything I see, but I'm doing my best.