Tuesday, June 5, 2007

The Tourist Pictures

Finally, here are some pictures from our last day in Ecuador. This was our day to play "tourist," and Javier drove us to several places in Quito.



This is one of the plazas in Old Quito. I think this is San Francisco. It is interesting because you can see the original building and the later additions.

La Virgen de Quito, which sits atop El Panecillo (the little loaf--so called because of its shape). There are some wonderful views from the observation deck at the base of the statue itself.


At the base of La Virgen is this little sun temple, which dates back to Inca times.


Inside the recently restored sun temple.

I don't have a picture yet of me straddling the Equator at Mitad del Mundo, so here is one of Veronica. The monument/museum is behind me. I'm still trying to find the picture of the monument.

This is La Cuidad del Mitad del Mundo, taken from the observation deck of the monument. It could have been a very tacky tourist trap. Instead, it is a well thought out "shopping village" with restaurants, shops, and even a church clustered around a plaza. We did most of our souvenir and gift shopping here.

Members of a dance troupe performing in the plaza.

More members of the dance troupe. The little girl on the far left with her back to me was learning the dances by doing them with the older women and girls.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and I wish we had had a couple more days to spend seeing the country.

Peace,
Jeffri

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