Pilgrimage to Ecuador

          Chaplain:Father John M. Duffy

Tour Leaders: Oscar & Marita Salvosa

October 12 - 20, 2011

Day 1:  OCT 12

14h20: Depart Toronto International Airport.

21h55: Arrival in Quito, assistance and transfer to your Hotel.  Accommodation in Quito (Swissotel).

Day2:  OCT 13

08h00: Breakfast at the hotel

09h00: Transfer to Quito`s downtown

10h00: Holy Rosary, Adoration & Benediction, & veneration of the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Good Success  in  the Concepcion Convent.

10h30: We will Celebrate Mass at the Church of the Royal Convent of the Immaculate Conception, where the statue is located.

11h30: After mass, a little walk around Quito`s downtown. The main square “La Plaza de la Independencia”, the independence monument and the Bishops Palace.  Visit to the ‘’La Companía de Jesús”, and the chapel where the miracle occurred. The Jesuit church is one of the great baroque masterpieces in South America.

Visit La Merced Church where inside the Ecuadorian Church you will see a fine stone of Our Lady of Mercy. It is said that this sculpture has saved Quito from many volcanic eruptions as well as earthquakes.

13h30: Lunch at Plaza Grande Restaurant.

15h00: Return to your hotel.

19h00: Dinner at Café Quito Restaurant and accommodation in Quito (Swissotel).

Day 3: OCT14

06h00: Early Breakfast at the hotel

06h30: Departure to El Carchi (5 hours bus ride).  Turn off the main highway and descend down the cobble road with breathtaking views including two waterfalls, a natural bridge called Rumichaca on which there has been erected the most beautiful natural sanctuary of Ecuador and of America.

11h30: Arrive to The Gruta de La Paz converted into a chapel whose famous Virgin sparkles under the stalactites. The Virgin’s Grotto will move you through its natural formation and here we will Celebrate Mass at  The Shrine of Our Lady of Peace (Grotto de la Virgen de la Paz).

Lunch Time.

13h00: Transfer to Ibarra.

17h00: Arrival to Ibarra for dinner and accommodation (Hosteria Chorlavi).

Day 4: OCT 15

06h30; Breakfast

07h00: Departure to El Quinche or Hill of the Sun.

10h30: Visit the  Sanctuary of the Virgen del Quinche

11H00: Celebrate Mass here. Today, El Quinche holds one of the most beautiful colonial and historical treasures of Ecuador, The Holly Virgin of El Quinche;  different histories surround this image but its still unknown why it was moved from the community of Oyacachi to the community of El Quinche.  Besides this beautiful piece of art we found at El Quinche an exuberant collection of religious colonial art.

12h30: Transfer to Baños in Tungurahuas province.

Lunch time.

18h00: Dinner and accommodation in Baños (Samari Resort & SPA)  

Day 5: OCT 16

07h00: Breakfast

07h30: Departure to Baños town.

08h00: We’ll visit and Celebrate Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Holy Water (Virgen de Aqua Santa), located in the central plaza of the city. People come to the Baños to see a beautiful collection of murals on the inside of the church. The simple structure appears even more beautiful as a result of its surroundings of mountains and waterfalls. This semi-gothic church is an important place of pilgrimage for local Catholics, who come to worship Our Lady of the Holy Water.

09h30: Travel to Chimbo’s town.

13h00: Visit the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Guayco (Huayco) in Bolivar located at the bottom of a beautiful ravine.   Lunch time.

14h30: Departure to Riobamba.

18h00: Arrival for dinner and accommodation in Riobamba (Hosteria Abraspungo).

Day 6: OCT 17     

06h30: Breakfast

07h00: Departure to Rioabamba town.

08h00: Celebrate mass in the Riobamba Cathedral. is a historical relic of the city, located on the side of the park Pedro Vicente Maldonado. Its façade is baroque style, built in white limestone containing reliefs that are present in the aboriginal and Spanish expressions, with scenes from the Old and New Testaments and religious iconography.

09h30: Travel to Biblian, a village 9km north or Azogues on the Ecuatdian Panamericana. The home of Santuario de la Virgin del Rocio (Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Dew). This church is highly visible to the east of the main highway on a steep hill dominating Biblian and looks more like a fairy-tale princess’s palace than it does a church.  Lunch time.

18h00: Arrival to Cuenca for dinner and accommodation. (Oro Verde Hotel).  

Day 7: OCT 18

07h30: Breakfast

09h30: We will visit and Celebrate Mass at  The New Cathedral of Cuenca (Spanish: Cathedral de la Inmaculada Concepción) located in front of Parque Calderon.

10h00: Visit to the Conceptas Museum and panoramic city tour.

Lunch time.

14H00: In the afternoon trip to Loja. 

18h00: Dinner and Accommodation in Loja (Howard Johnson Hotel).

Day 8: OCT 19

07h00: Breakfast

07h30: We will travel to the town of El Cisne, the site of a much venerated Marian Shrine.

11H00: We will visit and Celebrate Mass in The Basilica of El Cisne (The Church of the Swan) which was  built in 1742 and modeled after a similar basilica in Harlungenberg, Germany. In 1594, the inhabitants of the El Cisne region had desired their own religious relic, similar to the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Representatives of the local people traveled to the capital city Quito, where they requested the sculptor Don Diego de Robles to create the Virgin de El Cisne statue, which he did out of the wood of a cedro tree. Upon arriving in El Cisne, the Virgin performed her first miracle which was a much needed rainstorm after a prolonged drought. Since then, the statue has been a focal point of devotion for the deeply religious inhabitants of the area. 

13h00: Transfer to Catamayo – La Toma (Loja`s airport).

Lunch time.

17h50: Flight from Loja to Quito.

18h00: Transfer to your hotel for  dinner and accommodation (Swissotel).  

Day 9: OCT 20

04h00: Early transfer for your international flight to Toronto.