It has been 476 years since the founding of Quito, and the city is in full celebration mode, leading up to the 6th of December. This is an annual event, and this year it is a long weekend as well, as Monday the 6th is a public holiday for the anniversary.
Today there is an included 3 hour city tour as part of my overall Galapagos arrangements. My guide, Dolores, is heavily pregnant, and we take a leisurely stroll around the historic centre of Quito, visiting the major churches and the Presidential Palace. Of course, we arrive in time for a demonstration around the Plaza de Armas of a group of sacked oil company workers, who take their grievances to the front of the Presidential palace.
In the afternoon I roam the streets of the historic centre, along with a throng of celebrating Quiteños. The one church that I didn’t visit with Dolores was La Merced, which turns out to be less of a tourist attraction, with heavier usage by the local population than the more ʽsignificantʼ churches. They haven’t spared the gold-leaf Baroque architecture in this church either, but it seems to be smaller and more intimate than the others.
