Quito: Day One

26 May, 2009

By: Kenji and Nick

Howdy Y'all!!! All of us CA kids are doing pretty swell down here in Quito. Our first day in the second highest capital city in South America was superb! Since we got in late last night, we got a late start, which was much appreciated. At 10 o'clock Quito time, the 20 kids and 2 chaperones went onto a tour bus and we were off. On the way to our first stop, our tour guide, Odette, told us interesting facts, such as the real name of Quito is San Francisco de Quito. She also pointed out landmarks like the monument for Abe Lincoln, as well as Queen Isabella's monument. Finally, we arrived at Itchimba Cultural Center, nicknamed the Crystal Palace. The Palace, a miniture version of the one erected in the U. K, sat ontop of a mountain, providing one with breth taking views. Our next visit was to a chirch in the gothic style. We briefly toured the church and then continued on our tour of Colonial Quito. After being dropped off at the edge of old Quito, we started to tour Quito on foot. After a brief stop at the former house of Simon Bolivar, we continued onto the Iglesia de la compania de Jesus (the church for the society of Jesus). We, unfortunately were not able to take pictures of the Baroquienthemed church, but everything from the "salamaucau" columns to the ceiling covered in 24 carrot gold flakes was an overwhelming sight. After we returned to the hotel at 2, we were awarded with 2 to 1/2 hours of freetime. We went with some other people to a little family ran restaurant right next to the gotel: Que Rica! Afterwards, we took a stroll on the park where a ceartain red-haired colleague decided to try a BMX dirt course which provided us with a lot of laughter. We then handed off towards a shopping mall for dinner and well, shopping. A popular product of Ecuador is a hand woven straw sun hat. Now, we have 2 hours of free time, though we are restricted to the confines of the hotel. While some prepare for our trip to Otavlo... I am going swimming. Ciao, stay tuned for more updates.