Before you ask, I've no idea what part of Argentina, Chile or Peru we were flying over here. The A320 wasn't equipped with the fancy "where am I now"-widget on the TVs. I can honestly recommend LAN Ecuador: good service, nice people who didn't feel it was below them to bring you a cup of coffee and of course the fact that the plane was 2/3 empty and I could stretch out was a big bonus!
Here's where I am right now. The Galapagos islands to the left are about 1000km off the coast... but more on that soon!
The Basilica del Voto Nacional, at about 8:15 on a Sunday morning. So I stayed for mass (yes I did). It's always interesting to check out the different rites and subtle variations in procedure; I did the same in Birmingham (more like a small community gathering with religious overtones) and Santiago de Compostela (the cafes seemed to be closed, so Spaniards piled in and chatted loudly at the back until the priest felt the need to shush them... thrice in 10 minutes!).
You can go up onto the roof, one spire and a tower of the basilica, which I did with a bit of apprehension. Rightly so, because the Lonely Planet describes the view as "Deadliest view (...) Hold on to your stomach for a hair-raising climb into these gothic towers." I don't know what I was thinking...
But the view was well worth it! Looking roughly south (I think) toward the Virgen de Quito (the statue on the hill in the middle) . Clouds seem to roll in at about 10/11am, after mostly blue skies in the early morning. Temperature is an acceptable 10 degrees at night, and up to 25 during the day, but beware the strong UV rays!
Very dingy wooden planks running on roof of the vaulted ceiling of the basilica *gulp* tried very much not to think of what lay below... And after that there were stairs leading out over the void, before turning 180degrees and heading back to the top of a spire; that's where I chickened out and felt the need to take a few deep breaths. Strangely enough, I didn't have a single problem crossing Capilano suspension bridge in Vancouver, but this really freaked me out. I did end up having a coffee and tamales halfway down the tower in a nice little cafe with a great view!
Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, with the cusp of the Volcan Pichincha peeking out behind it. There was a cop on every street corner, so I felt reasonably safe taking the camera out and snapping away... all the while being on the lookout for potential robbers/thiefs etc. The Old Town is quite safe in that respect (witness all the tourists with SLRs on their tummy walking around), but the Mariscal backpacker area (where I'm currently writing this) is quite another thing.
An Australian who was staying in the same hostel as I (outside of the Mariscal, no need to worry), had his camera stolen at some point either on the bus or at the hostal; leaving your stuff out in the common area for ages is not a done thing! But the Mariscal has quite a reputation for muggings and the like, and the pub owners were telling me things were getting worse. Private security is everywhere, but if they see you getting mugged on the other side of the street, they basically won't lift a finger to help you. Whether it be a gunpoint (very rare), at knifepoint (somewhat more common) or just by intimidating lone backpackers, things are reasonably okay during daylight (walk like you know where you're going, scowl mightily and show you muscles if you have any), but even short distances ought to be covered by taxi after nightfall.
The Mariscal is THE place to get some nightlife, both for tourists and locals, so it's all about walking about with stuff you don't particularly care for if it gets nicked and trying to always go as a group. Knowing about what might happen is half the trick.
Right, and to end this on a somewhat unhappy note, I did go and see the finals Germany v Spain in an Irish Pub here and was very disappointed with the result. Not that the Spaniards didn't deserve it, but my total score for the betting pool is a miserable 18 out of 111 points... I think I stopped placing bets around the end of the first round, though.
All the best to everyone from mi Quito hermoso (as the slogan runs)!
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