Stretching our tourist legs

Quito is notorious for allegedly having more churches than bathrooms. Yesterday Liz and I finally got around to visiting the place that you sit and pray...or is that both of them?

The San Francisco church is located on none other than San Francisco square and is at the heart of Historic Quito. I was shocked to hear that a building completed in the sixteenth century was named after the Franciscan order and not a posh west coast U.S. city. This was the first church built in Quito and prior to its construction the space was a market. The sanctuary is no less than massive. Anything of importance is covered in gold leaf. The opulence is daunting today, let alone to say how a peasant farmer would have felt three centuries ago. The grounds total 8,670 acres, making it the largest religious complex in the Americas. We toured the adjacent museum which wrapped around two of the six internal courtyards. Our guide was a local student who spoke the best non-native english I have heard yet. She seemed pleased to have the chance to practice with us. I have come to realize that getting to know Quito is getting to know it´s religion. While our visit here was by random chance, it made the perfect follow up to the National Museum that we visitied on Saturday.

Cameras are not allowed but I found these on the internet to give you an idea













We are still taking classes for the rest of this week, so we will likely have the chance for many more tourist diversions.