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Published: November 27th 2014
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Quito - 11/26/2014 - Day 3
We both got a little sunburned yesterday. The sun is high and the air thinner, so more susceptible.
Ate breakfast at the hotel, then headed out. Fresh tomato juice and papaya today. For the coffee, they give you a full cup of hot milk/cream. You then add instant coffee, cocoa, and sugar to taste.
Today we decided to take the tram up the mountain (Volcan Pichincha). Our plan was to take a shuttle to the base, but because of limited Spanish we ended up on a city bus. But that's part of the adventure. Cheap ride at $.25 each. It wasn't a direct route, we drove through much of Quito before we got there. There are many buses and they are very crowded. Sometimes you see people hanging on the door handle outside the bus. Vendors get on for a few stops to sell their wares. Candy and gum on our bus. They hand it out as they go down the isle, then either get money or the candy back on the way back up. Not usually too much business.
The bus let us out
fairly near the tram (teleferiQo). We could have walked the rest of the way, but very steep and we opted for the free bus to the bottom of the tram. The tram carried six people. We got a nice view on the ride up, but windows were quite steamy and the fog was rolling in. The top stop of the tram is at 4,100M (13,287 feet). Because of the fog, we couldn't see much of Quito. But the fog over the trees was still beautiful. Breezy and cool at the top, glad to have our jackets.
There is a hiking trail from the top of the tram to the summit of the mountain. The summit is 4,680 meters. It's about a 3 hour hike for fit hikers. They say you must be acclimated in Quito for a couple of days before attempting this. We walked up a short distance to get some better photos above the fog. There is a little chapel up along the path. The fog kept rolling in higher and higher. Lovely purple flowers along the trail. We got some better views of Quito on the ride down the mountain, since we got below
the fog.
We took a shuttle back to old town from the tram area, then spent some time walking the area again. Saw some sites we missed yesterday. There was a music festival going on in front of San Francisco Cathedral, lots of people in ethnic costume.
On the way back to the hotel, we needed a snack. Picked up a couple of hamburgers in the Caravana Fast Food. A very popular choice here was french fries topped with small hot dogs, as well as hamburgers topped with fried eggs.
We checked Lonely Planet for a good place for a light dinner. Most restaurants listed closed at 6:00 or before. But we did find Fruteria Monserrate, which was fairly close to the hotel. Turned out to be the perfect spot. We walked a bit and wanted to take a few pictures of the churches by night. We got a couple, but then the batteries died. Unfortunately, this was the one time we weren't carrying the extras.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading off to Quilotoa, a small town with a beautiful volcano-crater lake. Not sure if we will find Internet there, so may be off-line a day or so.
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Richard and Gail
non-member comment
Day three Ecuador
Looks like you are already into the Ecuadorian scene. Tram ride was a great idea to get a perspective over the area. We'll be checking in for the latest blog.