Quito in the rain and the cold

Ecuador, English, ilse, Quito, reisverslag, toerisme

Friday, April 1, 2016, we took the bus in Bahia de Caraquez at 8 AM in the morning, packed with a minimum of clothes but hopefully sufficient for the 2-3 weeks we will be away in the different climates of Ecuador and Peru. I do not like packing suitcases with this limitation…The bus ride of 9 hours was uneventfull and I slept a good part of the way. When we were getting closer to Quito it started to rain, when we arrived in Quito it was pouring water, cold and dark ! Oh well, hopefully for not too long. We managed to find a bus going in the direction of our hotel (25 cents) and only had to walk a couple blocks. After we asked several times we found it ! Strange, the doors were closed and it was only 7 PM. We knocked loud on the door and sure enough somebody came and opened the door. It was the entrance of a store, restaurant and the Bed and Breakfast was in the back. We were disappointed by the size of the room and two separate beds  and the bathroom was down the hall…But, it is only for sleeping (says Stefan) so no complaints 🙂

Saturday, April 2, 2016, we got up early and had a vegatarian breakfast and immediately left for a visti of Quito historic centre. It was cloudy but it did not rain. They told us the mornings were usually dry ! It is the rainy season till May and apparently because of El Nino it rains more than normal. Temperatures are only around 17-18 degrees celsius which is much colder than we are used to ! When we got to Quito there were even some blue patches in the sky. The historic center of Quito is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Basilica del voto National
Basilica del voto Nacional
San Francisco klooster binnentuin
The garden inside the San Francisco abbey.
San Francisco klooster binnentuin
The church of San Francisco was built in 1550.
San Francisco klooster binnentuin
The garden in San Francisco Abbey. Pope Franciscus visited Quito in July of 2015.
Santa Domingo Iglesia
Santa Domingo Iglesia
El Ronda
El Ronda
Plaza San Francisco
Plaza San Francisco
kerk van San Francisco
church of San Francisco
IMG_2727
View of the cathedral of Quito. Construction started in 1562 and completed in 1806!
Behalve het logo is de vlag identiek aan deze van Colombia
Flag of Ecuador at the Grand Plaza. The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa is married to a Belgian whom he met at the catholic university of Leuven (UCL) where he studied Economics. He is president since 2006.
Alles van eten is te koop op straat
Strawberry pie on the Grand Plaza. Ecuadorians are small and like lots of sweets.
IMG_3891
Iglesia de la Compania is a Jesuit church built in 1605 in baroque style and completed in 1765. You are not allowed to take pictures inside.
La Compania church in Quito. Picture taken from the internet. The church is heavily decorated with leaf gold and gilded plaster and a perfect example of Spanish baroque.

We ended our visit of Quito in the pouring rain but decided to go to La Capilla de l’Hombre (the chapel of man) from a famous Ecuadorian painter, Oswaldo Guayasamin, in one of the suburbs of Quito, Bellavista. I had never heard of the artist but I really liked his art. Today in El Mitad del Mundo there was a small pavillion dedicated to him with some more artwork, more of this in my blog tomorrow.

zelfportret
Self portrait.
toro et condor
El Condor y el Toro is one of the most famous works of Guayasamin. It is a ritual fight in which a condor is tied to a bull’s neck. If the condor wins the fight it means good fortune for the coming year (harvest). This ritual is apparently still done in Peru but not till the condor dies.
IMG_3895
Guayasamin saw injustice in the world and fought against it through his art. As an indigenous Ecuadorian from a modest family he experienced injustice himself. You can find more pictures of his art on the internet.

It was a perfect ending of the day, unfortunately in the pouring rain. Happy to arrive back  in our little hotel room :-).

4 reacties op “Quito in the rain and the cold”

  1. Nostalgie … ik was er ook ooit, in een ver verleden en heb er leuke herinneringen aan. Wel opletten als je de bus neemt: mijn fototoestel is er toen gestolen, hoewel het gewoon op mijn schoot lag. Ze werken met twee: de één probeert je iets te verkopen waardoor je afgeleid bent en de ander gaat er met je waardevolle spullen vandoor. Dit volledig terzijde natuurlijk. Blijf vooral genieten!

    1. We genieten inderdaad vooral. Vandaag al iets minder regen maar we gaan richting zon 🙂 hopen we althans.Ik hoor graag je verhalen van toen jij hier was! Ik denk dat het hier snel veranderd! Vandaag zijn we naar Otavalo geweest,vorig jaar was het nog een 3 uur busreis nu nog 1.5 uur op een nieuwe snelweg. Morgen vertrekken we naar Banos dan Riobamba en Alausi met de trein en nog eens bus naar Cuenca.Ik vind het zo leuk dat jullie de blog volgen. Bedankt !!!
      Lieve groeten,
      Ilse

  2. Dag Stefan en Ilse, ik volg jullie blog en bekijk jullie foto’s zeer regelmatig. Wat een geweldig avontuur!! Het is fijn om op afstand een beetje “mee te reizen” 🙂 Ik ben benieuwd naar waar Sanuk jullie nog allemaal zal leiden, keep posting. Love, Maggie

    1. Bedankt Maggie 🙂 zo leuk om weer contact te hebben ! Onze Meliena werkt in Boston als lerares English as second language :-). We hopen eind November eens langs te gaan. Ik hou jullie op de hoogte misschien kunnen we eens afspreken ? Bedankt voor de aanmoediging.
      Groetjes, liefs, Ilse en Stefan

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