Today, I decided to sightsee a little bit in Quito. I caught the metro to Old Town, which is where all the churches and museums are. It was a beautiful day for touristing. As soon as I got to La Plaza Grande, I was just in time to witness the changing of the guards (or some such procession...I wasn´t quite sure what was going on!). There was about 30 guards at the President´s Palace, and they were marching, and swinging swords and flags to the tune of a marching band. I´m pretty sure the national anthem was in there somewhere, only because at one point everyone stood up and cheered. I got a LOT of pictures and a few videos, but I´m not quite sure how to upload them yet, so you´ll have to sit tight.



Next, I took myself on a ¨tour¨of some of the dozens of beautiful cathedrals around here. The first, La Merced, was absolutely stunning on the inside, with these gorgeous ceilings and a bunch of paintings. My favorite was the one of a saint with a cleaver through his head. Then I went to some other church which was closed for renovations, but I was able to climb up to one of the balconies, and saw these two gothic speres in the distance. Intrigued, I decided to find them.



I started walking, paying close attention to where La Plaza Grande was in relation to the spires, because I didn´t want to get lost, since my spanish is terrible and I wasn´t sure I could ask for directions should the need arise. I walked for about half an hour up this mountain of a hill (picture Mount Tolmie) before I caught another glimpse of it. Finally I had arrived, and was not disappointed! It was a beautiful Gothic cathedral called Basilica del Voto Nacional, and I went all the way up into the basilica´s towers!! It was so scary, I was shaking and my legs felt funny, cuz you´re climbing ladders all the way up, but at the top, the view was so fantastic. It was a 360 degree view of Quito. Gorgeous. Next time I will take a taxi though.

I am looking forward to getting to Cuenca. I´ve decided to fly instead of take a bus, since the bus doesn´t leave until 10pm, and the whole reason for busing was to see the country. Also, I´m starting to get lonely. I´m definitely not a backpacker. I don´t enjoy going out and getting pissed every single night, and it seems like there are only gross boys at my current hostel. I watched ¨Superman Returns¨with them last night, and they thought it would be amusing to describe in detail what they would do if they had Lois Lane. I am looking forward to meeting all the new teachers in Cuenca (I´ve met one already, and she was really nice...), and getting into a routine.

I´m sure the musicians out there will be pleased to hear that Lillex is getting radio play even down here in Ecuador! Haha, Jeremy, how do you like them apples?! :D


Anyhow, I should get going. I´m going to straddle the hemispheres at La Mitad Del Mundo tomorrow morning!

Cheers!