Quito

We left San Agustin and the Purace volcano and took the road to Quito. There were some interesting clouds, hence the photo, not of the river but of the clouds.

And some clouds that were in a band obscuring the view of the mountains.

It was still mountainous and luckily none of the recent rock falls blocked our path.

There were tunnels...

and bridges to get the road through the mountains...

and the scenery was great...

plus looking down on other roads...

And then we arrived at Sanctuario de las Lajas where we where to spent the night in a convent but not before visiting the site where there was a manifestation of the Virgin Mary in 1754. At the site a church had been built, but earthquakes had damaged the original buildings and the present building dates from the early 20th century.

I thought it looked a lot like a Harry Potter scene but who knows whether J K Rowling got inspiration from this place? A few details of the building...such as the rose window...

and the statue on the bridge.

A full face photo of the main facade of the church.

A glimpse of the church from further up the valley.

A view of the inside of the church and the rock face from where the voice was heard to come from.

A general view of the building from upstream from the river bank.

And after the visit to the pilgrimage site we just had to stop at the equator. I had been in in Quito six months earlier and had seen two equator visitor attractions but this was yet another one and run by scientists who study the earths rotation.

The actual zero zero point.

And a half of a selfie.

Toilets are not usually photographic but I couldn't resist this particular one at the equator visitor attraction.

I had visited Quito just six months before and I had an early morning flight to the Galapagos Islands in a few days time so I booked into a spa hotel near the airport rather than stay in the centre.

And it had some grand traditional hacienda architecture such as in the breakfast area...

the reception area,

another communal area,

extensive beautiful gardens including a football pitch and a volley ball pitch,

But I had some spare time to hire a bike and go for a bike ride along El Chaquinan, a former railway that has been turned into a walking and biking corridor through the countryside. My hotel was at the higher end of the trail at 2,450m and the trail dipped to a low point of 2,200m before reaching the town of Cambaya. The trail is 20kms but the hotel is at point 19kms so I haven't actually done the whole length.

There are several specific sections to the route and each is named and each has an impressive portal.

A view of the route taken from a sign which details the route ahead and there were frequent signs so that you would always know exactly where you were on the route. I started near the far right hand end of the path and the "You are here' sign is in the valley with great views.

One of the three tunnels on the path...built it says in 1921.

And there were several tunnels.

A view down the valley.

And another tunnel.

And a view down the valley.

A series of tunnels and bridges.

I had worked my way up the valley and now I crossed the river and would be working my way along the far side of the valley.

The bridge across the river.

Another portal along the route.

A view down the valley that the original train track followed.

A gorge that the trail crossed.

The whole route is well maintained and this is a view of a general section.

But finally the trail ended but the railway tracks continued so I had to follow them into the town.

And then it was the return journey back along the 19kms back to my hotel. It was going to be an early start the next day for my flight to the Galapagos and `i doubt that there will be wifi on the boat so there will be a break in the blog posts.