At the actual Equator!

We had the most fantastic breakfast this a.m. prepared by Elena including quail eggs (tiny and delicious, apparently no cholesterol!), brown bread, juice, tea and coffee, cheese - not the tasteless white kind we´ve had but real tasty hard cheese, fruit - papaya and mango cut up, granola, yogurt. We were stuffed! We gave her our laundry and headed out for the day with William, our guide.

He has been doing this 18 years, works as an independent, but through various travel agencies. He was $130 for the day, in his car, and was worth every penny. First we went to a high point - a former hacienda but now a municipal park with a crystal palace designed by Eiffel, made from recycled materials for the structure. There was a great view overlooking Old and part of New Quito. He talked about all the efforts Ecuador is making to be the greenest country in SA. Everything is recycled. Much of the country is being preserved, like the Galapagos, from exploitation. The current president, Rafael Correa, was just re-elected for a second term. He served 2 years, then ran for re-election for another term, and they changed the constitution so it would be 4 years with an additional 4 he could serve. So he won with 56% of the vote, on Sunday, with 7 other opponents. He seems pretty popular. William said he has taxed the upper classes and given lots of benefits to the lower classes. But he seems to think it´´s mostly a good thing. Schools are much better - mandatory 4 years old to 16. All students wear uniforms. Now only the best and brightest students can become teachers and doctors. Those are the two most stringent to get into professions, he said. Catholic private schools exist but they can no longer teach religion. About 85% of the country is Catholic but only about 15% attend regularly. People still celebrate the feasts and have their kids baptized, first communion, etc. His wife runs a nursery school. He has an 11 year old son and a soon to be 6 year old daughter.

Interesting story: His son was born in New York City 3 days before Sept. 11. At the time they were living in Queens and he was working for a company that ran mountain climbing treks. He had a meeting on 9/11 at 9 with his boss and 2 clients in the Twin Towers. His boss called after he´d left for work and told him he wasn´t feeling well and cancelled the meeting. The two clients were in the towers and died. He didn´t make it home until later that night, was unable to call as no cell service. His wife with a newborn thought he had died in the towers until he got home! So he´s very grateful for every day, he said!

We parked in an underground garage near the Old City and walked around narrow picturesque streets. This part of town was declared in 1978 a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the first. People cannot make changes to inside or outside the buildings without permission. Several places had been damage by earthquakes so repairs were going on especially on old churches.

One of the most famous is the Gold Church - actually the Jesuit church of St. Ignatius. Spanish invaders taught the indigenous people how to carve the stone and wood to make beautiful carvings. Then the carvings were covered with 7 tons of gold leaf. So the whole inside (no pictures allowed) glows!! It was to help inspire and convert the locals to Christianity. He showed us 2 earlier churches less decorative. One had only 1 entrance as only the Spanish were allowed in, the locals went to churches outside of Quito! The other church had a main door for the Spanish, and 2 side doors for the indigenous population who weren´t allowed to sit in the same pews as Spanish. Real Christian!

One of the churches that wasn´t open was San Francisco - that was also a convent for Carmelite cloistered nuns. He didn´t know how many, if any, nuns lived there. Very difficult to get new priests and nuns now!

We visited an area where they are renovating and many artisans were opening shops. His friend Hernando showed us several very old pianos and organs that he restores, along with his wife. His father was a famous pianist and restorer and he does concerts as well. He gave us a CD and we gave a donation. He played one of them for us, an old Inca song. He gave us each a beautiful red rose (one of Ecuador´s exports! along with bananas, chocolate, coffee, and oil) He was very charming! We have found Ecuadorian men to be very charming, polite and gracious! Our hostess Brune came to Ecuador and married one, Wilmer, the guy who picked us up at the airport. They have a son and a daughter. Lovely couple!

We left the Old Town and headed out to the Equator, about a 45 minute ride. He took us not to the monument that is actually the incorrect spot (until some scientists came and determined the real exact line). He took us to a museum where a guide showed us a lot of information, had us try to balance an egg on a nail, walk a white line with our eyes closed (can´t remember the explanation for that), took our pictures with one foot in each hemisphere, showed us how right on the equator, water would drain straight down the hole. Moving the sink to the north, it would swirl I think clockwise. Moving it a few feet to the south, it would swirl counterclockwise! Fascinating! That´s why hurricanes and tornadoes (in north) twirl one direction and typhoons and cyclones are named differently because they swirl the opposite! New learning for today!

We had a lovely lunch-dinner at a local restaurant with unusual fruit drinks, a local Ecuadorian soup of potatoes, avocado, cheese and tomato, and 2 empanadas - one with shrimp and the other meat. Lovely!

Back home to pack a small backpack for our 4 days/three nights in the jungle at the Sani Lodge that Brune arranged. We will leave our stuff here and come back Saturday to do laundry (I think we´ll be pretty soggy schlepping through the jungle on foot and in dugout canoes!) and leave for Peru on Sunday.
Ciao!