Exploring the City

Today my mom and I set out to see all that the city of Quito had to offer. We started out the day visiting the Basilica del Voto Nacional. It was one of the more favorite things I have seen in the city. It is the tallest church in Quito, because of its two tall clock towers. You can take some stairs part of the way up the church and get a magnificent view of the city.

At this point we noticed a sketchy wooden bridge connecting where we were to another tower. At first sight my mom said "no way, who would ever want to do that," but with a little coaxing I had her crossing the bridge and climbing an equally scary ladder.

My mom was a trooper for the majority of the climbing, but I could not get her up the final set of stairs. The view from the top was well worth the slightly unnerving climb and offered a nice view of the two towers with the Penecillo hill in the distance.

After leaving the Basilica we checked out the Campania Church, which is known for its very graphic painting of Hell. It was a very beautiful church and as promised, the painting was very graphic. Next we took a cab up to the Penecillo hill, which is seen in the above picture. The weather was cloudy making the visibility not very good atop the hill. It still provided an excellent view of the entire city, and allowed us to really take in the huge size of the city and its mountainous surroundings.

Later that afternoon while wandering the streets near our hostel, we ran into a friend of mine and fellow kayaker from the states, Jason, aka "Freakystick," and his girlfriend Kara. We ended up joining them to visit the local market and found lots of good souvenoirs. We had a wonderful dinner with another friend of mine from the states, Jenna, who has been in Ecuador for the past month studying Spanish. All in all it was a great day and I felt it gave my mom and I a much better understanding of the Ecuadorian culture.