Day 1: Old Town Quito

On June 6, 2018 I left for a 10 day trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos. The trip was put together through my high school and was sponsored by the photography teacher Dave Blessing, Biology teacher Ben Boyer, and led by EF Tours. There were 36 people including adults on the trip. It was an amazing adventure and I’m so grateful I got to go. Thank you to everyone who supported me!

We flew into Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Our wonderful EF Guide Analu met us at the airport and was with us the whole trip. We stayed in Old Town Quito, which was built by the Spanish in 1500’s. It was a very charming part of the city, with narrow cobblestone streets and lots of history. It was one of the first cities in the world to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

First, we went on a tour of one of the oldest monasteries in Quito, Santo Domingo. We saw the courtyard, original dining hall, chapel, and the sanctuary. All of it was filled with a variety of religious art, even on the ceiling.

    

They also have a catholic school there, so we briefly saw the students. After we walked around the inside, we climbed on the roof for some amazing views of the city. We could see Quito as well as the hills and mountains behind it. It was really beautiful!

    

From the monastery, we walked to the main square in Old Town Quito, called the Plaza de la Independencia (Independence Plaza). Analu told us some of the history about how Ecuador gained independence from Spain in the 19th century. We also had some time to wander around the plaza and take pictures.  [See below for lots more photos.]

We ate lunch at a restaurant in the plaza. I had lamb with a passion fruit sauce and passion fruit juice to drink. I had never had passion fruit before and it was delicious!

In the afternoon we took a bus to the equatorial line, which is a little north of Quito. While we were on the equator, we did some activities to show that we really were in the middle of the earth. Did you know you are 2.2 pounds lighter in Ecuador because of the earth’s centrifugal force?

There, they have lots of information about indigenous groups, and how they had figured out Ecuador was in the middle of the earth before any Europeans arrived. We got to see a couple of traditional houses, and learn about indigenous traditions.

One house we saw was very small and had a guinea pig pen inside–for eating, not as pets. The other house was very large and was shaped like an upside-down boat so the rain would run off of it. One tradition we learned about was that of shrinking heads. To show their strength, a warrior would go through process to shrink the head of an enemy he had killed. When the process was done, the head is about the size of a fist. They would then wear it as jewelry around their neck.

We also got to see how chocolate is made and had the chance to try raw cacao fruit. It was squishy, white, and tasted nothing like chocolate. It was mostly just sweet.

As we headed back to the hotel for some down-time before dinner, we could see a large statue of the Virgin Mary on top of a hill. It is one of the only ones in the world to show Mary with angel wings. After dinner it was lit up and was very pretty. It was an amazing first day!

Take a look at lots more pictures below: