Nathan's Insights

Friday 06 December 2024
Highlights: El San Francisco, Chocolate tasting, Church of the Society of Jesus, Basílica del Voto Nacional, Intiñan Equator Museum

With less than 4 hours of sleep, we were ready to start our Quito City Tour & Equator Line day tour and begin our Ecuador experiences!

We made our way to the breakfast buffet before meeting Casey and Ashlie from last night’s airport transfer and walking to the Hilton Hotel for our day tour. We met our guide for the day Alex and chatted with other members of the tour. Everyone was doing a G Adventure tour some people were on our tour starting at 6 pm later today.

We started with a drive to El Panecillo, a hill overlooking Quito, and the location of the Virgin of Quito (aka Virgin of El Panecillo). This provided a great overview of this part of the city.

Next up was a visit to San Francisco Square from where we started a 2 hour walk exploring Quito. We went inside the El San Francisco (aka Basilica and Convent of San Francisco). As there was a Mass being held we had to show more respect than normal when inside including no photos and ensuring those there for the mass would not be distracted by us.

Across from the Basilica, we went and visited a chocolate store named Yumbos Chocolate. Alex provided us with samples of dark chocolate made on the premises, starting with 100% dark chocolate and moving down to 60% dark chocolate. My favourite for the 70% mint chocolate.

The next major highlight was the Church of the Society of Jesus (aka Church and Convent of San Ignacio de Loyola de la Compañía de Jesús de Quito). The first building blocks for what exists today started when in 1587 the Jesuits were allocated a piece of land in the northwest corner of Plaza Grande. This is a stunning church and complex.

The next significant stop was the Independence Square Plaza Grande. The four buildings surrounding the square were; 1) The Presidential Palace, 2) Independence Square Plaza Grande Cathedral, 3) Local Government, and 4) the Archbishop Palace. We got to try some nuts and alcoholic lollies and Erin tried some local ice cream.

Probably the highlight of our time in Quito was the Basílica del Voto Nacional (Basilica of the National Vow) is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas. The climb up inside the Basilica first stopping at the magnificent Rose window. We then moved up to the roof for a great view of Quito. Erin climbed even higher for a better view.

We then drove out of Quito and towards the Equator Monument. First stopping for lunch. We then visited the Intiñan Equator Museum. Here we learnt about Ecuadoran tribes, and some of the dangerous animals before moving on to learning about the equator and running a series of scientific tests that only work on or near the equator. I almost fell down attempting to walk the equator line with my eyes closed!

Lastly, we stop for a photo of the Equator Monument before heading back to Quito. We arrived back at Quito to rain and on the wrong side of a parade that went into the early hours. We did manage to get to our hotel eventually.

We had our formal tour meeting but 4 tour members were not present (there will be 12 tour members all up). We got a general tour briefing on what to expect before heading up for a nice group dinner.