Day 9 - City Tour, Tour of CMT #1 and Kindergarten Promotion

Today started with a bus ride to the Cathedral Basilica del Vota National in downtown Quito. The kids were able to climb to the very top of the bell towers and take photos of the city from that vantage point. Maria and I stayed on the 3rd floor, which still had a very impressive view.

The Church was built with entirely native materials, by Ecuadorians. It is constructed with volcanic rock from Pinchincha volcano which is also the name of the province. A previous president, Garcia Moreno, in the nineteenth century, commissioned the Cathedral. He recognized that many people were suffering from illnesses and he believed that a beautiful church would offer them spiritual comfort.

 On the outside, where gargoyles would normally be, there are native Ecuadorian animals like turtles, iguanas and condors. It is the largest neo-gothic cathedral in the Americas.

 Pope John Paul II visited in the 1990's (I believe) and there is a statute of him at the front doors.

Here are some photos from the 3rd floor of the Cathedral of the city.

















This statue in the distance is called "El Panecillo". It is a statue of the Virgin Mary which was commissioned by the Oblates in 1976. It marks the place where Indians used to worship the sun.









Following our tour, we walked down the Calle de las Siete Cruces (the street of seven crosses) to La Compania, the Jesuit Church which is entirely covered in gold. (The kids keep referring to it as "the gold church"). On the way there, we passed through La Plaza de la Independencia and the Presidential Palace. As usually, there was a protest going on right outside the doors. I could not figure out what it was about, besides some sort of human rights abuses.

 There were guards out front, but you can actually walk right up to the front doors.

Here is the outside of La Compania. You are not allowed to take photos inside the Church, so here is a link to it's wikipedia page which includes photos of the interior La Compania - Wikipedia page.

 Here's the group and a sample of the gold!

 This Church is where the Working Boys Center first started in 1962, in the attic.
Following this tour, we walked back to the CMT#1, in La Marin. It was about a 10 minute walk. At the Center, we had lunch in the library with Madre and Padre and the two chaperones from St. Peter's Prep - Mike and Tom (their group of 8 boys was with us all day).

We had some time to rest, then started our tour of CMT#1 with Fabricio.

Following the Tour, we watched the kindergarten promotion ceremony which was really cute!

Here's a snippet of one of the performances.