Old Town

Old Town lies in the middle of several hills, at the base of the Panacilla and in between valleys. Here lie the beginnings of the city or at least the colonial period. A huge basilica lies at the center and its huge bell towers ring out the hour. We went inside toward the end of our visit and were surprised by the ornate-ness met with the modern commercialization of Christmas. Right behind the altar an extensive nativity scene complete with BLINKING Christmas lights. They were strung from the top balcony with the façade of Jesus all the way down to the floor around the manger.

We walked up and down the tights streets. The sidewalks are no wider than a 1.5 feet and the streets aren’t much larger than that. Of course, the drivers don’t know that as they continue to travel two wide and three if they can squeeze it. Of course, the buses take the right away…or the van that flipped a U at the top of a hill while 4 lanes of traffic looked and HONKED on as the drivers held their brakes, praying to save their transmissions.

The presidential palace is lovely with a yellow room, not mustard yellow though. It had a huge table, which would be great fun for dinner parties. The tour was a little less informative than other tours mainly because my Spanish wasn’t strong enough to interpret everything the guide said. My favorite part was the courtyard filled with about eight nativity scenes. They were made out natural products found in Ecuador including corn, cotton, and metals. Pretty impressive.

Finally, our tour took us to one of the highest hills, Panacilla, where the great Virgin looks over the city. There were also a few nativity characters to join her. They were 30 foot tall Magi and donkeys! Wow!