#230. Friday 26/11/04

Yesterday, I took it easy after the ol' volcano climb. Slept in, logged on and visited "La Basilica", a concrete gothic edifice in the old town. It's impressively massive with stained glass windows, faux flying buttresses, the works - but it's made of concrete!

You can go right up the bell tower and actually ring the bells! You go up rickety spiral staircases and skinny ladders - something which in no way would be allowed in a European cathedral. Someone would inevitably fall and sue, but here it's presumably your own fault if you let go of the ladder. From the top you can see the entire sprawling city - old and new. I captured the fantastic views with some pictures that I will upload at some stage.

At the highest level, with the bells ringing in our ears, we spied some "ducks" and chickens and things in a carpark beside the Basilica. When we decided we asked the carpark attendant could we see his ducks. "No" he says ... "they're geese". So we visited the carpark geese and chickens and tiny children right in the middle of the city. You walk down the street between hotel chains and supermarkets and there's sheep grazing in a garden.

Later we went to a Cuban bar, ate their fantastic "sanduches" and hung out with a bunch of mafia types - complete with local guide. After that we returned to the hostel, passing a plaza with crazy dancers prancing about in the fountain. It's fiesta week here in Quito, so we should expect more of this.