Old Quito, Ecuador, October 4, 2017

Quito’s chief attraction is the old town and its dazzling array of churches, monasteries, convents and colonial style houses dating from the early days of the colony.

Quito is in many ways similar to Tbilisi in Georgia where I have spent 3 years. Mixture of modern glass buildings for business, lots of restaurants, old houses mixed with new buildings, limited town planning, chaotic traffic.

The Basílica del Voto Nacional is the tallest church in Ecuador, thanks to its two imposing, 115-metre towers plainly visible throughout the city. Built in a flamboyant, neo-Gothic style, it’s a wild concoction of spires, flying buttresses, turrets, parapets, arches, gables and elaborate stained-glass windows. Despite construction beginning in 1892, the church – which is built largely in concrete – is still not entirely completed.

The gargoyles, based on Ecuadorian fauna such as anteaters, monkeys and jaguars, are a contemporary departure from the traditional representations of mythical creatures.

Some ladies from another part of Eucadors having a business selling pretty colored scarfs pretending to be local produce.

The central courtyard of the original Archbishop's palace at the Plaza de la Independencia has become a commercial center.

Plaza de la Independencia

Barber shop (one of the oldest in South America) at Palacio de Gobierno, situated at Plaza de la Independencia.

Guards at the entrance to Palacio de Gobierno, the seat of the Ecuadorian presidency.

Demonstration at the Plaza de la Independencia where demonstrators call for clarity about the many missing people in Ecuador.

Old town skyline

Inside of the Church and Convent of St. Francis at Plaza San Francisco

There was a lot of barking going inside the church when we visited it. And it turned out that a very popular mass was in progress where dog owners could have their dogs blessed.

One of the city's dogs on its way to being blessed.