2800m
Day of the Dead
It was nice to wake up and emerge somewhere that wasn’t Riobamba. Quito is a much bigger city, and our hotel is certainly of a much higher quality than the last. Coffee, unfortunately, consisted of the sludge that too many Americans find palatable, lurking at the bottom of a glass percolator. Not pleasant. However, the croissants were fresh so life wasn’t all too bad.
Our guide picked us up just after 8am and we headed off to the chairlift as the weather seemed to be clearer up in the mountains than at Quito height. The chairlift takes you up to 4000m and we were extremely lucky with the view. Cotopaxi was visible, as were 4 other volcanic peaks so we got to see what we had missed out on yesterday. Awesome view, just no reflection in the lake. We had a short hike around the top of the chairlift, heading for one of the volcanoes lurking through the clouds, and then headed down off the mountain in search of the basilica of Quito.
A basilica, in South America, should not be confused with a cathedral or church. Where a cathedral houses the archbishop of the city, a basilica can only be built after a miracle, and this one was no different. The miracle for this one got a little lost in the translation but had something to do with a statue being raised which had stopped the volcanoes from exploding. It is also different in that it is made from concrete, and made to look like stone, but unfortunately has yet to be completed. We took a lift up above the main gallery and then climbed a couple of external and exposed ladders in order to get to the top of one of the towers, allowing us to see the northern section of Quito. Quito is 83km long, but only 8km wide, allowing us to see a large part of the city.
Quito is also split into the northern section and the original southern section, and the two don’t get along overtly much. The layout of the two sections is also quite different, as the original city was built with rectangular blocks and the north just seems to be placed down randomly.
Our last viewpoint was the statue of Mary, except with wings and standing on, and crushing, a dragon. It symbolises the Book of Revelations. It is comprised of a brick tower, and the angel on top, just to ensure that it is about 2m taller than the statue of Christ in Rio. Hmm.
Our last stop was The Avenue of the Seven Crosses, a road with seven churches, or shrines, leading into the city and the main square. Some date back to the late 1500s and show different styles from baroque to renaissance.
Javier left us at this time and we grabbed a quick bite to eat as it was now after 2:30. The main square of Quito houses the cathedral, the mayor’s office, the Presidential palace and the home of the archbishop. This home has been converted into a shopping complex with a number of restaurants and shops and the archbishop, sitting in one section of the building, collecting the rent from all of the commercial properties in his building.
As it was the Day of the Dead, the streets had been packed with celebrants with bunting in the streets, little shrines with (only recently) fake skeletons, jars which would have originally held blood and dolls. Certain streets had live music and entire streets became transient mosh pits. On finally getting back to our hotel we had received an email stating that our boat for the cruise was having engine problems and that we would have to be upgraded to a suite on the MS Anakonda. Not a bad night.