Freedom! Well, kind of. From here on out I would be traveling on my own, it would only be 4 more days but for the first time since I left the US I had no plans to meet up with anyone.
I woke up early on the 2nd with a full day of wandering around Quito in mind. It was Sunday so I was slightly concerned that nothing would be open and all the places I had in mind would be deadly quit or closed.
The first thing I wanted to do was climb the steeples of La Basilica which is a large neo-gothic church that was built in 1892. I had heard from several people that it was well worth doing for the views and that the actual climbing portion was pretty dodgy as the stairs or ladders are steep and small. When I first got to the church I walked up to it and was told by a woman working the door that I wasn’t allowed in because mass was going on at the moment. I was pretty disheartened because I wasn’t sure whether or not I would be in Quito in the following days at the time. I decided to walk around the perimeter of the church and lo and behold I discovered that there was a separate entrance to the spires and it was indeed open to the likes of me.
La Basilica
Overlooking the sanctuary
Quito and I
Stairs to first steeple
It turns out that climbing into the steeples was pretty dodgy but not as dodgy as I had expected or hoped. I did pass quite a few people who were too intimidated to climb, but not I. It was well worth it for the pictures and the views of Quito so I’m glad I took advantage of going to La Basilica.
And of course I had to take advantage of ringing the bells over Quito.
Framed Basilica
From the steeples I could make out some pretty large crowds around the city so my original fears of it being quiet on a Sunday in Quito were quickly put to rest. Once I had had enough of La Basilica I went in the direction of the crowds to see what was going on.
At one point I stopped to ask some official looking guard what exactly was going on and he kindly informed me that it was actual a sort of market day in Quito and thus there were people crowded on the streets. Being somewhat inquisitive I asked what it was he was guarded and let me know that I was standing outside of the presidential palace.
I cruised around the market for a bit and realized that it wasn’t the sort of market I had seen elsewhere on my travels. It turned out to be more of a functioning market in that the vendors were selling mostly domestic items and not the artisan and fruits and vegetables I was used to seeing at markets.
Eventually I stumbled upon a plaza where there was some live music going on that caught my attention pretty quickly. I was luckily enough to catch the tail end of a set from a heavy metal Ecuadorian band. I don’t know what the event or rally was for but it was really cool to see none the less.
By this point in the day I’d had enough of wandering around the city and decided it was time to make my way back to the hostel. The rest of the day was pretty subdued and didn’t really get up to much. I had something planned for the following day but as you’ll see in the following day, my plans unfortunately fell through.
