A Dangerous View

Today was absolutely fantastic. I think that this first week in Quito is partly to get the tourist bug out of us before we head to sangolqui on friday - and it is a lot of fun. So, today's tourist fix was a short cab ride away in Quito Antiguo (Old Quito). Bethany, Emma, Erica and Myself took the 3 dollar cab over to Plaza Grande. From there we walked up and down the beautiful streets taking in the noise and architecture. 'Up and Down' is literal, as the streets were all steep. We were looking for the Monestario de Carmen Alto - an active convent where the nuns are only allowed to see each other for an hour every day, and then are required to be alone. They sell goods through a revolving window/shelf so they can sell there goods without actually seeing anybody. However 'Carmen Alto' which was supposed to be easy to find was on an obscure street and not well marked. We asked directions many times, and attempted to follow them well, but Carmen always eluded us. During our wonderings we came accross an old Catholic church in a square and decided to go in. It was under construction on the inside, which added to oppressive feelings I had when I entered. It was very dark, and very solomn. A ceiling in the entryway contained endless depictions of faces of children and saints. In the depictions it was interesting to see first hand the blending of catholisism and traditional incan/quechwan (not sure exactly) art religion. Saints were depicted along with the sun, and the Andes. The colors and lightling in the church were dark. At one point, I stood at a caged entryway to some sort of shrine to a saint. A women stood next to me holding a large white candle. We both stood staring through the bars into the dark, almost black room at the barely visible shrine. I thought she would light the candle as I had seen in the past, but after some meditation, she threw into to room, where it broke on the floor. Only then did I notice that it was only one of many broken candles strewn about the room. I am not sure why I am writing all this in such detail, it was just a very eary and unique experience for me.

After we were done their we decided to walk up a large hill to the Basillica Voto Nacional, one of the famous churches of quito with two large towers standing in its front (77 meters tall). Our little travel book told us that you could climb the towers, so we were determined to do so. We arrived there, and a wonderful man offered us a tour, and we gladly accepted. It was spectacular, and scary. Our travel book described it as a dangerous view of Quito, and we soon learned why. As we climbed the stairs we arrived at a balcony overlooking the main cathedral. It was beautiful, and not nearly as dark as the last one we had visited. we were around 25 meters high above the cathedral floor, and the railing we were leaning on swayed back and forth. The guide explained that that was because the whole building was designed to withstand earthquakes. We then took more stairs until we arrived at a level above the cathedral. A small plank-built bridge led us overtop the cathedral ceiling. Below us we could see the top of the curved cathedral ceiling. We climbed outside then, and then traverst outdoor latters/stairs along the outside of the lower tower (50 meters high). The latter was very precarious, and was very fun to climb. I am not afraid of hieghts, but this even gave me a slight vertigo. The view was amazing from that tower. We enjoyed it, and then decended back into the main building. We then climbed to the top of one of the 77 meter high main towers. Took latters up until we were standing on a rebar floor, and, by our guide's suggestion and constant encouragement, hung out through an opening of the roof of the tower over old quito and snapped some pretty awesome shots. It was really really fun! I was able to snap a great shot of the top of the tower, which was only a couple meters away from where I was hanging out of. Beth attempted the same stunt and we were very satisfied with our tour. Nothing like that would ever be even close to allowed in Canada. I could just see the lawsuits piling up!

The rest of the day was spent visiting a university here, and getting a lecture on ecuadorian politics, which was very interesting. However, I will spare you all the details, because I am pretty tired and need some sleep. So, bye for now, and high to everyone back home!

Love,
Matt.