PHIL: Day 86/10 May
the basilica in Quito |
I feel well prepared for my school presentation
so we decide to visit most of the major ecclesiastical buildings in Quito from
the new basilica ,completed in the 1980s (and indeed still missing a few bits),
to the sixteenth century Cathedral of St Francis.
At the basilica we take the
lift to the top of the bell-tower as altitude exhaustion has set in again.
There is a catwalk inside the roof of the nave which, fortunately for me, does
not have a direct view to the ground. Allie climbs even higher up an external
ladder to the top of one pinnacle but I can’t face that.
The more ancient churches of old Quito have a
surprising variety of decorative styles ranging from Roman to Gothic but all
with exceptional nave ceilings of decorated wood with massive areas of gilding.
Whilst walking between the Company of Jesus church and the Cathedral a band is
playing at the Presidential Palace.
Closer inspection reveals a trio of new
ambassadors to Ecuador being accredited to the President – diplomatic cars
containing the Belgian, Turkish and Ghanaian representatives draw up with much
pomp and many sunglass-equipped ‘heavies’.
We are soon in our own diplomatic vehicle,
however. The British Embassy Land-Rover, only a month old, draws up at our
hotel to take us to the so much enthusiasm! |
On arrival a rather shambling headmaster and his delegated ‘co-ordinator’ (who looks about 12 years old but has apparently been teaching for a decade) greet us. The programme they have devised is nothing like the original and so I quickly re-jig my presentation to cope with 20 minutes of 6-year-olds followed by 40 minutes of 7-10s.
On arrival a rather shambling headmaster and his delegated ‘co-ordinator’ (who looks about 12 years old but has apparently been teaching for a decade) greet us. The programme they have devised is nothing like the original and so I quickly re-jig my presentation to cope with 20 minutes of 6-year-olds followed by 40 minutes of 7-10s.
The school lunch is as
excellent though the staff at table are uninspiring, but the younger pupils
reward me with ‘oohs and aaahs’ whilst the older ones ask intelligent
questions. Allie is a star with the computer linked projector so I leave
feeling something has been achieved.
ALLIE: DAY 86: Thursday, the 10th
May
A wander around Quito and a speech about ballooning in the British
School
fabulous views to the snow capped mountains |
It’s a beautiful clear morning.
How lucky we are with the weather. After finishing up more emails (invitations
to go to Jemen, Senegal or Italy for ballooning pop up but are unfortunately
all at a bad time when we are committed else wise) we take to the narrow
streets of Quito and walk up to the Basilica.
This is the largest of all
churches and the two spires stand up to 47 meters. You can take the elevator
and climb the rest to the top – which at least I do since I know my husbands
love of heights! The view across the city and up to the Virgin de Quito on the
hill Panecillo is literally breathtaking the altitude definitely taking its
toll again.
Iglesia La Compania de Jesus |
Even the floors are wooden panels, so is the skilfully
carved ceiling and some of the side alters. A mass is just in progress and we
listen to the singing and the sound of the organ. Amazing how full it is
considering it’s just a normal Thursday morning 10 o’clock. You wouldn’t get that many people even on a
Sunday in any church in Europe!
The next one is of the Jesuit order called La Compania de Jesus. This is the most decorated churches of all with 7 tons of gold! It’s really incredible and you don’t know where to look first: there isn’t an inch left in the whole building that isn’t filled with angels, roses, stars, leaves, saints or other heavenly figures or motives. Gold blinded we walk out into the Plaza Grande just in time to see the inauguration of the Ghanaian, Belgium and Turkish Ambassadors all accompanied by a military band and heaps of police. We really do have it with parades this trip!
We are nearly churched out but
decide to do a last must: the cathedral which stands a bit unspectacular in the
plaza. Again it’s different in that it has a beautiful wooden ceiling but rest
is quite simple compared to the pomp and extravagance of the other churches.
Back to the hotel for a quick brush up.
eager kids at the British School in Quito |
At 12.30 we are being picked up
by Joja, an Ecuadorian girl who works for the British Embassy and drive down to
the British School which is situated in another valley nearly an hours drive
away.
We are greeted by Darroll the head master of the school and invited to
‘school lunch’. The lunch was surprisingly good compared to the sort of cold,
unsalted rubber I had to eat when I was studying a term at Durham University in
the early 90ies.
We are being introduced to the other teachers and then it’s
time for us – or Phil – to do our presentation. We struggle a bit with
technology (a beamer that needs somehow to correspond with our compi!) but
eventually manage to run a picture show of our ballooning adventures around the
world.
the children loved the Churchill dog |
And they loved it! Nearly every picture
created a big ‘wow’ and ‘oh’ and when we finally came to show the dog – and
pumpkin shaped balloons from the Hamilton fiesta they couldn’t stop raving about
it.
answers and questions |
Driving back to Quito though was
a bit of a nightmare. Severe rainfall had brought the already chaotic traffic
to a complete halt. Back at the hotel we desperately need a ‘cristal’ (sugar
cane schnapps) and a hot bath.
We end up in the same courtyard for dinner as
last night since our ‘vegetarian restaurant’ turned out to be a a poker hole!
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