Today was a very rainy Friday, but we went out anyways! I slept in (no class at 8:30 am like Monday through Thursday!) and then met my friends Stephanie, Daissy, and Pierce at the bus station. We went downtown and took a while to find the Mercado Central to get lunch. It turns out we walked right past it once, and then went around the block and asked someone for directions, and they led us back to where we were! The market was indoors, and we were looking for a bunch of booths outside :P hah, oh well.
When we got there we walked around and there was a lot of food to choose from! There was also fruit, herbs, and lots of meat for sale. It was real pleasant to see the whole chickens hanging from some booths... ehhh... Anyways, we got some food and some juices. I got ceviche de camaron (shrimp) and some rice, and Daissy got fish, potatoes, and rice. (Pierce and Stephanie already ate before)
Then, we proceeded to walk up to the Basilica!
We had seen it before from Parque Itchimbia, so now we had to visit it :) We took lots of pictures from the bottom, and on the side of the church there were a bunch of stairs looking out over a plaza around the Basilica.
Here's a fun pic of that: (from bottom to top - Daissy, Pierce, Stephanie)
After walking around, we started climbing UP. At the first level there was the gorgeous stained glass window that you can see from the outside, but from the inside it's so colorful!
There was also a view of the inside of the church, which is sooo huge.
Then we kept climbing! First we went across a wooden bridge to the back tower, and of course when we got up and outside it started raining. We could have climbed up into the top of that tower, but the stairs (really a ladder) going up were slippery because of the rain, so it felt a little too risky. Then we went to one of the taller front towers that was open to go up in. First we climbed some winding stairs and were inside the clock! Then there were ladders to get up to the VERY TOP of the tower, literally. There was also a ledge that you could stand out on with no railings or anything, SO scary! We didn't go out on it, except for Pierce, but just peeked our heads out.
Right when we were at the highest possible point in the tower a HUGE lightening bolt struck somewhere, and we heard insanely loud thunder! Soooo, we decided to get down... Don't worry, we all survived just fine, I was just shaking when we heard the thunder... yikes!
After coming down, and taking lots of pictures, we went to a gift shop for a little while, then we went to have a little cafe and I also had some delicious churros. We sat and watched the rain, and then took the Ecovia (red bus) back home. There's a saying: "How many people can you fit on the Ecovia? 5 more." It was packed. But that's just how it goes, it's a pretty awesome transportation system, but there are just so many people that live in Quito! Luckily we got seats because we got on at the first stop at the southern end of the city, and rode all the way north to Rio Coca, which is a block from where I live. Daissy actually got off before us because she lives more towards the center of Quito (I'm towards the north), and Pierce and Stephanie switched buses at Rio Coca to take the green bus back to where they live in Cumbaya. That's what I take to get to school :)
Alright, well I'll be going on an excursion this weekend (leaving tomorrow morning!) So hopefully I'll come back with some good stories and photos. Chao!
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