Our first excursion was to visit the historical are of Quito. We spent over an hour in traffic crammed into a small bus. It was a little tight with thirty cadets, two professors and two guides, but the cadets took it in stride and enjoyed being out in the city. We first passed by one of the historic cathedrals in Quito. It's a beautiful 19th century cathedral, especially at night. We took a lot of pictures and then continued to old Quito.
Old Quito is a colonial part of town with small tight streets and many shops. Its also known as "La Ronda." We walked around for a bit and then went to a restaurant to eat "empanadas de viento," which are kind of like the Mexican quesadilla. The empanadas were delicious, however, given the cadets were hungry I think they would have eaten anything at that point.
After spending some time in the historic district, we then climbed a hill up to reach the "Virgen del Panecillo." This is a statue of the Virgen on top of a hill that overlooks Quito. The climb wasn't too bad, but remember we've only been in Quito for a few days and were at 10,000 feet elevation so we definitely got a little winded. After about a week or two we'll be much better suited for the elevation.
Overall, the students were delighted to get to know the town and have already started making plans to return to "la Ronda" to do some shopping and continue exploring the city.
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