Ecuador - Quito Day 2

Sunday January 22, 2017
We slept in a little bit on Sunday (8am which turned out to be late compared to the rest of the vacation!).  Breakfast at our hotel was charming.  It was in a small courtyard type area that had a bunch of birds in bird cages that sang throughout the day.

I should probably mention I have very few pictures of our hotel which was an oversight I'll try to be more mindful of on our next trip (to India!).

I should also mention that our entire trip was part of a tour organized by CNH Tours (I'll refrain from linking them here since I have a few minor complaints).  The official package tour didn't really start until Monday but we opted to arrive early and stay a few days later.  Apparently most of the people in our group (that were also staying at the same hotel) had this same idea too.  I believe a few of them even arrived earlier than us!

That bears mentioning since a lot of what we chose to see today was included on the official group tour of Quito that would happen on Monday.  One thing that was not included on Monday that we were told would be included was a trip to the equator which, although touristy, I was looking forward to seeing but chose not to since we saw on the itinerary we were going on Monday.

Anyway, Sunday we went walking around the old city to see the main plaza and look at old churches.  Some of the churches were very well preserved which is rare for this area since earthquakes are fairly common.  Most of the churches were having services since it was Sunday morning but we were able to peek in.  We walked around a bit but the old city was super crowded with the Sunday markets and church services.

A church in the old city in Quito.  None of the churches allowed photography inside.

Sunday in the old city, Quito

We stopped went to the Maria August Urrutia house/museum.  It was a large beautiful house that the owner turned into a charity to help homeless children around the 1930s.  I don't think the children actually lived there but it seemed like they ate there and were able to learn skills or take classes.  The house was beautiful and it was very well preserved so it was interesting to see how the upper class lived.  They technically didn't allow photography inside but I snagged a few of the photos below.

Beautiful stained glass in the bathroom

Creepy doll that kind of matches the painting above it!

Open courtyard with plants around the edges.

After grabbing a mediocre lunch at a cafe on one of the plazas we went to a really great souvenir store that called itself a museum.  I'm not sure I would call it a museum since everything was for sale and didn't really have an descriptive plaques but there were some original things there that I didn't see at any of the other tourist traps and the place was absolutely huge.  It was under a church and the hallways just kept going on forever and they were all filled with knickknacks.    Unfortunately I can't find the name of it but it's on this main plaza (where the subway was being built!) and the entrance is on the other side of the stairs in this photo.

Brandon, his mom and I headed back to the hotel to rest while Jeremy and Brandon's dad wandered around and took some more pictures.  Our hotel had tea at 5pm where we met many of the people that would later join us on the boat.  We had opted to have dinner at the hotel that evening and it was so delicious and just a lovely time.  I wish we had the time to eat there one more time before we left!

Shelley and George at dinner

My dessert that was advertised as a cheesecake.  It was more of a vanilla cake but it was amazing nonetheless.  The gelato was served on a frozen rose petal!

Brandon and Jeremy at dinner.  I don't remember what they were talking about but this picture turned out great.

A few more notes about our hotel since they're on my mind: all of the bath products were chocolate scented- chocolate shampoo, lotion etc.  This was kind of weird to me and I didn't use them.  When you got back regardless of the time of day you had to be buzzed in a gate and then buzzed in the front door which was kind of annoying but I'm sure important for safety.  In the late evening there was a very large doorstop placed behind the door that was shaped like a giant foot with a sandle on it.  Our room was lovely and had lots of old tile and a huge bathroom and king size bed (why don't we own a king size bed yet?!).  The heat was radiant heat flooring that I couldn't really figure out.  Even though we turned it up in the evening it didn't seem to make a noticeable difference until the middle of the night when I woke up sweating!  I could also hear the phone in the lobby ring or the doorbell on the gate in the middle of the night but I'm a really really light sleeper.  The turn down service was wonderful because they left some music channel on on the tv that played a curious mix of ambient and world music (think Brian Eno followed by Irish folk music).  After the first night we just left it on for noise throughout the night.  It was wonderful.