The Hop On Hop Off Bus Part 2 The Adventure

After climbing the Basilica, we missed the next bus so we decided to walk to the next church.

We walked through the busy old town to the church called La Compania de Jesus de Quito. That church is beautiful but no pictures are allowed to be taken inside.  The church was constructed between 1605 and 1765.  A of  highlight of the church are the paintings of hell and the last judgement, one at each end of the church.  They were painted in 1620.  We only saw the painting of hell.  It is an excellent example of the type of Catholic art that I personally find fascinating.  This baroque style church is covered in gold leaf making it breathtakingly beautiful.  It is also worth walking to the front of the church to have a seat on one of the original pews.  Their ornate carvings would keep anyone from falling asleep during services. 

Since we couldn't take pictures, here are the ticket stubs to show how golden it is in this church.  

 We continued on to look at the church of San Francisco.

The church was not open for viewing.  

We did find this man named Henry there in the square.

Here he is with me.  I wish I had a better picture of him so that anyone who saw him would know who he was and what he was up to.  He spoke very good English.  He told us he was a tour guide and he would take us on a tour and we could pay him what we thought it was worth at the end.  That is always a bad deal.  So Henry took us to the neighborhood called La Ronda. 

As you can see there is nothing much going on.  It appeared to be a place that had more activity after dark.  There was a nice public toilet there where for 15 cents you could get 3 squares of toilet paper.

So Henry took us to visit this piano fixer.  He showed us several old pianos in various states of disrepair. 

Then he played a tune for us that he told us was an ancient Indigenous piece.  I'm not sure that was true as it seems I had heard the piece before.

But we took a nice picture together anyway. Then we tried to get rid of Henry.  He had spent about a half an hour with us.  John figured that was worth $10.  Well Henry wanted 20 so he whined and begged till John gave him the other 10.






By this time we had missed the hop on, hop off bus again.  So now we had to walk to the Virgen de Panecillo.  It is better to describe it as climb as there are stairs.  It is a long and arduous climb.  It is also said to be dangerous.  About half way to the top a woman came out of her house to warn us to stop at the next street and take a bus.  There is a warning stenciled on the side of a building at the beginning of the climb advising tourists to avoid that area.  Well, we were mad, hot and tired so we just went ahead and climbed.

  We made it to to top and nobody mugged us.  The statue is made out of aluminum.  You can climb up inside the base and get a better view of the area. 

So now about that adventure.  We got on the hop on hop off bus here at El Panecillo.  It was 4 pm and the schedule said the bus made stops till 6.  We decided not to get off at any more stops and to just ride till we got back to our starting point which was stop number 4.  Just before stop number 1 they put the cover over the top deck.  Then at stop 1 they told us all to get off.  The bus was done for the day.  We asked the driver how we were supposed to get back to stop number 4.  We were told to walk down to the corner and hail a taxi.  It would be about an 8 minute ride.  We went to the corner and started walking.  As we were passing a city bus stop the bus pulled up.  I asked the driver if he was going to where we needed to go.  He said that he was.  We got on.  A person collected a quarter each from us to ride.  A local boy was singing an original composition about how it was better to kiss your sweetheart than to hit her, even if she didn't do her housework.  We arrived safe and sound at our stop.  It had been a full day. 

Quito - The Hop on Hop off Bus - part 1 The Basilica

In Quito there is a special tourist bus that makes 12 stops and costs $12.00.  You can get on at any stop and get off at any stop.  It comes to each stop every hour between 9am and 4 pm.  That sounds like a good deal and an adequate amount of time however you need to plan what you want to see because you won't have time for everything.  I planned to see the churches, the angel monument and the market.  We ran out of time, missed the market and had an adventure. 

Here is where we got on the tourist bus.  It is a shopping district a couple of blocks from the tourist party area.  It is called La Mariscal.

 Here is where the tourist bus lets you off to see the Basilica de Voto Nacional.  The special benefactor of this church was President Garcia Moreno.  He ordered it to be built but was assassinated before it was begun.

From here we had to go to the corner and then down a steep hill to get to the courtyard and entrance to the church.  You pay $1 to see the inside of the church and then need to go to a low building on the side to purchase tickets for $2 to climb the tower.

Here are large wooden doors on the front of the church.  Notice the indigenous people carved into the scene.









Through this large glass heart you are supposed to be able to see El Panecillo which is a hill and monument on the outskirts of town.  

The gargoyles of this church are not usual in that they are in the form of local animals. 

The church is 150 meters long, 35 meters wide and 35 meters tall in the central nave.  It is said to be the largest church in South America.

This pipe organ was on the second floor.

This is the beginning stairway that takes people up to this plank walk across the roof.