I had been advised to arrive in Quito a day early, so as to acclimatise to the 2,800m altitude, but as I felt perfectly fine this morning I set out for a day around the old city - one of the first two places to be made UNESCO World Heritage sites. It's nice, with a few big squares, old colonial buildings and lots of churches - much as I expected, I suppose.
Although there are hints of the old Inca beliefs here and there (sun motifs in the ceiling at the entrance to the Monasterio de San Francisco, for example), and apparently still some Inca rituals followed in the more remote parts of the mountains, Ecuador is now over 80% Catholic. As today is Sunday this meant that all the churches were full of people attending Mass. I visited a few, and thought it sad how many people were clustered at the shrine for the patron saint of lost causes, and even more sad how many obviously poor members of society were begging just outside - whilst inside those churches were covered in gold, seven tonnes of it in one church, I was told. I'm not a religious person, and I'm sorry if I am now offending those who are, but just how does all this opulence fit with the supposed aims of the Christian faith? It seems to me that it would be more in keeping with what Jesus preached if this wealth were used instead to provide much-needed services to the poor.
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