We left our house at 5:15 am and got to our hotel at midnight. Quito is two hours ahead of Seattle. The flight wasn't too bad since it was split into a flight to Houston, a layover and the flight to Quito.
Today we started with a trip to the equator monument and then a tour of old town Quito. There was a museum at the equator where we learned about the various indigenous tribes. The tribes were conquered by the Incas from Peru. Then came the Spainards. In 1532 168 Spaniards killed 7,000 Incas. It's not fair when only one side has guns. Quito was founded in 1534. Old town was the first world heritage site.
The hotel was converted from a house. Our room is small, but it has a private courtyard.
North and south hemisphere.
Independence Square
Presidential Palace
Iglesias (church) de San Francisco began construction in 1535. It took 100 years to build.
Chicken and potato pancakes with cheese
M Cuy (guinea pig)
Tastes like pork, not chicken. The skin was like Chinese roast pork.
August 24
Today we toured the Otavalo market which is two hours north of Quito. We were joined by a doctor and his wife and a sheep and cattle rancher, all from New Zealand. Graham from new Zealand was touring 60 days at a cost of $22,000.
Llama and alpaca.
These Otavalo kids sang on our bus.
Mom had a good time today. She restrained herself from buying any yarn.
At least there weren't any flies.
Of course Calvin would choose to eat the guinea pig! I'm glad to see that it was barbecued by a restaurant though. No more burning Claves on vacation!
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