View of La Basilica from the ground
One of the things that strongly influenced my choice of Quito for our Summer 2007 vacation was the writing of Megan Lyles. I found her blog during my research and enjoyed all of her posts about Central and South America. But something in her write up about the Basilica del Voto really inspired me. That, I said to myself, is cool.
And, after having the chance to visit the Basilica ourselves, I have to say that this was one experience that lives up to the hype. Lyles' post is descriptive, with a few good photos, too, that give you a sense of what to expect. But it still didn't fully prepare me for the reality.
It is a truly unique experience. An opportunity to challenge yourself a bit. Simultaneous physical exertion and phobia confrontation. Fear of heights? Fear of untimely accidental death? Concern about old, potentially compromised ironwork at altitude? Here's your chance to tackle them all.
I should have jotted some notes at the time to capture exactly how this all went down, but I'll do my best to piece it together a year later.
First, I think you take an elevator up a couple of 'floors' if you will. Then you start climbing a spiral metal staircase.
That brings you up into the area behind the clock faces.
You can pause a bit here on a cat walk, read some graffiti and check out pictures from the construction of the Basilica.
The spiral staircase then continues up another level.
At that point you're pretty high up and have some open room to move and take shots of the amazing city views in all directions. And you can grab an iron ladder that goes up some more.
This next level is a crazy web of thin beams and wire netting.
At this point it might be useful to take a step back and provide some perspective.
And here you can crawl literally up to the edges of the little room you're in and take some pictures of the city.
I gotta be honest - even if my conscience didn't prevent me from marking up a Basilica with random "I was here" notes, I don't think I'd want to contort myself the way you would need to in order to reach outside at this point and start writing. Pulling the trigger on my camera was about as much non-essential movement I could rally for at this stage.
Then it's time to try the other side of the Basilica.
Your first move here is to walk across a pretty narrow wooden bridge suspended over the spine of the building.
This angle gives you a better sense of what you're dealing with.
Once across the bridge you have a pretty steep staircase / ladder to contend with.
The view from above again provides a bit more perspective on how steep this really is.
Now you've got a two-stage climb on the exterior of the tower to get up into the 'observation deck' (probably a better term for it).
Stage one - view from below
Stage two - view from above
This is where you end up.
Again, to get your bearings:
What I find brilliant and refreshing about this whole experience is I simply can't imagine that it's possible in the U.S. First, we paid ~$2 for admission. Then we just walked in. Didn't sign any waivers, weren't required to wear safety goggles, body harnesses or any kind of protective head gear. Just paid $2, hopped in the elevator and climbed around. During times when most entertainment seems to be either overly choreographed, sanitized or outright neutered due to fear of litigation, the absolute freedom this offered was almost staggering. Now, true adventurers can scoff at this perspective. Admittedly, we weren't exactly rock climbing in Canmore, but for a couple of domesticated urbanites, this was cool. I'd highly recommend it.
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