Friday Night Lights

On Friday night, Jennifer and I decided to head down to the Centro Historico. We'd seen it in the day, but we wanted to see it at night because we had been told that it's quite a sight with all the old buildings lit up. Plus Jennifer had a hankering for one of those awesome chocolate ice cream cones from the Fruteria Monserrate (and actually I did too). So we took the bus down to the Centro Historico, a 30-min. trip because we live in the north and the old town is in the south-central part. But as we neared the Centro Historico, we could tell that there was awesomeness to see, as we caught glimpses of illuminated old buildings and churches in between buildings. We disembarked at the Plaza Grande, and as we came on to the grand old place we instantly saw that it's even more spectacular at night! People of all types stroll relaxed amidst the palaces and cathedrals, lit up in awesome colors that gives each building a unique character. And all up the streets you can see glimpses of bell towers glowing orange, or stained glass windows shining their spectrums out onto the streets.

After rushing to get the coveted ice cream before the shop closed, we strolled ourselves back to the Plaza to sit on a bench and admire both the sights and the chocolate. We wandered around a bit trying to capture in photos what we were seeing, experimenting with camera settings, but finally we were able to get the pictures you see here, although they really can't do the buildings justice. But, to our delight, we found a few camera settings that we were able to have a little fun with: So, exhausting our fun with cameras, we wandered into the Palacio Arzobispal (Archbishop's Palace), which is now a bunch of cafes and shops. One of the main courtyards of the palace has, however, been turned into a performance stage. And we got to see some really cool dancing!

Having gotten our dose of culture for the night, we decided to head back out into the plaza to search for a horse-and-buggy to take us around the city (it's the safest way at night!) to see all the sights. Unfortunately, all we could find were buggies passing by loaded with customers. So we headed back home, away from Old Town and back into modern Quito, filled with the traffic and the graffiti that makes you remember you're in the 21st century.