“El Panecillo,” which means “the little bread loaf,” is the wonderful nickname given to the small hill that rises above downtown Quito. In pre-Inca times, it was the site of a temple to the sun god, and in 1822 it was one of the last stands in a battle between the indigenous people and the Spanish.

Quito

In 1976, Augustín de la Herrán Matorras was commissioned to build a giant statue of the Virgin Mary of the Apocalypse to look out over the city. The statue is based on one from the 18^th century by Bernardo de Legarda. She has wings like an angel and a crown of stars, and she is standing on top of a globe with a serpent. Unlike almost every other representation of the Virgin, she’s not standing still with her hands demurely folded; she has a hand up and she’s almost dancing.

Guarding the city

Overlooking Quito

My friends and I took a cab up the hill and wandered around, admiring the views of the city, which runs down the narrow valley and out of sight over the Andes Mountains. The first impression I got from up there is just how big Quito is, and the next thing I noticed was how colorful so many of the buildings were. The churches and official government buildings downtown were all severe gray stone, but the houses running up the hill are a marvelous mix of bright reds, blues, yellows, and oranges.

She’s made of aluminum

Colorful city

After we looked around up there, we took a cab ride to the Itchimbia hill, which overlooks downtown and El Panecillo both. We went to Café Mosaico and had a drink while we watched the sun go down over the colorful city, and the lights go up.

Stunning sunset

City views from Cafe Mosaico

The city by night