Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Cabin fever in Quito
The plan for today was to climb Rucu Pichincha for acclimatization. Plan fizzled.
Everything started off well enough. I got to the teleferiqo shortly after 9, hoping to take it up and eat breakfast at the top. No such luck. The teleferiqo was not scheduled to open until 10, and there was a massive horde of tourists champing at the bit to get on. I head back into town to get some breakfast rather than wait aimlessly for some long amount of time.
I return to the teleferiqo shortly after 11, having breakfasted to my heart's content, to find it open. I get a ticket, strike a conversation with some Canadians (that Lululemon logo sure is distinctive...) and head up. As I embark, we are told that the teleferiqo is closing early today for maintenance. Instead of closing at 10 PM as it should, it will close at 1:30 PM. Also, I am told it opened late (apparently at about 11 AM, not the 10 AM scheduled start) and now it's shutting down not even two later. Grr!
I wandered up the trail as long as practical with the Calgarian couple I met in line, and headed down disappointed that I couldn't get to the summit. We got to 4300m (landmark being a giant hydro tower), and all the while had a friendly conversation, so definitely not all a waste. However, the plan was to gain altitude for acclimatization purposes and not to converse while rushing back to catch the last tram down.
Incidentally, missing the tram would have meant a very long hike down, along a poorly-marked route, in an area that guidebooks tell me is not the safest. I wasn't interested in going down by myself especially given that I wouldn't even know where the trail down starts. All in all, a non-starter. Too bad, really.
Need Plan B. Plan B becomes heading to Mitad del Mundo, the tourist spot on the equator, which unfortunately is out of town. I consult with Patricio, who says that if one waits for a regular bus on Avenida Americas, one can get there with minimum fuss. He even drives me to the place where I am meant to pick up said bus.
It is now 3:15 PM. Mitad del Mundo closes at 6:00 and is a 40 minute ride away. I wait. And wait. And many - possibly hundreds - busses come & go, but no bus clearly marked Mitad del Mundo. They say all kinds of other things, but not that. And they all reek of diesel fuel and belch out black smoke. Charming, rally. I check with the gas station guy who seems to indicate that I'm at the right place. Still, no bus. I give up. Plan B failed.
Last chance: the Museo Banco Central, aka the only museum in Quito worth going to. I don't ordinarily like going to museums, but I was getting desperate for something to do! This one, at least, is worth the visit. The entire lower floor (and this is a 3-story affair in a nice new building, immaculate really) is devoted to the history of this land from the Pleistocene era onward. There is a large collection of Inca artifacts, as well as cultural relics from people who lived in this area before the Inca conquest (apparently there were quite a few different groups). The whole thing would actually fascinating to study if I was here for that purpose. I was not. This was a diversion.
I'm going a bit stir crazy in Quito now. I think I've exhausted the things I like about Quito, and it's time to move on. Unless Patricio grossly disappoints me with this arrangement-making, I'm heading to Illiniza Norte tomorrow. Then, back to Quito and hopefully on to Cotopaxi.
Everything started off well enough. I got to the teleferiqo shortly after 9, hoping to take it up and eat breakfast at the top. No such luck. The teleferiqo was not scheduled to open until 10, and there was a massive horde of tourists champing at the bit to get on. I head back into town to get some breakfast rather than wait aimlessly for some long amount of time.
I return to the teleferiqo shortly after 11, having breakfasted to my heart's content, to find it open. I get a ticket, strike a conversation with some Canadians (that Lululemon logo sure is distinctive...) and head up. As I embark, we are told that the teleferiqo is closing early today for maintenance. Instead of closing at 10 PM as it should, it will close at 1:30 PM. Also, I am told it opened late (apparently at about 11 AM, not the 10 AM scheduled start) and now it's shutting down not even two later. Grr!
I wandered up the trail as long as practical with the Calgarian couple I met in line, and headed down disappointed that I couldn't get to the summit. We got to 4300m (landmark being a giant hydro tower), and all the while had a friendly conversation, so definitely not all a waste. However, the plan was to gain altitude for acclimatization purposes and not to converse while rushing back to catch the last tram down.
Incidentally, missing the tram would have meant a very long hike down, along a poorly-marked route, in an area that guidebooks tell me is not the safest. I wasn't interested in going down by myself especially given that I wouldn't even know where the trail down starts. All in all, a non-starter. Too bad, really.
Need Plan B. Plan B becomes heading to Mitad del Mundo, the tourist spot on the equator, which unfortunately is out of town. I consult with Patricio, who says that if one waits for a regular bus on Avenida Americas, one can get there with minimum fuss. He even drives me to the place where I am meant to pick up said bus.
It is now 3:15 PM. Mitad del Mundo closes at 6:00 and is a 40 minute ride away. I wait. And wait. And many - possibly hundreds - busses come & go, but no bus clearly marked Mitad del Mundo. They say all kinds of other things, but not that. And they all reek of diesel fuel and belch out black smoke. Charming, rally. I check with the gas station guy who seems to indicate that I'm at the right place. Still, no bus. I give up. Plan B failed.
Last chance: the Museo Banco Central, aka the only museum in Quito worth going to. I don't ordinarily like going to museums, but I was getting desperate for something to do! This one, at least, is worth the visit. The entire lower floor (and this is a 3-story affair in a nice new building, immaculate really) is devoted to the history of this land from the Pleistocene era onward. There is a large collection of Inca artifacts, as well as cultural relics from people who lived in this area before the Inca conquest (apparently there were quite a few different groups). The whole thing would actually fascinating to study if I was here for that purpose. I was not. This was a diversion.
I'm going a bit stir crazy in Quito now. I think I've exhausted the things I like about Quito, and it's time to move on. Unless Patricio grossly disappoints me with this arrangement-making, I'm heading to Illiniza Norte tomorrow. Then, back to Quito and hopefully on to Cotopaxi.
# posted by Alex Perel @ 5:16 PM 
Comments:
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Thank you for such detailed stories. It feels like we are visiting Quito too.
Hope that you will be not disappointed with tomorrow's trip.
Keep us posted
Hope that you will be not disappointed with tomorrow's trip.
Keep us posted
# posted by 
: 9:04 PM
: 9:04 PM
Pictures will come eventually. Right now it´s too much of a pain to deal with pictures from the confines of an internet cafe (albeit one that serves food and cervezas)
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