El Panecillo

The city in Ecuador that I was living in, Quito, is extremely long and narrow. It stretches 50 miles from North to South, and only 4 miles East to West. The old city, settled by the Spanish is 1534, but thriving before that by the Quitus and for a brief period the Incas, is now the center of the city. The old city is wedged between the newer developments in the North and the South. This picture is taken from the Basilica, and the buildings in the foreground are that of old town. The hill in the background is El Panecillo which translates to "little bread loaf" and legend says the mound is man made and many a man has searched for gold inside of it. Atop El Panecillo is The Virgin, who has watched over Old Town since 1976. Because of the way the city is settled, the southern half of Quito is behind El Panecillo. We were told that the southern side was forsaken, because The Virgin had turned her back on them. I thrive off legends, and I couldn't help but remember this one every time we took the metro to the bus terminal in the far south.