Quito

There were three flights from Guayaquil to Quito, all leaving in the morning within an hour or so. We had booked a flight leaving at 8:30 AM. About the time we arrived at the airport I received a text message to the effect that our flight had been canceled. When we checked in at the ticket counter, we were told that in fact the flight had been cancelled, but not to worry. Since we were early, they put us on an earlier flight. As turned out, our new flight was late departing, such that we left a little after the departure time of the original flight. It also seemed that all three of those flights had been combined and all the passengers loaded onto one large 777. (I suspect the the airline ended up with that plane in Guayaquil and decided it was most efficient (cost effective) to load all three flights into that one plane.)

That is the long explanation for how we ended up in first class seats on a large plane designed for transoceanic travel. It was, however, a short lived luxury. The flight lasted all of 30 minutes, although a comfortable 30 minutes. We did not even receive any food service, not even the beverage service or the little cups of nuts and juice you are supposed to get in First Class. It was a clear day and Evie, from her seat, had marvelous views of Ecuador and the snow covered volcanoes.

This is the new and very modern and efficient airport in Quito. More on Ecuador infrastructure later.

Richard (Dic) Johnson is the area legal counsel, and we met up with Dic and his wife Jennifer in Quito. With his travel Dic had accumulated a lot of Marriott points and used them to stay at the JW Marriott in Quito. We stayed there as well (at out expense). It was nice, really nice. Large rooms, comfortable beds and a really big bathroom with all the enhancements expected at a JW Marriott. Our apartment in La Molina is adequate, but I'll admit after nearly five months there we really did enjoy the Marriott, especially the big comfortable beds and the bathroom.

The Marriott is located in the general area of the Church's offices in Quito and the offices of the law firms we were visiting. Unfortunately, it wasn't located near old town or other places of interest to tourists. But we discovered that we were a nice walk from Parque La Carolina, a large 165 acre park, more or less their version of New York's central park. Here are some pictures.

About thirty years ago Dic had been the area legal counsel in this part of South America. Due to the Shining Path guerrilla movement in Peru, the Church had moved its area offices from Lima to Quito and Quito is where Dic and his family had lived for three years. For them, this visit was a nostalgic look back at an area where their family had some great experiences. 

One evening we had dinner with President and Sister Barlow of the Quito North Mission. The Barlow's are from Bountiful, Utah. We had been working with President Barlow on some legal issues, and they invited us to dinner while we were in Quito. The Johnsons have another connection with President Barlow. He had been in the Johnsons' Stake Presidency before the Barlows started their mission in Ecuador. And there is another connection. The Barlow's are living in the same apartment building that the Johnsons lived in when they were in Quito. It was a fun dinner and evening. Although not in the picture, the Barlows have two teenage children with them, and we especially enjoyed talking with them about their thoughts and experiences. They are attending the same international school the Johnson children attended.

Friday morning we finished our meetings with lawyers and Evie and I went to Old Town Quito.(Quito is actually spread along a narrow valley between two large volcanic mountains.) According to the websites, the historic center of Quito has one of the largest, least-altered and best-preserved historic centers in the Americas. Quito and Kraków, Poland, were the first World Cultural Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO, in 1978. 

One of our favorite places was the Centro Cultural Metropolitano. It's an interesting and quiet place in the middle of a busy, chaotic city center.  It's an old historical building that been many things, including a university and the site of historic events. Now it has various exhibits and art shows. What we found especially interesting and relaxing was the courtyard, quietly secluded from the city noise and traffic outside. There were various species of trees and flowers in the courtyard garden, statues commemorating  historical people and events and, although I never got a photo, a quite little restaurant  in a corner of the courtyard.

It is not only a museum and cultural center, but a modern, functioning public library with students working away on their research papers and home work. This is Evie with the librarian, a women justly proud of her library and all its books.

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Hearing music, we walked outside the cultural center and found this. A police band playing on the steps of what I think is the formal residence of the archbishop. Check it out.

Evie making friends with a statue.

Old town, really all of Quito, is really all about old churches. They have a charity bike race through Quito in the summer over a route that is designed to pass by some 20+ churches in the city. This is the San Francisco Church (Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco) of the Franciscan order. It is really a large complex with several chapels and a convent.

Inside (a picture from the internet). Inside photos were not allowed, besides mass was going on while we were there. 

The la Compañía, a Jesuit church.

Inside

The Iglesia de Santo Domingo

Inside

Views of the city from the plaza in front of the Santo Domingo Church.

Unlike the historic city centers in many places, which often consist of some old buildings, monuments and museums, along with a few restaurants and souvenir and t-shirt shops, in Quito it remains an integral part of daily life. For example, if you need to buy candy in quantity, you do not need to go to Costco, you come here. There are also shops with huge stocks of textiles, racks and racks of cheap suits and, of course, very expensive Panama hats ("Panama" hats are from Ecuador, another story).

In front of the Government Palace at dusk.

Las Peñas, Iguanas and a Temple

The morning after we arrived in Guayaquil we started walking along the Malecon and getting passed by joggers out for early runs. Not knowing where else to go, we followed them (but not running) and that took us to the old colonial neighborhood of Las Peñas, the site of the original Spanish settlement on the side of Santa Ana hill.

With nice patios and clever sculptures, such as this. (By the way, am I the only one old enough to know what these boys are doing? )

We lost track of the joggers and weren't sure where to go, but as is common here, there were a lot of security guards around and they simply looked at us and pointed up.  With that and the numbered stairs, we realized we weren't really just wandering through a hillside neighborhood, but actually going some place. 

You end up at the top of Santa Ana hill at a nice park with the old lighthouse, an old church, some military monuments and another sculpture. But it was evident from watching the joggers that for it to "count" as having gone to the top (and we are a goal driven people) you had to continue on to the top of the light house,

Where you get great views such as these.

A view of Las Peñas from below.

After the adventure through Las Penas and up and down Santa Ana Hill, we went to the famous historical park of Quayaquil, which turned to be closed that day. So we went to check out the city center and found Semenario Park, or better known as the Park of the Iguanas.  

The park and the iguanas have both been there since colonial times. The park is near the river and, with fruit and branches in the trees for food, the iguanas are attracted to the park. Since it is a perfect habitat and no one eats them, the iguanas have stayed around and now mingle with the crowds.

Although they have plenty of competition from some others.

 

Like many parks in South America, it features a Simon Bolivar monument.

However, the citizens of Guayaquil also have a monument to a piano teacher- Ana Villamil Iscaza, music educator and the composer of what is now known as Himno al 9 de Octubre, a tribute to their independence day and official hymn of the city of Guayaquil.

We ended the day with a visit to the temple in Guayaquil (right now, the only one in Ecuador), where by coincidence we had a nice visit with the temple president, Jay R. Fuhriman, an old family friend from Nampa, Idaho. 

I guess I haven't been retired from the construction materials businesses long enough,  but I couldn't resist taking this picture, a barge load of sand headed down river.