Bec's Family Travels: Plaza of Independence, Quito

This morning Sarah and I went with cousin Johanna to a bayletaria, which is like a gym but without the equipment, just the classes. We did a dance class for 1 hour ( I only lasted 30 mins, before getting a mad stitch).

Came back home had a shower and it was time for deysauno (breakfast).

This mornings breakfast consisted of: juice of mora ( the berries that look like black berries), fried bananas ( as you can see these are an absolute favourite of mine), mote with egg, bolons (little balls made with green bananas and cheese in the middle) and morocho (like creamed rice, but with something else).

After the deysauno feast we ventured to the centre of Quito to check out the Plaza of Independence, this is where the founding fathers stood up to the Spanish and declared Independence. This is also where the president lives and works.

We went into the Catedral Primada de Qvito. This is a really old chuch that was built in 1535, it was destroyed in 1562 and then rebuilt.

Some pictures of the outside:

It cost $1.50 for adults and $1.00 for kids to enter. Here are our tickets.

We had a guide take us around some of the church, and it was in spanish and she spoke really fast, so I didn't pick up much of it, the detail was fantastic and would have taken soo long to make. We were seeing who could spot masonic symbols first, and there were quite a few.

There was a room full of formal clothes that the padre wears for special ceremonies. There were 3 that were really old and were all made by hand. After the thread was spun it was dipped in pure gold and then woven into the clothes. The three oldest sets weighed over 40kg each.

There was a body of a saint Maria someone, who was covered in wax and put on display.

Then we went walking down the street a little and Sarah took some photos of figs and some biscuits from a shop.

Next we went to Inglesia De La Compania De Jesus.

Entry here was $3.00 for adults and I think $2.00 for kids.

This is a church that holds normal church services and had a really big organ. This church also burnt down, but more recently and was rebuilt. We were not allowed to take pics, so we snuck a few. We have very sore necks from walking around looking at the roof and all the paintings and details. The inside of this church is coated in gold, so there are camrea's everywhere.

We then went for a walk to find something for lunch and took some happy snaps of Ecuador's statue of panecillio.

We walked for quite a while and came across a pizza place and this is where we had lunch. We had ham and pineapple and a salami Pizza and the cutest baby cokes ever.

Then we wandered down to meet our driver and loved all the signs for hair cuts costing $2.00

From here we went to the local shopping centre, to get some things for Nando and see if this optomitrist cam fix Sian's glasses, as the last one couldn't help and sent us to this one. They also couldn't fix her glasses, so an eye test and order a new pair. The total cost of her glasses and exam is less than our normal out of pocket with our health fund.

We also grabbed some cortizone cream for Sian as she was getting a bitt rough on her arms. I nearly fell over when a cream that costs us $30 back home cost $1.05 here.

We then went and grabbed a couple of taxis to get us all back home, and the driver got lost... now the taxi ride was about 15 mins worth and cost a grand total of $1.50.

Sat around talking for a while and then it was time for more food... I really don't think I will fit in the plane seat.

For dinner we had soupa de locro con chochos. ( a potato soup with cheese and chochos, and tostada)

Soup from the pot