We set out today to explore the historic old city of Quito and lucked out when we came upon a ceremony at the presidential palace. El Presidente up on the balcony, military bands in front of the palace, drummers and trumpets at the central monument and horses with soldiers with swords ringing the whole event. The troops, dressed in blue long coats, with red and white trim and wearing white breeches tucked into knee high boots were impressive. Enough brass to outfit a fire house. Presidente Correa's minions passed out newspapers showing that he's one of the most popular world leaders to his people, topped only by Vladamir Putin.
Quito is a wonderful mix of the old and the new. There are wonderful old colonial building as well as lots of innovative new architecture. The air is redolent of tobacco, coffee, with a faint whiff of exhaust fumes. But basically the air has been pretty clear.
There's lots of good food. We stopped at a hole in the wall place in the old city and had a terrific bowl of soup with a chicken base, potatoes, rice and wonderful seasonings.
We met our grandson Sylvan O'Sullivan for lunch today during his break from teaching English as a second language. We're meeting up with the rest of his family this evening for dinner.
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