Back from Ecuador, but you already knew that...didn't you?

With last week's holiday festivities I was reminded, quite rudely mind you, that I had never wrapped up the Ecuador trip. Well, I'm back. So there nagging family members!!

Okay, so it was a nice trip and I got busy enough with work, school and keeping tabs on my cattle empire that I never got a chance to post.

My last day in Quito was pretty fun though. In the morning I took a walk across the city to Parque la Carolina and the city's botanical gardens. It was a really nice garden, but not exactly quiet with the airport being close by and planes causing quite a ruckus. After that I headed into one of the three shopping malls that skirt the park for some souvenir shopping.

From there I walked back to my hotel, checked out and took the city bus to the Old Town district, which was a lot different from New Town where I stayed. It was like being in a colonial city, or at least had more of a European feel than New Town, which was just like any other city anywhere. The streets in the OT (my nickname for it) were much narrower and the buildings much older and more compact than New Town's. There were also tons of churches, which I visited a few of.

My favorite was La Compania, which had amazingly detailed work inside that was covered with an estimated 7 tons of gold leaf. Somebody went a little overboard with the stuff in my opinion, but it was really impressive to see. It got me excited for the gold museum I plan on visiting in Bogota in February.

After that I checked out the Cathedral, which is a church that houses the remains of Ecuador's most famous political figure, Field Marshall Antonio Jose de Sucre. At the ripe old age of 26, he was a key figure in helping Ecuador gain independence from Spain and was placed in charge of Quito and most of Ecuador by Simon Bolivar after the war was over. He was assassinated nine years later later, so I guess it was kind of a "thanks, but no thanks" effort on his part.

From there I took a cab up to El Penecillo, the hill that sits above the Old Town, and the famous Virgin statue on top of it. It made for a nice view of the city though.

After that I had one last stop to make and that was at the Basilica del Voto Nacional. I don't think it's the most impressive church in Quito, but it's two spires are certainly the tallest. One of them has a series of steps and ladders that allow you to climb up the few hundred feet to get a better view of the city. It was pretty nice, but with the 9000 foot elevation Quito sits at, very tiring.

When I got down, I walked back to my hotel, grabbed my luggage and had an uneventful trip home. All in all, it wasn't my most fun trip ever, but still a great way to spend a few extra days. I probably wouldn't return to Baños, but I would to Quito. It was a nice, relaxing city to wander around. There's still a lot to check out in the rest of the country, particularly the Galapagos Islands. Someday I'll get there.

If you want to see the pictures, they've been up for a while now, so here you go:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmgimages/sets/