It feels a little boosterish, but I’m quite interested in some of this info and wanted to pass it along. We’re staying in the Old Town area of Quito (photo of street in front of our hotel). In the 1940’s, the aristocrats sort of block rushed another section of town and created New Town, or La Mariscal. It’s reputed to be more tourist-inhabited and isn’t Colonial-building-central like this area is. This part of town is in fact, for this hemisphere, really old.
La Plaza Grande was first laid out in 1534 – that’s Plymouth Rock minus 85 years, and during the lifetime of Michangelo, before Shakespeare’s birth, just 15 years after Cortez started whacking on Aztecs. It will be 500 years old when Rosie finishes college. Old!
I walked over today while the juniors were acclimating to new time zone and 9000 feet (ie snoozing); it was quite bustling (photo) with families and musicians enjoying the last day of Xmas break, plus riot police with those plexiglass shield things waiting patiently in reserve as the respective boosters of two political opponents shouted and cheered and waved their index fingers at each other. The Cathedral is on one side, big obelisk thing in the middle (photo).This Plaza is now called La Plaza Independencia in commemoration of kicking out the Spaniards in 1809 (after nearly 300 years of colonial rule); the obelisk is the monument to that.
Eggs and buns and fruit salad and café con leche for breakfast downstairs this morning, tomorrow we’re looking forward to hazarding the Coastal Breakfast: Green banana balls stuffed with cheese or fried pork rinds. Yum!
Hugs to back there. Paul
7 comments:
Keep the pics coming - interesting!
It appears that your adventure will be rich in culture and history. I look forward to reading your posts, albeit with some envy!
Good to hear you arrived safely! We enjoyed the pictures and reading your posts. We hope Rosie is feeling better!
Take care,
Debbi, Jack, Lauren & Caleb Trumbull
Thanks for the update. Very glad you made it safely this far.
John and Cindy
Good to see our family taking on such an adventure! Cool. We have been keeping up thorugh the local newspaper. What an amazing experience for the family. Be well and we will keep up with your journey.
Happy new year!
Take care!
Steve, Wende and Kaden Fisk
You guys are rockin'. So cool to be following your introduction to the country... it makes me yearn to do the same thing with our boys soon. Beuna suerte con todo!
Mike, Robin, Cory, and Graham
Hello Blackburn fam,
Loved reading your blog. The pictures are amazing. The architecture must be amazing to see. Are you finding the people are friendly? We are hoping that Rosie is feeling better and the rest are all caught up. Can't wait to read more and see more pictures, especially of the coastal areas. Take care, we're thinking of you.
hanfam (sandi)
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