Bulletins From BA #23
15 febrero 2014
¡Hola! there… Rodger
French here.
Photo Update Alert: www.picasaweb.google.com/rodger.french
“Ecuador”
Excursión a Ecuador (continuación)
Día Seis - My
taxista Raoul picked me up at the crack of 10:00 and we set out on a turístico
trifecta. First stop: El Panecillo, a “hill” (3016 m, 9895 ft) on the south
side of Quito. The vistas, as you might expect, are sweeping and stunning. Even
better, there is a giant (45m, 148 ft) aluminum statue of “The Woman of the Apocalypse,”
a Madonna variation from the hallucinatory Book of Revelation. The statue is on
a commodious pedestal that you may enter to obtain an even more
stunning/sweeping view.
Next up: La Plaza de San Francisco, a major public
square in Old Town. The plaza faces La Iglesia y
Monasterio de San Francisco, a complex that dates to the 16th century. Since I had
some commerce to attend to, I was not long exploring; although I did note that
the church, while suitably grand, looked somewhat worn and in need of attention.
The place was packed for Mass, so out of respect (and a nearly total ignorance of
Catholic rituals), I ambled while the congregation sat, and stood in silence
when they rose. No one seemed to notice.
Final
destination: La Basílica de Voto Nacional, the largest neo-Gothic church in the
Americans. It is an imposing edifice, as befits its architectural heritage.
Construction began in 1887, but since actual completion is rumored to herald
the end of the world, no one seems in a hurry to technically “finish” the
project.
The
church has the requisite vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses, and stained
glass, and the gargoyles adorning the exterior are fashioned to represent indigenous
animals, e.g., armadillos, turtles, and pumas. But the coolest feature of La
Basílica is that you can climb all the way to the tiptop of the main tower for
yet another stunning view of la ciudad. The ascent is steep and not for the acrophobic.
Fortunately, my years of scrambling on shipboard ladders (in the Navy, there
are no “stairs”) paid off. It was a terrific way to end my tour of Quito.
Día Siete - For our final day
in Ecuador, A.J. and I elected to join a smallish bus tour for an excursion to
the sabado (Saturday) market in Otavalo, reputedly the largest textile market
in South America. Naturally, there were a few roadside attractions:
Calderon
- A town famous for artistic items made from a (decidedly inedible) flour-based
marzipan.
Guayllabamba
- A roadside stop to sample the cherimoya fruit, a (decidedly edible) pre-Incan
favourite.
Cayambe
- Specifically, Mira Lago Parador Touristico, located on Lago San Pablo at the
base of Imbabura volcano. Muy picturesque. Here we took onboard a young woman
who sang songs beautifully in Kichwa, a widely spoken local dialect.
[Horticultural Sidebar - One of the
major industries in Cayambe is the cultivation of roses, gazillions of them,
primarily for export.]
Otavalo
- The textile market, situated in the Plaza de Los Ponchos, is moderately
overwhelming. The vendors are constantly hustling the gringos, though not to
excess, and we purchased a few very nice pieces at precios (prices) muy
razonables.
Cotacachi
- Lunch & Leather. Great Ecuadorian food and fairly high-end leather shops.
A charming pequeño pueblo.
Cayambe
- Specifically, “La Mitad Del Mundo” (“The Middle of the World”). Or, less
prosaically, the Equator. Naturally, many goofy tourist photos were taken. (Incidentally,
the story of the French Geodesic Mission and the search for the Equator is
altogether fascinating.)
Día Ocho - Up at 03:00 for
the return flight to Buenos Aires. The plane was packed, including families returning
from vacaciones with their screaming children. But after navigating the
customary confusions of Ezeiza International Airport, we and our tourist
memorabilia made it home in good order. Nuestro viaje a Ecuador fue un gran
éxito. (Our trip to Ecuador was a great success.)
Gracias
por su indulgencia. ¡Adelante!
Rodger
