Quito - a misunderstood city

For the last week I have been in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. I arrived in South America on the 15th October with the purpose of trying to learn a little spanish. A little spanish is the exact phrase I need to describe the progress I am making. It is hard going as I am not a natural linguist. For two weeks I an staying in the home of Martha and Vincente, Martha is the director of the Spanish School in which I am studying. I have one to one lessons between 8:30 and 12:30 followed by a local ecuadorian lunch with the tutors followed by another couple of hours one to one - but in the afternoon we do not have lessons per se but experience a range of cultural activities. These range from walking around the local area, to visiting important sites or churches or museums and even salsa dancing. All the time I have to speak Spanish, no English allowed. I eat my evening meal with Martha and her family again totally in Spanish and then I settle down to complete my 2 or 3 hours of homework. It is as intense as it sounds and I am shattered.
Quito is a lovely city not at all what I had expected. All the reports you hear about Quito is that it is an extremley dangerous city, very polluted and dirty. Obviously you have to be sensible about safety, ie not walking alone after dark but Quito is a beautiful place, full of museums, churches, colonial architecture and impressive statues. The picture above is of the Angel of Quito. She was built upon a hill overlooking the city to protect Quito from earthquakes. This is the view from the top. The views were spectacular, you could see the surrounding mountain ranges and volcanoes. Not content with climbing the Angel of Quito, I have also climbed a tower and spire in the basilica. You can see the spire to the right of the picture and the clocktower is on the left. To get to the top of the spire, I had to climb up a metal ladder on the outside of the spire looking down. It was slightly nerve racking. The ladders within the clock tower were all inside but as you approached the top you had to walk across the metal girders covered over in a chicken wire material. That was worse than the outside ladder! Again the views were amazing and the sense of achievement you feel when you touch solid ground again is great. When you go inside the churches here, you really do need to wear sunglasses. Every inch of the walls and ceilings are covered in gold, arranged in ornate patterns. They take their Catholicism seriously here. So I have another week of studying in front of me, then I reckon I will derserve a treat - so I have booked a trip to the Galapogas Islands - I´m even going on a luxary catamoran! Thats how much of a treat I deserve.