20240531 Celebrity Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip, Day #2 - Touring Quitor, Ecuador and straddling the equator

Celebrity Xpedition Galapagos and Machu Picchu trip - Headaches, equator straddles, and a Panama hat

Yes, that price tag says $21,000 US dollars - no, this isn't the hat I bought

Oww. We both awoke at 3:30 AM with pounding headaches. Yeah for 9,000+ feet. We popped some Tylenol and went back to bed. My headache was gone by morning, but it took another round of Tylenol to knock Arlona's out.

After showers, we headed down to the Botanica restaurant for their excellent buffet breakfast. With lots of selection and an omelet station, we ate well. Then, it was back up to the room to pack up for our full day in Quito. We met in the lobby at 8:45 and were split up into four groups, giving each guide small groups of around eight guests. Two groups boarded each bus and we were off.

Our first stop was a lookout at the hill of El Panecillo, between the northern and southern portions of the city. The northern portion contains the financial center and is regarded as the wealthier section. The southern section is considered to be more humble and modest. Right between, at the highest point, sits a massive winged Virgin Mary statue. The Virgin of El Panecillo is the largest aluminum statue in the world. At 135 feet high, including the base, it is taller than Christ the Redeemer in Rio. This is the largest winged representation of Mary. The original winged version known as the Virgin of the Apocalypse is coming up a little later.

Virgin of El Panecillo

The aluminum panel construction was pretty impressive

I liked the half-moon over Mary's head

The views of the city and the surrounding volcanos in the Andes are equally impressive.

Looking north

The Basilica of the National Vow - the largest Neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas

Looking south - can't remember that volcano's name

Looking back north again at the financial center

Back south at the sprawling residential areas

Cayambe volcano - it is the only snowcapped mountain that is crossed by the equator

Mount Cotopaxi, just above Arlona's head, and Ilinizas to the right of that - all volcanos

Mount Cotopaxi, Ecuador's tallest volcano at 19,000 feet - it is active

There were some interesting sculptures there as well.

Our next stop was at San Francisco Square in town.

It is also home to a large monetary and museum.

It is a working monetary with about 34 monks living and working inside

The central courtyard

The museum is home to the largest collection of religious works in South America with over 3,500 pieces.

A full listing of the monks over the years

There was a service in progress in the cathedral but we were allowed in the balcony to observe and take photos.

What do we see above the altar?

It is the original winged Virgin Mary, known as the Virgin of the Apocalypse, from 1734

Nice pipes

Our guide, Estaban, was able to squeeze a little time out for a stop at Casa Montecristi - a purveyor of fine Panama hats.

We learned about the differences in the quality of the hats, all of which are hand-made in the traditional way. They are graded with a number representing the number of strands of fiber per inch. The maximum is 60 strands per inch. That $21,000 hat at the top of this blog is only 55! I can't imagine what a 60 would cost. The 55 took an entire year to weave.

After checking several out, I chose a 22 in the classic block style with a traditional black band.

It is unique to Ecuador and I'm pretty happy with it.

We sent the rest of the tour ahead so we wouldn't slow them down. We caught up in another church. It was gorgeous, governed in baroque-style fixtures all covered in 23-caret gold. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photos, so you'll just have to imagine it.

Next up was a short walk to Independence Square. I snapped a few photos of some of the architecture along the way.

The back of the statue in Independence Square

Government seat and presidential palace

Grenadiers still guard the palace

The flag of Ecuador

The base of the Independence Monument

The Independence Monument

The top of the monument

Metropolitan Cathedral

Basilica of the National Vow

Virgin of El Panecillo

Our lunch stop was a restaurant inside a convent

This was the room where Ecuador's independence documents were signed

The actual chair and desk that were used for the signing

Lunch was a buffet with tons of choices.

Salad

Shrimp ceviche with plantain chips, roasted corn, and popcorn

Sea bass, chicken, and an empanada

A bunch of yummy desserts

More sculptures on the way to the bus.

We boarded the bus for the 45-minute drive to the Intiñan Equator Museum. The museum sits right on the equator and has been verified by military GPS.

They had a llama

This sign was originally placed in 1961 to mark the middle of the world

A classic style Indigenous house

They raised gerbils - they are considered a delicacy here

We learned about shrunken heads - it is still practiced today but only on animals that died naturally as a means to preserve the heritage

A shrunken sloth head

An old shrunken human head

Next was a demonstration of cacao processing – everything smelled so good.

We finally got to the equator line. 

We were able to stand on both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time by using their goofy oversized shoes labeled N & S.

Because they sit on the equator, they have no seasons. Their solar inclination never changes. The sun never moves. It rises and sets in the same spots each day at 6 AM and 6 PM.

This sundial shows the ancient three words for morning, midday, and afternoon – initially, the only three times they used – the numbers were added later. The sun was showing a bit before 5 PM based on the shadow.

Pretty close - plus, the government has shifted the clock a few minutes over the years

They talked about the Coriolis effect – the reaction from the Earth’s rotation that causes convective storms like tornados and hurricanes in the northern hemisphere to rotate to the left and storms in the southern hemisphere to rotate to the right.

To demonstrate, they did the classic demo where they run water down a sink right on the equator and it runs straight down. They move it five feet into the southern hemisphere and suddenly, it spins to the right as it goes down the drain. Then they move it five feet into the northern hemisphere and it spins to the left as it drains. Amazing!

The reality of it is that they let the water sit and become completely still on the equator before pulling the plug. When they demo in the southern hemisphere, they pour the water into the left side of the sink, imparting a slight right rotation in the water, and then immediately pull the plug so the water continues to spin to the right as it drains. In the northern hemisphere, they pour the water into the right side of the sink, imparting a left spin in the water, again, immediately pulling the plug so the water spins to the left. The reality is that the Coriolis effect doesn’t really impact small things like the water in a toilet or sink, but it sure made for good theater. It does, however, work on a global scale, hence the differences in storm rotations in the atmosphere between hemispheres.

Arlona spotted what Google thinks might be Cuban Emeralds in a tree nearby.

We hopped on the bus and made the drive back to the hotel. We had a little over an hour before we headed out again for dinner. Dinner tonight was at a restaurant called la Gloria.

We were offered a fixed menu with several appetizer and main course choices.

I had the smoked shrimp with avocado paste - Arlona had an unphotogenic soup

Arlona had ravioli

I had a traditional Ecuadorian Tonga cooked in banana leaves

Rice, chicken, plantains - delicious

Dessert was a trio with creme brulee, a banana pastry, and ice creme with chocolate

Dinner was great and we enjoyed meeting some of the other folks we will be cruising with.

Back at the hotel, we still had work to do. Tonight, we had to pack our checked bag and deliver it, unlocked, to the Celebrity desk in the lobby. They “locked” them with a zip tie and secured the bags for the night. Tomorrow morning, Galapagos inspectors will inspect each bag, looking for anything that is banned in the Galapagos. Those include seeds, fruits, plants – essentially anything that could impact the fragile ecology in the Galapagos.

Taking our checked bags down

We returned to our room and settled in for our last night at the JW Marriott. We depart around 11:30 tomorrow morning for our private chartered flight directly to the Galapagos. All commercial flights include a layover. Celebrity has worked out direct chartered flights. So far, we’re impressed with how Celebrity has organized everything. We’re expecting that this will continue for the duration of the trip.

I have to admit, it will be nice to get back to sea level for the next week.