Quito, day two.  Started the morning off by walking to  Plaza San Francisco, the main plaza in the old town.  Already, crowds were gathering.  As we later learned, music and other events take place on most of the plazas throughout the old town on Sundays.  The crowd kind of moves from one plaza two another as the music venues change. It was, also, the day before the Ecuadoriano children return to school.  There was a lot of last minute shopping going on. The good news was that most  streets were closed to traffic.  The bad news was the zillions of people on the street going to or coming from Church, shopping, music, restaurants or whatever.

We made our way to the Museo Fray Pedro Gocial.  This consists of a huge ornate spanish cathedral and a large structure that was the old convent.  These buildings covered one entire side of the plaza. We went into the cathedral.  Services were underway so we didn't go into the church. We have been in some large, ornate cathedrals in Mexico, but this was far larger that any of those.  We went to the museum.  We were the first ones there.  The old convent is basically a large rectangular structure with a huge court yard in the idle.   The courtyard has been very attractively landscaped.

The inside walls are covered with paintings from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.  These works were supported by the Franciscan clergy who founded the mission.  There are still Fransiscan monks in residence there.  One virtually joined us as we toured the site. All signs were in Spanish, of course.  We managed to get the gist of the explanations. There was one original wall mural still in existence.

After the museum, we went into the plaza and listened to music for awhile.  This music was more of what we expected. Many guitars and percussionists. A female singer lead the group. They were older players. Reminded us of the Buena Vista Social Club.

We then met a school teacher, who taught in St. Louis for ten years.  He led us on a tour through many of the other cathedrals and plazas. In the other cathedrals, services were taking place.  There seemed to be as many people looking at the art and icons as participating in the services.  Apparently, 10 masses are held each Sunday at each church. The highlight was a stop a a music maestros house. His name is Huberto Santacruz, Jr, fourth generation music teacher and performer. This man has restored one hundred year old pianos from New York.  He plays a lot of indiginous music on them.  He performed a few pieces for us. We bought a CD!. We ended our tour a a local eatery.  We each had sheep stew - the national dish.  It is a stew with sheep meet, potatoes, spices served with yellow rice, pickled onions, lettuce and plantain. It was very good. Price was right, also.

We are laying low the rest of the afternoon.  Becky is feeling the altitude effects more than me.  I was able to take medication to help the transition. We may go back to an area of art dealers and coffee shops We will see.

Tomorrow, Quenca.

Photos:  Fiesta - Plaza Santa Domingo, Iglesia de San Francisco/Plaza de San Francisco/Museo Fray Pedro Gocial, Garden - Museo Fray Pedro Gocial, Maestro Huberto Santacruz, Jr and Cuenca Theatre (on the old slaughter square - where, they butchered the slain bulls from the bullfights).