12th March 2015 – Quito – 2015-03-15 03:34

Today we are collected at 9:00 am by our guide Pedro and taken on a city tour of Colonial Quito.ÿ First we visit Plaza de Indepencia and the Gothic style Cathedral which is enormous, although not very old as it was opened by the Pope in 1985. Next we visit the Government Palace also on the square with it’s magnificent looking guards. We then walk around to the La Compania de Jesus Church which is the richest church in the Americas with 58 grams of gold leaf.ÿ The whole inside of this church glows with a golden yellow when the sun shines in.ÿ We managed to sneak a photo through the door at night when a service was in progress.We walk further on to visit the San Francisco Church and Convent which is currently undergoing renovations. Its interesting to watch while sections of the interior are being cleaned and re-gilded.ÿ We gt to look down from the choir stalls while a communion service is in progress.The bus then drives us up to the Panecillo hill which overlooks Quito, a spectacular view.ÿ Sitting on the top of the hill is a statue of the Virgin Mary.We are then driven out to the Guayasamin Museum which houses the extremely emotional and insightful paintings of Oswaldo Guayasam¡n.After lunch Michael does some maintenance work on the car installing the new spring loaded carburetor needles supplied by Don, replacing some missing bolts and helping a couple of the other cars.ÿ Kay has some much needed maintenance too, with Laurel colouring her hair and giving her fringe a trim up.ÿ She did a pretty good job too, so thanks Laurel. Tonight we are taken out by members of the Classic Ca Club.ÿ They hire an open party bus complete with a local band sitting on top.ÿ We are all given a cup on a string to put around our necks and a whistle to blow. Then a drink is handed around which is a citrus flavour with herbs made from fermented sugar cane and served hot.ÿ A bit like a mulled wine.ÿ The party begins as we wind our way through the streets of Quito with the band playing and creating a ruckus.ÿ We stop at a couple of plazas and walk around the beautifully lit up streets. We eventually end up at a restaurant on top of Panecillo hill and have a great night with our new friends from Ecaudor.