Quito Ecuador  25 September 2015

Hello occasional followers and others.  I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since we started our trip to the Americas.  We have done so much it is hard to keep straight in my mind, even with the help of my diary.

We left Australia on September 11 via an incredibly crowded Sydney airport.  Took us a good 2 hours to check in and clear security and customs.  LIne ups everywhere in the international terminal.   Half of Australia seemed to be on their way to somewhere else.

Our flight to Santiago Chile was as pleasant as flying in cattle class ever is, and landed on time.  We caught a bus and the new and very reasonable metro to the city and found our way to the airbnb apartment with our friendly hostess Marcela.  We were in the Baquedano area which is very convenient to the older area of the city and to parks and museums. After we got settled, we had a short walk around, but by that time it was about 3:00 pm and we did not have time to see some of the museums near us.  We stopped for a coffee in the Parque Forestal, a big green space near our accommodation.  Bill ordered a cafe negra and I ordered a macchiato.  What I got was a huge mug of frothy milky, coffee: a "Latte Macchiato".  Something was lost in translation there.

The next day we took a bus trip to Vista Del Mar and Valparaiso.   Beautiful drive through the mountains to Vista Del Mar which is a resort much frequented by Chileans and other South Americans.  Lots of parks, big apartments, chi-chi shops and white sand beaches with clear water but few people were swimming.  Apparently the water is too cold at this time of year.  It was certainly warmer than Yamba in winter so I don't know what the problem was.

Valparaiso is a more working class city with more poverty.  We walked through "Happy Hill" an area of late 1800's houses originally occupied by Europeans.  The streets are very steep and narrow.   The houses, primarily covered with vertical corrugated iron sheeting, are painted in bright colours with vivid trim.

 Pablo Neruda's home was in this area and is now a museum.  We visited the building but did not have time to go through the museum.

We had more problems with dinner.  We knew most restaurants did not really open until 9:00-10:00 pm but what with jet-lag and me fighting the flu we really wanted to eat earlier.  Small cafes were open, but Chile is no country for vegetarians.  They have four major food groups, fat, salt, carbs and meat.  We dined at a small local cafe and found another common Chilean occurrence:  A huge menu, of which only a few items were available.  We settled for pizza and beer.  The beer was good, the pizza was a thin, crispy crust with an almost non-existent smear of tomato sauce topped by a lake of rubbery mozzarella.

Sunday we walked around the city, visiting a beautiful park called Santa Lucia.  It is dominated by a large hill planted with gardens, interspersed with

paths and terraces.  From the highest point there is a panoramic view over the whole city, as far as you can see through the smog.  Santiago has very bad air pollution, even though most of the heavy industries have been moved out of the city,  The rapidly increasing number of automobiles is the culprit.   We also visited the Chilean Pre-Columbian Musequm which had a stunning collection of artefacts, all well lighted and displayed.  Pottery and textiles were particularly well represented.  There was less metalwork and jewellery than I'd hoped for, but all of it was very good.

Santiago has a huge population of stray dogs.  They

all seem quiet and somehow fairly well fed,  but are found sleeping in parks, on corners, in the middle of the footpath, just about everywhere you go.

Sunday evening we had dinner of Chilean sushi with our hostess Marcela.  Chilean sushi is light on raw fish and heavy on cream cheese.  I do not think one goes to Chile for the food.

Monday was a very early start for our flight to Quito in Ecuador.  The airport was a nightmare, even worse than Sydney. When we finally got to the check in desk an hour later, we found that they had oversold the flight and we had no seats.  Apparently, with Lan Chile you can go online up to 48 hours ahead and print your boarding pass.  (And if you don't do this, it appears you are unlikely to get the seat you have already paid for.)  The upshot was, they booked us into the airport Holiday Inn for the day, rerouted our flights, and gave us the offer of $US 816.00 each in flight credits to be used in the next 12 months, or $US 408.00 cash each on the spot.  We took the cash.  Whatever made them think that experience would make us want to fly with them again?  Luckily we left just before the earthquake and tsunami that did so much damage in Chile.

