CYCLING SUNDAY IN QUITO

It turns out that they block off a lot of streets on Sundays, which makes for easy cycling around Quito, although there are a number of cycle paths throughout the city. 


First photo of the day is the view from our room on a sunny morning.  It clouded over soon afterwards and threatened rain most of the day. 










A view of one of the vehicle free streets with the statue on top of El Panecillo hill in the background. (la Virgen de El Panecillo).  


















 Closeup of la Virgen de El Panecillo .  No, we didn't cycle up the hill.






















 Calle de la Ronda (la Ronda street).  Famous for many shops and restaurants, but most closed on Sundays, a common practice in South America.  Towns and cities shut down on Sundays.

 Another street we didn't cycle up.   Note the bike path in the middle of the street.  We were in the old part of town, so this is typical of houses and shops.

 On of the very busy streets downtown 


















One of the churches.  We are on a walk called the Walk of the Seven Churches.













A painted lady statue

Last photo today:  a long distance view of the cathedral.

That killed the morning.  In the afternoon we walked about hoping to get a tour to la Mitad de la Monde, which we missed due to a schedule change.  More about this tomorrow when we hopefully get there.  

We also hit a few more shops and markets.

At the end of the day, the first of the tour riders arrived. They decided to take a couple of days off due to fatigue, bad weather and very tough cycling.  There are a number of others that will be arriving tomorrow.