Ella’s Time in Quito!

For our first two days in Ecuador, we only did homework. We’ve been trying to work ahead again so that we can catch up for the dates where we don’t have wifi and so we can finish early and be able to spend more time with Savta in Israel. However, on Wednesday we finally went out. We had to walk up a giant hill to see a beautiful cathedral. Aside from its beauty, Basílica del Voto Nacional is known for its lack of gargoyles. Instead of these, carved native Ecuadorian animals perch in their place. In order to get to the top of the cathedral, we climbed three sets of stairs that were more like ladders and a long flight of stairs. When we got to the top Asher felt dizzy and momentarily blacked out, but he was so excited about having “fainted” for the first time that he talked non-stop about it for the next three days. The view from the top was wonderful, we could see all of Quito! In the church, we also saw some stained-glass windows. A few of the panels were missing or being repaired, so we also got to observe the workers make stained glass! Even more exciting for me, as we were climbing to the top we got to see how flying buttresses look from above. They are mentioned quite a bit in Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth, so it was wonderful to see how they are constructed in real life. On the way down, we drank in a small cafe in the cathedral and Asher ate two slices of chocolate cake.

Next, we went to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. There, we saw a monument commemorating the equator and the outer center of the Earth. Even though it’s a novelty to see, we still enjoyed being in the north, south, east, and west at the same time.

After homework the next morning, we went to the highest (in altitude) cable car in the world. The ride started out well but progressively got foggy, so by the time we reached the end of the line we couldn’t see anything. Then, we went to the house of Oswaldo Guayasamín. Guayasamín was an Ecuadorian painter and sculpture whose house is now a museum for his works. We liked some of them, but we loved a lot of them!

My favorite is a painting of a woman in shades of yellow. If only I could have it!…

On our way home, we stopped at Foch Plaza ate lunch. We also bought three cheap prints of Guayasamín paintings from a sweet man because Aba wanted to help him.

Before returning to do homework, we passed through a quaint street called La Ronda Street where we didn’t buy a $10 bar of chocolate and San Francisco Plaza, where there were many pigeons.