A Little Cheese and Beer to go with that Museum?

Two pieces of pre-Colombian art in the Casa del Alabado museum

Day Two in Ecuador and my sleep had been only marginally better. We had booked our stay in Quito in a resplendent old historic building with gorgeous decoration and wonderfully sited in the middle of the historic district. Except one problem. Our particular room was on the corner overlooking quite possibly the busiest street in Quito. Motorcycles, trucks, and other vehicles buzzed by our window literally all night long. My earplugs couldn’t begin to take the edge off the grating noise of traffic so close. The second night, I devised a way to cut down a bit on the noise, pushing the wooden roll top desk up against the window and sandwiching the bed’s thick quilt between it and the closed curtains. It helped…a little.

Sleep was hard to come by in the historic center of Quito - at least for me!

Once again, the day dawned bright and sunny with no sign of the four days of rain the forecast had predicted. We decided to head to the Intiñan Equator Museum about a 45 minute drive from the center of Quito. Amazingly, the Uber cost us less than $10 each way to go this distance. Honestly, it was our second choice of Equator museums. The most authentic and historic one, without all the cheesy, fake Equator tricks, was too far away. This seemed like a best second choice.

Replica of the sundials created by early Ecuadorians to determine the Equator’s location

It started out good, with most of the guided tour giving good information about the flora and fauna of Ecuador. Then it got to the best part, when it showed us the tools the native Ecuadorians used to deduce the exact location of the Equator. That was really cool, and consisted of a sun dial like device with two sides. Once they found the spot that the sun shone half of the days of the year on one side and half on the other, they knew they were at the middle point of a spherical Earth. Fascinating, and a tribute to the scientific knowledge of Ancient people. Sorry “Ancient Aliens” — give us humans some credit!

So I consented to have my picture taken in these enormous bronze shoes straddling the equator

After taking our pictures straddling the Equator, it was time for the cheese. The tricks. The “balance an egg on a nail” trick. And the “pour water in a basin and watch it drain in opposite directions on either side of the Equator. I was prepared for it and noted the basin was neither on level ground and its sink was neither smooth nor even. We saw that for the “Look — the water drains straight down” portion, that they poured the water and let it settle for more than five minutes while they went through their spiel. Then, when they dragged the basin up the barely noticeable slope and poured the water, they poured it with the plug already pulled. And the direction they poured it, coincidentally, was the direction it drained. Same thing on the opposite side of the Equator. I’m sure the guide thought I was a real stick in the mud because I just sat there shaking my head. “Boring!” I wouldn’t even try to balance the egg on the nail!

Church of San Francisco from the 1500s, Quito’s oldest and largest

After our visit to the Equator (don’t get me wrong — it was cool being there), we headed back into town. We decided to visit the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco. This was the first church built by the Spanish in Quito, started in 1535. It is a huge, sprawling building that is technically the largest architectural complex in all of South America. It is particularly known for its abundant religious artwork throughout the building. Few to none of the signs were in English, but we had our Google Translate app working on our phones to translate the text by taking a picture of it.

cool religious tome in the museum inside the church

We paced through room after room of paintings, sculptures, and other treasures before getting to the brewery. Yes, the oldest church has what is possibly the oldest South American brewery! And they give tastings…except that room appeared to be closed. We could walk through it, and intriguingly look at the shiny new craft beer bottles they were using nowadays, but no tasting. Feel free to picture an immensely sad and disappointed Worldwidemike!

View of one of the church towers

The wide open cloister with its palm trees, greenery, and benches was completely enclosed by the arched two story, tiled roof buildings. We lingered and took some pictures of its beauty. From there, we headed up the tower to the choir. This was probably my favorite part. The main church of San Francisco is undergoing renovation, but you can visit the choir and organ high above and behind the main nave. It was cool looking down on the church and watching the workers restoring bits of decoration. From there, we walked out along a walkway connecting the two towers of the basilica. There were great views of Quito’s main historic square below. All around, we could see the rooftops of Quito’s historic buildings and the domes and spires of its many churches. It would turn out that every day in Quito was a day to take pictures of the city from high on up.

Lovely palm tree shaded cloister inside the church walls

Our last stop was the gift shop, and lo and behold, guess what was for sale? Beer from their brewery! I felt like singing a praise along with the monks and nuns. We bought one each and took them out to the cloister to drink, while sitting on a bench amidst the palm trees and greenery. San Francisco is named after St. Francis, the founder of the Order of Franciscan monks. According to Sean Connery in the moody, atmospheric film, “The Name of the Rose,” St. Francis was “much prone to merriment.” I enjoyed sipping my beer on a warm day in the oldest church in Ecuador. Merriment indeed!

Quito stretches away beyond the convent’s walls and sprawls up the surrounding hillsides

From there, we were in for a surprise and an absolute jewel of a museum. Casa del Alabado had without a doubt the most amazing displays of pre-Columbian art I have ever seen in my life. It has more than 5,000 pieces of artwork displayed with beautiful lighting and arranged in a very interesting, thematic fashion. Rather than organizing it by culture or time, they group the pieces in their glass display cases by their use. Most were for religious or ceremonial rituals. There is considerable speculation by the Historians on the exact use of each piece and what the early people were thinking as they employed these beautiful works of art.

This shaman statue was one of my favorites in the gorgeous Casa del Alabado museum

Case after case contains statues, ceramics, furniture, animal-shaped vessels, beads — you name it! I took nearly 50 photographs (“Yay - photos were allowed!”), marveling at the artistry and beauty of the pieces. Some were whimsical with leering faces, others were august and solemn, while still others were stylistic representations of various animals. It was one of those times that you would see a statue and say, “Wow, this is my favorite!” Then, a few minutes later, you had a new one you liked best. If you have time for only one museum in Quito, this is the one you should see.

I loved the traces of paint color still on this statue

Rather than go on and on, trying to relive my visit there, I will close this blog entry with photos from the museum. I hope you enjoy them and one day get a chance to see them yourself!

One of the anthropomorphic ceramics in the museum

This guy will be very angry if you don’t visit the museum when you are in Quito!

“Squirrel!” Interesting ceramic piece in the museum

Look! They had “minions” back then, too!