Saying goodbye to Pichincha

We had a wonderful view of Cotopaxi

The virgin statue aka el panecillo (because the hill looks like a bread roll)

Standard jumping picture hehe

Alex and his family that was so nice as to take us around

View of Southern Quito from the statue

The quilted, rolling mountains that I am going to miss so much

La Iglesia de San Francisco

Sunset from our roof.  Priceless.

Last day tie ups.  We went to el panecillo (the virgin statue) in the morning.  We took el payaso bus to meet up with Alex and his cousin, who was nice enough to give us a ride to the statue.  It's in a really dangerous area - apparently the neighborhoods right below the hill are the most dangerous in Quito.  The statue is the only virgin depicted with wings and faces the north.  Quito used to end at the area where the statue is located, but it grew and it's back is to the south, the larger and more dangerous part of Quito.

After that we went to La Iglesia de San Francisco.  The inside was very similar to La Compañia with a lot of intricate gold decorations and the layout was very similar.  Sadly, the front and many of the statues in the church are in the process of being restored (there is a panel in front of the church with the facade beforehand and the statues that are supposed to be inside were missing).  Alex's cousin's mom got married there!!!! Such a gorgeous church, as all of the colonial churches in Quito are.  It was so nice to walk around the historic district one last time, with Alex's family as our personal tour guides.  We found out that one of their president's was murdered on the deck of the presidential palace in La Plaza Grande and he showed us the plaques.

They took us to go get lunch in the north, as we had never tried fritadas before.  Turns out it is a type of pork dish - there was so much food!! Very yummy and it kept us super full until nine when we ate dinner haha.  Also, everything in the north is nicer.  The bathroom had toilet paper!  And there was a higher percentage of foriegners.  After that they dropped us off at a trolley stop (so nice that they drove us everywhere!) and we headed to la mariscal for some last minute shopping at the artisinal market and got pedicures.  My feet feel so soft and clean :)  We caught a taxi home and we finished up our packing.  So sad to put everything away.  We got home just in time to catch the sunset and I went right up to the roof.  Such a spectacular view and I'm going to miss it like none other.  When else can I look at mountains from my window?

We headed back to the historic district for dinner with Alex and the crew one more time.  We got dropped off at la ronda near a plaza and our taxi driver peaced.  Thanks?  We went to the middle near a police officer and waited for everyone else to arrive.  When they arrived they promptly told us that they had just been running as they were afraid of getting robbed - they went over a bridge and two black guys stood up and were threatening.  Made us slightly nervous, as we had always felt safe in this area.  We're just too trusting sometimes.  We found a little café that had good coffee and we tried empanadas de moracho (a type of grain).  We hung out and then they told us that we should probably leave as this area got more dangerous as the night went on (being a sunday night, there weren't that many people walking around).  Despite all the warnings, we had no issue and then they were nice enough to drive us all the  way back to the south.  Alex's cousin's friend joined us at the end and when he said he had to drive to the south (Quicentro Sur/Puente de Guajalo) her friend was really really surprised.

Safe and sound we are hanging out for one last night.  La Esperie in the morning!!