Quito: Day 3 at The Historic City & The Basílica

Interesting observation: The vast majority of street vendors in Quito are women. In New York City, the overwhelming majority are men.

Venezuelan immigrants: I spoke to a local about the influx of Venezuelans into Ecuador given that country's current political unrest. He told me that he left the country for two years during which he lived in South Korea. When he returned, about a month ago now, he was surprised at how many Venezuelans had immigrated to his country. Quito is hospitable. Access to jobs, even if they are street jobs, and food, is beyond compare to the situation in Venezuela.

The Basílica: Blew me away. The Neo-gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral looks, to me, completely out of place in Quito, even in the Historic City, and is all the more incredible because of it. The other "main" cathedral in Quito, the Catedral Metropolitana known as simply, la Catedral, was built in the late 1500s, like the rest of the oldest buildings in the historical part of the city. La Catedral is in the main square, the Plaza Grande, around which the Historic City is situated. The Basílica is about a 10 or 15 minute walk uphill from the Plaza Grande. Built in the late 1800s, the architect who designed it, Emilio Tarlier, was inspired by the Bourges Cathedral in Bourges, France, which was built around the year 1300. It's far and away the most impressive piece of architecture in Quito and the only Neo-Gothic piece of architecture I've seen. Nothing does it justice, particularly words, but here are some pictures. Eating breakfast in it's plaza overlooking the city was the highlight of my day. If you reverse the images of my unimpressive sandwich and its background, the second picture distills the juxtaposition of this grand Basilica amongst the neighboring buildings in Quito (in my opinion, no expert here).

Finished: The Autobiography of Ben Franklin (Non-Fiction book #1 of trip) & Diversions by Hjalmar Söderberg (Fiction book #2 of trip). A of BF: worth its weight in gold for its life advice. Great book. Diversions: I think its title is fitting: it was delightful as a diversion. I think this might be the first book I've read by a Swedish author, and I enjoyed the foreign cadence of the translation and the culturally different (in time and place) forms of expressions. I would read more by Söderberg.

#Basilica #QuitoHistoricCenter #PlazaGrandeQuito #BreakfastattheBasilica #CoffeeattheBasilica #CourtneyComstock #CourtneyComstockblog