As a result of our flight delay, we missed half a day in Quito, arriving at midnight instead of the early afternoon. We stayed at the Hotel Vieja Cuba.  It is a small building with whitewashed stucco walls and a tiny garden surrounded by a black wrought iron fence.  It is all nooks and crannies, and has beautiful french paned wooden casement windows and doors.  Our room, number 11, was on the second floor in a curved tower section and had a little lounge and the toilet on the first level, and our bedroom up a spiral staircase on the second level.  It was spotlessly clean and has golden polished wood floors.  The hotel is utterly charming and the staff are very friendly and helpful.  All  day and all night coffee and tea in the dining room and breakfast of muesli, yogurt, fruit, juice, eggs, bacon ham and toast are included in the room price.  For this we pay Australian $110.00 per night.  Excellent.

We lost most of another day in Quito  trying to catch up on sleep and recover from the flu. We did manage to cram in quite a bit into out first afternoon, however, walking to the botanical

gardens situated in a large urban park near our hotel.  Very shady and restful, with a stunning orchid house full of orchids all sizes and colours in full bloom.

We spent Wednesday touring the old town on foot with its green squares patrolled by municipal police on Segways, splendid churches, and numerous museums.  We walked from Independence Square to the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus Quito).  The church took 160 years from 1605 to 1765 to build, and is the utmost expression of the Baroque style in Ecuador.  It was a fabulous building, every available surface carved, painted gilded or decorated.  The Jesuits had to train an entire local workforce of carpenters, stonemasons, carvers, painters, artists, sculptors etc.

It is hard to imagine any modern entity or government undertaking such a massive project that took generations to complete and still retained the focus of the original plans. It has been partially rebuilt 2 or 3 times due to earthquake damage;  the most recent restoration taking place from 1987 to 2005.

We also visited the San Francisco compound, which consists of a Church, Monastery, museum and the square.  The church was built by the Franciscans and makes a big effort to be as ornate as the Jesuits.  I thought they were supposed to be a mendicant order. The church is Baroque again, but smaller and in worse repair.  It is still splendid and magnificent, and has a huge ongoing restoration program.  We saw some of the restoration workers in the church and near the workshop area they had set up on the upper balcony of the monastery.   Part of the monastery is now a museum of a huge display of religious art made by local artisans and artists of the"Quitenian School".  From the monastery/museum you can access the church choir balcony and get a stunning view of the church from the upper levels.

There are many more churches in Quito, including the magnificent municipal "La Catedral", but we only had limited time.  We also visited the Museo Casa del Alabado.

 This is a beautiful little museum of Pre-Columbian Art. 
  The works are thoughtfully displayed and lighted, and every work is a gem.  They are arranged thematically, describing the place of these works in the native religion, world view and cosmos.

Thursday brought another horribly early start to the airport (could Bill have really arranged these flights?)  We flew via Guayaquil to Baltra in the  Galapagos.   For me, this last week has been the highlight of our trip.  We have been on a 'budget" cruise on the ship Darwin around the islands.  The boat is clean and comfortable, if small.  The guide speaks a tortured English but manages to get his ideas across.  It is much better than my non-existent Spanish.  We have been to about 8 islands with snorkelling every day, visits to giant tortoise protection areas and breeding centres, and a few hours in the small towns.  Every island is a revelation, and every one is different.  You can really see and understand Darwin's theories here.  Yesterday we were on two different islands with the Opuntia cactus.  On one, the cactus was short and had soft spines as it had no species that used it as a major food source.  On the second island, the cactus was tall, had a tree-like hard trunk and thick, spiky spines.  Here the giant tortoise and land iguana eat the cactus, so it had developed protective features.

There are many beautiful and diverse beaches, of white or red or golden and even black sand on the various islands.  The water is clear and turquoise.  The fish life everywhere has been colourful and abundant.  I must have over 100 photos (after culling) of fish every day.  The corals are not so colourful or thick as we are accustomed to see in Australia.  There are also many other water animals to look for, including sharks, turtles, galapagos penguins and sea lions.  The bird life is also interesting and many birds are easy to approach quite closely, including the red and blue footed boobies.  We have also seen frigate birds, flamingos, galapagos storm petrels, brown pelicans, galapagos mockingbirds, yellow warblers with a melodious song, and many of the Darwin finches.

 The Galapagos has been the highlight of our trip so far for me.
Tomorrow we finish our cruise on the Darwin and head for the Ecuadorian Rainforest near Coca. Till next time.