Sunday in the Plaza San Francisco. This is the heart of old OLD Quito, where the Inca king Huayna Capac had his palace before the arrival of the Spanish in 1534. That palace is long gone, burned to the ground by the Incas themselves when they learned that Spanish conquistadores were making their way up the valley from the south. On the site today is the imposing Iglesia de San Francisco, a vast church that was swarming with crowds on this Sunday morning.

I walked into the church, joining the parishioners on their way to mass. Once inside, I couldn't help but gasp as I looked around and saw that every inch of the walls, ceiling, and altar were covered in solid gold. Quito was never as rich as the Inca heartland of Peru, but the Spanish nevertheless extracted massive quantities of gold from the northern Andes. Much of it was shipped off to Spain, while vast amounts were used to adorn the churches of the colonial city.

I listened to the mass for a few minutes, then walked back out into the plaza, where the Sunday festivities were in full swing. Small palo santo burners were placed throughout the plaza, with a rich aromatic smoke emanating from the smoldering chunks of wood in them. Dancers, flute players, drummers, and singers marched around the plaza, stepping carefully around the charcoal burners and chanting stories that told the history of Quito's transition from Inca to Spanish.