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The Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco (Church and Monastery of St. Francis), colloquially known as El San Francisco, is a colonial styled church and monastery located in Quito. Construction works began few weeks after the founding of the city in 1534 and ended in 1604. The founder of the church is Franciscan missionary Joedco Ricke. The construction of the Church and Convent of St. Francis began around 1550, 16 years after Quito was founded by Spanish conquistadors, and was finished in approximately 1680. The building was officially inaugurated in 1605. With the support of European Franciscans, the Belgian Friar Jodoco Ricke and Friar Pedro Gosseal, who came to the city two years after its founding, acquired land to the west side of the city's main plaza. This plot was where the palace of the Inca ruler Atahualpa had once stood. In addition to being a market center for indigenous Ecuadorians, it was also location of the military seats of the chiefs of indigenous armies. All told, the place had enormous strategic and historical significance for the indigenous people the Franciscans wanted to evangelize. It is not known who designed the original plans for the complex, though the most accepted theory is that they were sent from Spain, based on the topographical study of Ricke and Gosseal. It is also possible that architects came from Spain for the construction of the monastery, or that Ricke and Gosseal managed the entire construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_and_Convent_of_St._Francis

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Quilotoa is a water-filled caldera and the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacitevolcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ashthroughout the northern Andes. The caldera has since accumulated a 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano. Quilotoa is a tourist site of growing popularity. The route to the "summit" (the small town of Quilotoa) is generally traveled by hired truck or bus from the town of Zumbahua 17 km to the South. Visitors must pay two US dollars each to look from the lip of the caldera. A number of simple hostales have developed in the immediate area, and offer services such as mules and guides for the five-hour hike around the caldera (whose diameter is about 9km), a half-hour hike down (and 1-2 hour hike back up the 400 meter vertical ascent), and very basic lodging down in its bowl. Camping is permitted at the bottom of the crater, but there is no potable water (except half-liter bottles sold at the hostel), and only a single pit toilet, located in the hostel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilotoa

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Quilotoa is a water-filled caldera and the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacitevolcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ashthroughout the northern Andes. The caldera has since accumulated a 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano. Quilotoa is a tourist site of growing popularity. The route to the "summit" (the small town of Quilotoa) is generally traveled by hired truck or bus from the town of Zumbahua 17 km to the South. Visitors must pay two US dollars each to look from the lip of the caldera. A number of simple hostales have developed in the immediate area, and offer services such as mules and guides for the five-hour hike around the caldera (whose diameter is about 9km), a half-hour hike down (and 1-2 hour hike back up the 400 meter vertical ascent), and very basic lodging down in its bowl. Camping is permitted at the bottom of the crater, but there is no potable water (except half-liter bottles sold at the hostel), and only a single pit toilet, located in the hostel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilotoa

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Quilotoa is a water-filled caldera and the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacitevolcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ashthroughout the northern Andes. The caldera has since accumulated a 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano. Quilotoa is a tourist site of growing popularity. The route to the "summit" (the small town of Quilotoa) is generally traveled by hired truck or bus from the town of Zumbahua 17 km to the South. Visitors must pay two US dollars each to look from the lip of the caldera. A number of simple hostales have developed in the immediate area, and offer services such as mules and guides for the five-hour hike around the caldera (whose diameter is about 9km), a half-hour hike down (and 1-2 hour hike back up the 400 meter vertical ascent), and very basic lodging down in its bowl. Camping is permitted at the bottom of the crater, but there is no potable water (except half-liter bottles sold at the hostel), and only a single pit toilet, located in the hostel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilotoa

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Quilotoa is a water-filled caldera and the westernmost volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes. The 3 kilometres (2 mi) wide caldera was formed by the collapse of this dacitevolcano following a catastrophic VEI-6 eruption about 800 years ago, which produced pyroclastic flows and lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and spread an airborne deposit of volcanic ashthroughout the northern Andes. The caldera has since accumulated a 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which has a greenish color as a result of dissolved minerals. Fumaroles are found on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank of the volcano. Quilotoa is a tourist site of growing popularity. The route to the "summit" (the small town of Quilotoa) is generally traveled by hired truck or bus from the town of Zumbahua 17 km to the South. Visitors must pay two US dollars each to look from the lip of the caldera. A number of simple hostales have developed in the immediate area, and offer services such as mules and guides for the five-hour hike around the caldera (whose diameter is about 9km), a half-hour hike down (and 1-2 hour hike back up the 400 meter vertical ascent), and very basic lodging down in its bowl. Camping is permitted at the bottom of the crater, but there is no potable water (except half-liter bottles sold at the hostel), and only a single pit toilet, located in the hostel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilotoa

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