An Easter Sunday Photo Sortie

For a moment, the first shower had no lighting. And the second shower didn't have any lightning. No thunder, either, although thunderstorms had been predicted.

But at least there was a shower, just like on the first Easter. Some 1,982 years ago, we're told, the skies darkened and it rained. So I guess that that was appropriate for Easter Sunday in Quito, Ecuador.

But why did the lights have to go out at 8 in the morning when I was all soaped up?

I had only just stepped into the shower and turned the knob just far enough that the water flow didn't outrace the on-demand tankless water heater when the bathroom light went out and the water got very, very cool. And there I was, in a lather.

Melanie, who had he adjoining bedroom to mine,  summoned our hostess, Olga, and she flipped the breaker. The lights came back on. But we realized that we can't have the lights on in Melanie's room and the bathroom and still expect to enjoy an uninterrupted hot shower.

An inauspicious way to begin Easter and our visit to the stunning Basilica del Voto Nacional. But things got better.

For one thing, the taxi only cost $1.50 to the Basilica. Non-metered cabs had  been charging us as much as $4. And when the guard turned us away from the mass (we were tourists and not welcome inside for reasons that might be obvious), a multinational couple (he: Zimbabwe; she, Switzerland) directed us around the corner, where we could climb the very tall steeple for just $5. Part way up, we could observe the service from the balcony above he narthex (the beginning of the nave, for   non-believers and backsliders-- hope I have that right).

The arches above the nave

The worshipers and the service in the nave. (Edited Melanie Wood photo)

The glass work in this basilica is stunning. Check out the rose window below, which faces the nave, and after that, the image of the man in the stained glass window, which is above and to the side of the nave.

Climb a bit higher, and you can peek out at the flying buttresses which support the massive structure.

Not visible from this angle are the gargoyles, which, instead of looking like imaginary monsters, take on the appearance of real creatures that inhabit the Galapagos islands. The basilica is advertised as the highest viewpoint for Quito, but we're not quite there yet. More climbing is ahead.

Climb a little higher, and you catch glimpses of the ornate architecture and the rolling, climbing hills that people ascend to reach their homes.

Higher yet, and you are beginning to get to the very top of the basilica. . .

. . .and the tower the visitors climb up to. . .

. . .and the visitors in the tower.

This is Melanie, camera in hand, preparing to walk down the catwalk over the buttresses to climb the steep narrow ladder that takes visitors to the tower at the far end of the nave. (She went, I didn't.)

And after shooting photos to her heart's content in the tower, this is the circular staircase that allowed her to ascend a couple of floors higher to the clock tower. . .

. . .and the catwalk of the clock tower.

After all that excitement, we descended down that spiral staircase to the floor where there was a cafe with refreshments and a balcony where we could step out to check the time (the basilica's clock was apparently on celestial time, because it didn't match any time we were familiar with).

The petite cafe.

The exterior of one of four clocks on one of the basilica's twin towers.

Having seen it all from the inside, we descended for a few more photo opportunities -- the exterior, including the daring individuals who ascended that tower -- from the outside!

This is me, trying in vain to get the entire structure into one photo. (Edited Melanie Wood photo)

Here's another view of the twin towers of the basilica.

And a view of the solitary tower visitors were climbing. . . (Edited Melanie Wood Photo)

. . .and how they got there. Would you believe that some climbed that staircase carrying a toddler? Even the gargoyles must have gasped.

The Basilica, with storm clouds gathering in the background at mid-afternoon. Melanie and I quickly hailed a cab. Later the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. Dry and indoors, we began processing photos. (Edited Melanie Wood photo)

In the next blog we hope to tell you about the Mayo Clinic surgeons and the orphans.

Love,

Robert,
and Wilson

A replica statue of Pope John Paul II, who visited the Basilica in 1985, hangs suspended over the  Basilica's entryway.