Old Town y muchas Iglesias

I meet with my host family tomorrow, so no guarantees as to how often I´ll be able to get online to update after today. (But I love to record what I´ve done, and update everyone!)
Today my group and I explored Old Town Quito. We went to La Basilica, an amazing and HUGE Neo-Gothic cathedral. The stained glass windows and the carvings are so incredible. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor! We went up to the top to look out on the city of Quito. We could see Old and New Towns, La Panacilla (a hill with a GIANT statue of La Virgin de Quito), and Pichincha (mountains to the west). The rest of the group kept climbing up another ladder to the very top, but I was too afraid to. (Maybe next time, silly selective fear of heights! haha!) Already known as a circus freak though, a few people commented on how I shouldn´t be afraid because I do fabric!
We then went to La Plaza de Independencia (Independence Square) and La Catedral, an incredible Baroque church. The carvings and gold leafing were incredible. We also went to La Palacia de Presidente (the president´s palace- he doesn´t actually live there because he has small children and wants them to have a normal life). It´s really beautiful, and the interior garden in it was so nice. Oh! And we got to see the changing of the guard right before we went in to look at it. It was really cool!
Then we went to La Iglesia de San Francisco, another amazingly gorgeous Baroque church. One of the most notable things about it is that part of the interior design of the church includes Inca suns (which are representations of the Inca god), as well as other Inca designs inside near the windows (designs which were also found on pre-Inca jewelry). Also in the altar, there are mirrors, which the Inca believed to be magical and mystical. (My independent project is writing itself, I´m so excited about this!) Also when we were in San Francisco, there was a service going on. I really felt disrespectful coming in for part of the service as a tourist, then leaving. I really want to go to mass here, and hopefully my host family (or one of the others) will take me. I´m also really excited about traveling to a nearby town where there are espiritista-type people and brujas, etc.
Finally, we ended our travels at a restaurant called Crepes & Waffles. The food was really good (and I ended up having a waffle with nutella, bananas, and ice cream! Soo much sugar!!)
After that, we had more orientation-type things, and now I do believe I´m going to take a nap, or plan out weekend trips or other trips for my project. =)