Quito by night
On Tuesday we went on a brief excursion to see the old part of Quito by night (too dangerous to do on your own by night apparently). There were some lovely old-style colonial buildings, a monument celebrating Ecuador becoming the first South American country to gain independence from Spain, and the oldest church in S America. I hope to visit the old part of Quito in the day before I leave.
One of the best things I saw (and yes I know its wrong, but still...) were the traffic lights for pedestrian crossings! They have the usual green-man figure come up to indicate its ok to cross, but then there is another light that flashes a countdown ´5, 4, 3, 2, 1´ to indicate the time left to cross and the green-man bursts into a spriting motion until he suddenly goes red (I´m surprised that the red man wasn´t lying prostrate as if he had been run down becuase he hadn´t made it across in time..). Class! [See the photo below, captured in the daylight].
