- Start of trip and Quito
- Flight to Baltra and underway — our Galapagos adventure begins!
- Española Island, Galapagos Islands
- Floreana Island, Galápagos Islands
- Isabela Island, Galápagos Islands
- South Plaza Island, Galápagos Islands
- Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands
- A quick stop in Lima, Peru
- Ollantaytambo, Peru
- Machu Picchu — we finally got here!
- Back to Cusco, Peru
- Back to Lima and end of trip
After COVID delays in 2020 and 2021, we finally left on our trip to Ecuador and Peru, notably to visit the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu. Given that we were already wintering in Puerto Vallarta, we flew to our first stop in Quito, Ecuador via Mexico City. This is where our travel nightmare started. Our flight from Puerto Vallarta was delayed for 1.5 hours (mechanical issue), we missed our connecting flight to Quito. We learned that the next direct flight to Quito was on March 27th — later than when we were scheduled to leave Quito for the Galapagos Islands. After about 2 hours of haggling with the airline, we were able to get a flight to Bogota, Colombia and then a later connection back to Quito. Of course, Colombia required a COVID test so we had to get tested in the airport. After spending the night and several hours the next day in 2 different airports, we finally arrived in Quito — only 17 hours late!
The next day, we took a guided tour of Quito, which serves as the capital of Ecuador — in fact, the highest capital city in the world at 9350 feet. As was the habit of the Spanish conquerors at the time, the city was built on on the ruins of an Inca city in the 1600s. The historic old town is one of the largest and best preserved city centers in the Americas. It’s no surprise that it was one of the first UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites declared in 1978. Our first stop was at the Basílica del Voto Nacional. It is the largest Neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. As with all the other churches we would visit, the structure is made from volcanic rock of various types. While we didn’t go into this church, the most interesting part was actually walking around the church to look at the gargoyles. As a gesture to the local people, rather than using the traditional dragon-style gargoyle, they used animals from the Ecuadoran jungle and the Galapagos Islands. They were really amazing to see.
From there, we headed off to the old town. Our first stop there was the Basilica and Convent of San Francisco, the largest architectural complex within the historical centers of all of South America. While it is still an active cloister for the Franciscan monks there, most of the spaces now are public for education, public care, and religious services. Given that it took 150 years to complete this complex, we saw a lot of different styles here. Some of these were planned; some because of damage due to earthquakes. Included are Late-Rennaissance, Baroque, and even Moorish elements. I guess you would call it Eclectic! Anyway, we wandered through the complex, enjoying the lovely gardens and the very ornate interiors. The highlight, however, was the going up to the bell towers and roof where we saw an incredibly panoramic view of the city. In front of the complex is the Plaza of San Francisco, a huge space that has traditionally been used for a meeting place, rallies, and marketplace for vendors of various type.
From there, we walked through a number of streets on our way to the Playa Mayor (the city’s center plaza. In keeping with the typical Spanish layout of Latin American cities, the important buildings (e.g., the presidential palace and residence, the cathedrals, administration buildings, etc. were built around the plaza, along with a beautiful park (the Parque la Muralla). We also saw the monument to the Heroes of August 10th, 1809. This was the first attempt at independence from Spain, where 300 Creoles (children of Spanish fathers and local mothers) attempted a coup and were later executed. We visited the Church and Jesuit College of La Compañía Quito. All had very sumptuous interiors, in keeping with the “Baroque school of Quito” which is a fusion of Spanish, Italian, Moorish, Flemish and Indigenous styles/art. This multi-cultural mishmash is probably a decent reflection of what was going on in Spain at that time. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside — probably because the place is literally covered in gold. They probably don’t want to show off the excess… For lunch, we visited the Dominican Monastery where they had set up a buffet. The food was good, but the walls were covered in paintings of all their martyrs and how they were executed. Not exactly what you want to see for lunch.
After a lovely tour of Old Town, we were off to do something fairly touristy by visiting the equator (well, at least the real one) outside of Quito. The original equator was determined during an expedition in 1736 and over the years, the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth) became a real tourist attraction with a great monument and a central plaza with the obligatory line down the middle that you are supposed to put one foot on either side. But then that pesky GPS came around, and it was discovered that the real equator was actually over 260 yards away — damn, missed by that much! We eschewed visiting the glitzy faux equator in favor of the much more modest facility that denotes the real equator and the museum that is there (the Museo de Sitio Intinan) While modest, it was excellent, filled with exhibits about Ecuadorian indigenous culture, including some cool totems (replicas) and shrunken heads (real!). We also did some “Mr. Wizard” experiments to demonstrate the Coriolis Effect. And while the video doesn’t show it all, it actually works — at the equator, the water goes straight down; in the south, it goes clockwise, and in the north, it goes counterclockwise. Neat!
Tomorrow we leave for Baltra, the embarkation point for our weeklong cruise around the Galapagos. We are really excited!
This entry was posted in Ecuador, South America, Travel
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
