Had another lovely day today with Mark and June before they flew off. We went to a church next to the cathedral (thinking it was the cathedral with the Last Supper painting with guinea pig on the menu) before heading to the Government Palace for a tour. Quite a bit of security there - they took our passports for the duration of the tour and we had to pass through metal detectors and bag checks. Was like being at the airport. The tours are free and they took a nice souvenir photo of us on the internal steps. Unfortunately our tour was in Spanish but the guide did his best to give us some information in English. I was able to understand a little of the Spanish but not a lot. It was nice to look around though.

From there we headed to La Compania de Jesus which was amazingly ornate. Inside almost every wall surface was covered in gold! Unfortunately they don't allow photos so the only pic I have is from my ticket. It was utterly amazing though. I especially liked the cupola which was rimmed with saints and cherubs. The even had a mirror positioned below it so you didn't have to crane your neck to see it. For some reason looking down into the mirror made me dizzy though.

After the gold church we headed back to la plaza grande to the restaurant of an up market hotel for lunch. I had a really tasty goat stew but the star of the meal had to be the drinks June and I had:- called Rosero it is a traditional fruit drink made from strawberries, a bunch of other fruits (some I've never heard of) and with a dash of vanilla. It's served in a large mug with a spoon to scoop up the finely chopped fruit. It was absolutely delicious and very refreshing! If you are ever in Quito (or anywhere else that serves it) I highly recommend it.

By then it was time to head back to the hostal so Mark and June could make their flight. I was pretty tired so a long afternoon siesta was in order. Problem with that is I wasted the afternoon and now I'm awake not much is open and it's not particularly advisable to roam the streets alone after dark. Wifi still not working well here - even from right beside the computer, so photo uploads will have to wait for Lima.