Yesterday the Policia got a chance to use their CS gas as students protested in the city centre. Apparently, they were complaining about the high cost of living in Ecuador while the tourists found it so cheap. Law enforcement services in Ecuador are provided by the national police, called “Policía Nacional del Ecuador”. The police force is part of the Ministry of Interior. The National Police is in charge of public security, law and order and criminal police investigations throughout Ecuador.
It was the second day of demonstrating and today the police looked as though they were expecting more trouble. They trooped into the city centre with their white helmets, machine guns (Uzi’s? The Uzi is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. It is one of the first weapons to incorporate a telescoping bolt design, which allows the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.) and batons as I walked out to the Post Office.
Everyone was on their way to work, the Spanish descendants in their smart business suits and the Indians in rough homemade clothing lugging heavy loads on their heads or backs. The Post Office is more like a collection of stationery kiosks under one roof, each one selling stamps as well as envelopes, postcards and magazines. Present them with your mail and they stick the appropriate stamps on for you.
Back at the hotel I had a great hot shower, the first one since I left Mexico! This morning I went for a walk about the city, following the Carrera Guayaquil up to the Parque la Alameda. At one end there was a statue of Simón Bolívar, in the middle a quaint old conservatory, and in the corner a small lookout tower.
La Alameda is the oldest park in Quito,and the sector where it sits today was known to the natives as Chuquihuada (spearhead), presumably due to the triangular shape of the plain of land that the park occupies until today. The cabildo of the colonial city, aware of the need for a recreational space for the people of Quito in the purest style of European cities, decides the delimitation of a green area at the northern end of the city, and the works begin immediately after the signing of the Decree of the Corregidor Francisco de Sotomayor, on 8 March 1596.
Between 1785 and 1790 some of the interior roads that surrounded the small natural lagoon were created and that are still preserved today, the first monuments were installed inside to beautify the place, and the perimeter was closed with a low decorative wall. From the beginning of the nation's republican life until about 1873, when construction of the Astronomical Observatory began, the park was used by sheep breeders, who took their animals to graze on the spot.
In 1877 a comprehensive restructuring of the park was undertaken, ordered by Marieta de Veintimilla,niece of President Ignacio de Veintimilla and who served as Head of Government and also First Lady. Its redesign gave the park a more landscaped and European style, pleasant for the walks of the Quito high society of the time.
In 1887 an Alpine-style building, built entirely of wood, was inaugurated at the northern end of the park, which housed the first Botanical Garden of Quito, which was directed by the Jesuit priest and researcher Luis Sodiro. Years later that same building would be used to become the first School of Fine Arts in Quito, until a fire destroyed the structure in the late nineteenth century.
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco, also colloquially as El Libertador, or Liberator of America, was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire.
Quito townsfolk had picnics amongst the trees or splashed about in the boating lake. I went up the tower which was more like a squat helter-skelter with a spiral ramp leading up to the top. It was not quite high enough to be able to see over the trees.
I headed back towards the old quarter as the new part was just a modern city with high rise banks and office blocks. The locals seem to think that shorts are an amusing item of clothing and I got the same stares and giggles as Jackie got yesterday.
In the Plaza de Independencia I took a photograph of a well battered armoured car. Independence Square (Spanish: Plaza de la Independencia, or colloquially as Plaza Grande) is the principal and central public square of Quito.
This is the central square of the city and one of the symbols of the executive power of the nation. Its main feature is the monument to the independence heroes of August 10, 1809, date remembered as the First Cry of Independence of the Royal Audience of Quito from Spanish monarchy.
The square is flanked by the Carondelet Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Archbishop's Palace, the Municipal Palace and the Plaza Grande Hotel. I went on to peruse the area where the Indians sold their fruit and vegetables.
Stalwart stocky Indian in trilby hats squatted behind coloured heaps of agricultural produce, raw bloody meat, fish or apathetic half-dead chickens with their feet tied together. Their menfolk seemed to be in bars drinking or laying on the sidewalk in drunken comas.
Several churches, including the huge basilica with it’s twin towers were being renovated, shored up with timber and covered with wooden scaffolding. The monumental Basilica del Voto Nacional is the most important neo-Gothic building in Ecuador, and one of the most representative of the American continent. It was once the largest in the New World.
When I got back to the hotel at 15:00 hrs I needed a rest after all the walking. The high altitude doesn’t seem to be having any effect so far (Quito is around 9,000 feet or 3,000 metres. Someone flying to Quito from sea level experiences an elevation change of nearly two miles in a matter of hours).
Jackie came back singing as usual. His favourite song was “This must be just like living in Paradise”, which was a big hit for David Lee Roth. He would belt it out while he was in the shower! He remarked yet again how cheap it was in Ecuador.
We lay about reading our books until 19:00 hrs. and then went down to the hotel restaurant for something to eat. We were joined by an English student doctor who was out here on a three week holiday. He was studying rare diseases and presumably considered Ecuador a prime spot for research.
He left London two days ago and filled us in with the news, or in this case, the lack of it from Blighty (England). It was fairly quiet, so we went to bed at 22:00 hrs.
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