Monday, November 26, 2007
Old Quito etc.
- Visit Old Quito
- Check out the massive statue overlooking Old Quito
- Go up the TeleferiQo
Mission accomplished.
I sauntered out of the house, got breakfast, and eventually made my way down to the old part of the city, which happens to be the hub of government, museums, culture, and other such excitement. One thing that jumps at you on a fine Monday morning is that the city is busy. It was comatose yesterday; it was on drugs today. Cars everywhere, people moving all over the place, traffic nuts. Wow.
Old Quito has a very Old World feel. Tight cobblestone streets, alleys really, all of which seem to be going uphill all the time. I wonder what the half-life of a clutch is in this town; I'm guessing 90 days. Every street is also a one-way street, which makes for tremendous confusion unless you know exactly where you're going. To add to that, it seems like many of the roads contort into each other pretzel-like, so if you want to go west you first have to go east, spin under a bridge, veer south, and then eventually be on your way. How people drive in this place boggles the mind.
Back to the story of Old Quito, however. By around 10 AM I wandered into Plaza Grande to see what's what. Plaza Grande is immediately next to the Ecuadorian parliament building. The place is busy; people are milling about, including a lineup of 4-year olds picketing the government about something at the behest of their teachers. I don't know what the cause is, but it's tragic kids are being used to further a political mission they know nothing of. These are four year olds! They should be in some sort of school, and not in the middle of a big public square marching in single file (each child clutching the shirt or dress of the child in front of them). I don't understand the thinking behind this.
Shortly after I arrive, a group of police-looking individuals (carrying swords and guns) start asking people to move out of certain parts of this square. They clear out a fairly large space. I wonder what's going on. People are still milling about. Eventually someone, apparently someone important, makes a big announcement from the parliament building in Spanish, of which I get something about some minister or Presidente or something or another. I think to myself... a press conference, outdoors in the sunshine (the weather's gorgeous btw; 20C and sunny). Smartly dressed soldiers (in a sort of blue, white & gold theme) file out with their swords and pikes and Ecuador flags and stand ramrod-straight on the balcony. I figure, a bit of formality, fine. I wait. Nothing happens.
In comes the marching band, this time dressed in brown but still well-decorated They play their thing in front of the partliament building, and this would be the first time I've seen a portable xylophone on a military marching band. The balcony is filled with more soldiers, this time marching in place. I see horses around the corner - decorated in purple & white. People start to sing something that clearly has meaning to the people of Ecuador (I can only assume it's some patriotic song like "Lets Nationalize the Gringo Mine"). I'm starting to doubt my press-conference thesis. More flamboyantly dressed soldiers appear, now on ground level, in two rows. More musical instruments, too! A special set of drums, equipped with a loud-voiced announcer drummer. The upper balcony is filled with some sort of VIPs wearing ill-cut suits and a band of children who must feel they're beyond merely lucky. The horses (smartly decorated in blue & white potpouri) and their flamboyant blue-and-gold dressed cavaliers take centre stage.
This ceremony of music, drumming, loud announcing and goes on for maybe an hour! I don't know what's going on, but I'm surrounded by proud Ecuadorians who all seem interested. One of the leans over and says "blah blah blah Presidente blah blah" to me in Spanish. I pretend to understand with a nod, a smile and a "si, gracias". Other tourists in the crowd are just as confused as I am.
After the dust settles, the cavaliers and hordes of soldiers depart, I find out that this was a weekly Changing of the Guard. I must say, it's even more pompous than the equivalent that happens in front of Buckingham Palace from time to time, but maybe it feels that way because it takes place over a small area and you can see the expressions on everyone's face. Either way, I'm fascinated.
Now, one thing that occurs to me is that these soldiers' dress uniforms (blue jackets, white trousers, gold trim, swords, Beefeater hats) seem very... colonial. I thought Ecuador was proud that it kicked out the Spanish way back when - after all, their most celebrated figure is General Sucre, who facilitate this little victory. So what's going on? Maybe they're holding on to tradition. But then again, the Chinese did not keep the dress standards of their Japanese WW2 occupiers when that ordeal was over. No! They said "we like drab costumes"and to this day wear Mao suits to express solidarity with their fearless syphillitic leader. But I digress...
I also made my way to a huge - massive - catherdral slightly north of the main part of Old Quito. The catherdral itself was nice enough (gothic, but instead of gargoyles they have some of the local fauna represented). What struck me is the scene I saw on the 3rd floor balcony. Out I step, to find a one member in a group of people wearing a climbing harness and pulling a rope up (from over the balcony) with another harness & belay device attached. He hands this over to some young-punk-looking guy, who sheepishly puts it on, gets tied in for a rappel, and clambers over. The look in his face as he let go of the railing and started rapping down was probably what I looked like when I made my first rappel: concern for one's life. Now, some observations:
- Normally one does not share harnesses.
- Normally you rappel on two ropes, or a doubled-up rope. These guys were using one, and it was tied in a big knot at the top.
- Normally you have some sort of backup - something as simple as a fireman's belay (someone keeping the rope tensioned from below and can pull it really tight if you fall) could be the difference between a fatal fall and a minor jolt of fear.
These guys weren't doing any of that. Mildly concerning. I stike a bit of a conversation with the guy in charge (who's orchestrating this from the balcony I was on). He mentions that he's planning to climb Illiniza Sur this weekend with some buddies. Uhhhh.... Thanks but no thanks.
After a brief trip to see the Virgin of Quito on a big hill overlooking the town (El Panecillo) I head for the TeleferiQo, Quito's major attraction as it takes you up above town, to Cruz Loma on the flank of Rucu Pichincha, at 4050m (Quito proper is at around 2800m). Well worth the trip. The gondola is a new & shiny Poma product, of the sort you'd find at a major ski resort. The view from the top is stunning - mountains on all sides, and you can see basically all of Quito all at once. I stayed up for a while (and had a conversation with another traveller, this one of Mississauga origins) to soak in sme of the 4050m air. This is all part of my acclimatization plan. It was very tempting to slowly head higher towards the summit of Rucu Pichincha, as I felt fine, but reason prevailed and I came to terms with the idea that going up 1000m by teleferique is probably good enough for now.
Tomorrow... not sure what the plan is. I'm definitely looking to go higher and continue acclimatization. I may go back to Rucu Pichincha (this time to the summit), or if I can arrange it then go to another local peak, perhaps Guagua Pichicha, which is only a few km away but requires private transportation.
