Blog Post 2: City Tour

1) My favorite part of the city tour was the monastery of St. Agustine. It was very different from holy places I have seen in photos and in person before. I loved the architecture of the monastery with the intricate details as well as the plaza and fountain in the middle. I have never been to a place like that before. Getting the chance to go into the catacombs was what really made this place my favorite. In many historical churches or holy places you can walk around, but very rarely does one get the chance to go behind the scenes—or under them in this case—and see some of the history there. I think catacombs are fascinating and have always wanted to visit one so this was an amazing opportunity. It was interesting to learn about how the bodies were folded to fit and the restoration of the site.

2) I learned a great deal about the history of Ecuador and Quito on the city tour. I knew a little about the history but I had no idea how much influence outside countries like England had on their independence. It is very interesting to learn how the histories of different countries are so interrelated despite distance. For example, I was interested to learn how England funded Simón Bolivar due to their own interests in keeping their competition (Spain) at bay. I like learning about events in history from different perspectives and putting them together to see the way that events influence and are reactions to others.


3) La Iglesia de la Compañía surprised me the most. The church was incredibly beautiful; I have been in several historical churches before but this may be the most ornate I have ever seen. I don’t think I have ever seen so much gold in one place before. I was surprised that even with the obvious beauty and historical value of the church it was relatively empty. Many popular churches, especially those in Europe that have notoriety all over the world, are packed full of people or have long lines. La Iglesia de la Compañía was not crowded and although I am sure that it gets more traffic on certain days like the weekends it does not seem to have some of the same fame that other churches of the same caliber have. This surprised me and had me wondering about why other churches, particularly European ones are more popular.

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