A big plaque on a wall in Quito’s parque central says
Which is – THE GLORY OF QUITO, THE DISCOVERY OF THE AMAZON RIVER. Whoa, that’s effective
Very briefly: Quito, capital of Ecuador, pop 2.2 M is in the Andes and (along with Krakow) is the least altered historic city in the world (wiki), and was the first UNESCO heritage site. The Spanish arrived in 1534 and unfortunately it’s inland so Henry Morgan’s ships couldn’t get here to make it 36/0. Until the Spanish it was part of the Incan empire.
I wondered around the old city trying to get used to my horrible new Cybershot taking random shots. For instance the large Gothic church on a ridge
Some of the central streets are pedestrian only
The vast convent and church of San Francisco
The interior… I’ve never seen anything like it. A 2 acre jewel box. This is the oldest church in Latin America and is on Inca foundations
The Bank of Ecuador, very nice
And a bunch of this. I miss Guatemala and the thousands of short shotgun waving ‘tecos
Once grand residences
What would Ecuador be without this hat on the ladies?
A shopping street
Being the capital, elite military here and there
Mary on the hill
Saludos
