San Francisco

The church San Francisco de Quito is famous. It is the oldest church in Quito, dating to 1534. It was a huge and important convent, and was named one of the city's seven wonders. It's also a well-known and popular landmark, and although it's been a significant place for me, I'd never been inside. I figured to rectify that this trip.

 My first night back in Quito, and the city is splendid! The top is the Cathedral, taken from Plaza San Francisco. The Cathedral has never been open when I've tried to go, in three visits now.

 San Francisco de Quito, by night. It is lovely. The plaza held another photo gallery, which was great fun to explore.

 Coming from the Panecillo side, from the City Museum. These are the steps by the church, looking to the plaza. Two years ago I spent a wonderful evening, as I stood on these steps and danced to the Orchestra of Andean Instruments. You can see the spires of the Basilica too.

 Landmark description of the convent and church.

 And on the inside.... secret gems. Beautiful courtyards, .....

 lovely gardens, ....

 stunning plants, .....

 and more intriguing architecture of these great domes with the green tiles.

 And parrots! There were cockateels too. I'm not sure why....

And I really liked this symbol-as-door-handle. This was the closest I could get to taking a photo inside.

But that was fine, because inside was all religious art, and you all know that I don't do that very well. Not that some of it wasn't remarkable, but I just don't enjoy it. 

Beforehand, I'd had my lovely breakfast at the nice hotel, and moved two small bags (Galápagos things I wouldn't need in Peru) to the other hotel for later, and realized that I'd forgotten my sunscreen. I was so careful while in the islands, and avoided turning lobster red. One of the passengers had remarked about my not needing to worry about it after the islands, to which I'd responded that I actually needed to be at least as careful, since I was still on the equator, but now nearly two miles closer to the sun. And what do I do? Although I stuck to the shadows, I burned. Good thing I pack aloe too.

But I wandered for a while, visiting several churches and plazas that I hadn't visited before, and getting to know the historic center a bit. Being Monday, many museums were closed, unfortunately. I bought a lovely necklace of tagua wood, dyed dark green. (I tried on two, and sometimes, one works and the other doesn't. Judging by the eyes of the sales clerk and the security guard, we were all in agreement on this one.) I had ice cream (mmm. mora (blackberry)) at San Augustín, which apparently had been there since 1858.

And most interestingly, I saw the military loading horses. The horses had these large wraps on their forelegs, and these interesting checker-board patterns shaved into their hindquarters. Well, I was inordinately curious. Since I clearly was a tourist, I decided to ask. I picked the sargeant overseeing the loading and he was really very nice. I certainly got some looks from bystanders, but he answered me without hesitation and very kindly. He agreed that these were very handsome horses -- from Argentina. And the marks weren't for decoration but for the horses' protection from getting touched. I'm not totally clear on that, but there we are. It was interesting.

A relaxing evening with friends, then back to finish packing and get ready for Peru. Little did I know.... But I definitely looked forward to returning to Quito in a week and seeing more.