First, the Sucre Theater. Gorgeous. So much work has been done restoring some of these old buildings.
Next was Teatro de Variedades. Not technically on the tour but pretty and all restored, too!
A cool building on some street. It's amazing all the times you come down here but are so busy watching for traffic, or shopping, or talking to the person with you, you never even look up to see the buildings. You really need a tourist (with a photographer's eye, of course) with you to start appreciating things more.
Bolivar Theater, a cultural icon and now a gutted mess. A gas tank at Pizza Hut exploded over ten years ago and to this day the theater has not been restored. I'm assuming they are still caught up in the legal battles. A shame, too, since I can remember going to the theater café with Andrés's aunt on some of my first trips to Ecuador and having little finger sandwiches on the balcony.
Santa Catalina. The nuns here are cloistered and survive by selling wine and honey and other items to people, who go up to a turnstile, put their money in the little cubbyhole, and turn it. A minute later their product appears. There was a constant line 2-3 deep the whole time we were there.
Santo Domingo Church. Open. Cool altar. I didn't take a picture and probably should have, since it was only the second time I've been in there. Grandpa Dan will have to send me a copy of his.
And down to La Ronda. I took this picture for Andrés because I knew he would like it, and sure enough! Of all the pictures he immediately brought this one up and said, "Cool picture!" I know my honey, that's for sure!
The balconies of Quito. Classic Old Town.
Back up to San Francisco Church. Candied peanuts in all varieties on the way. Spooky clouds.
Inside the convent we spent a few minutes recuperating and hiding from the sun. It was hot and we were tired, but it was so peaceful and cool inside the convent. Getting away from the smoke and smog and noise of downtown Quito, yet still in the midst of it all...
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