Advertisement
Published: August 6th 2007
Edit Blog Post
These were my last two days in Quito, which I spent with the Douces and at Casa Gabriel. Over the two days, I wrapped up my work and gave Phil a report on some of my ideas for improving some of the organizational aspects of Casa Gabriel.
Spending time with the Douces was great. We played ping-pong, watched Funniest Home Videos, ate dinner together, and talked a lot... and one evening Phil and I talked for over an hour about a lot of different things... missionary life, religion and Christianity, family, and even politics.
The second day Phil, the boys, and I played soccer for about two hours at the Alliance Academy. Great fun. I really felt the altitude (around 9,000 feet)... breathing hard but not feeling like I was getting enough oxygen. Eventually, I seemed to settle into a rhythm, and for the last third of the time I played goalie (and got a few compliments from the boys on my skills... I think it is my hand-eye coordination from playing basketball/softball/football/ultimate frisbee/etc.). At any rate, no goals allowed.
After that, Phil, Tully, and I went up the Telefériqo (http://www.teleferiqo.com/) - which is an aerial tramway (or
gondola) on the side of the Pichincha mountain complex. The telefériqo goes up to about 13,000 feet (from around 9,000 at its base in Quito). We had tried to get there before it clouded over but, alas, the whether is fickle this time of year (the rainy season -- one of the two seasons in Quito) and it was well covered in clouds by the time we stepped off the gondola.
It was a little chilly, and Phil bought us some hot chocolate to help keep us warm. We then started hiking into the clouds and up the mountain... at times visibility was very low... maybe 40 meters. However, just as it can quickly cloud over, after about 20 minutes it began breaking up and we could soon see the surrounding countryside and Quito sprawled out for miles before us in the valley -- absolutely beautiful.
We continued our hike as clouds pressed up the lower mountainside and then flowed over the top to continue on... it was surreal. Sometimes the clouds would kind of roll across the ground like light snowdrifts across streets in the winter. As we continued to hike, we passed a group of Ecuadorians
Tully
At the edge of the valley.
that had set up a campsite with horses for rent. Seeing the horses tied up and grazing the surrounding grass... with the sweeping mountainside and Quito in the distance... was very cool to see.
The landscape itself was mostly grassland, which covered all but the tops of the highest peaks in sight. What is king of amazing is that the grass there is very resilient... the contrasts to the vegetation at Mount Rainier, which at, I think, around 8000 or 9000 feet is very limited and fragile... however, the growing season at Mount Rainier is about three months and it gets very cold and is covered in snow in the winter. At 13,000 feet at the top of Telefériqo, it doesn't really drop below freezing (since it is so near the equator)... so the vegetation can grow year round and isn't covered with snow. Still, though, it is above the tree-line... I'm guessing that due to the thin air trees can't really grow at that height. But the soil still looked pretty good.
We hike around a bit more and then hiked back to the stores/shopping area at the top of the Telefériqo to have a snack. We
ended up getting something like a plate of of hors d'oeuvres -- olives, cheese, grapes, and a few types of meats. Very good. We also had some fresh juice (I'm still not quite sure what type it was... but it was very good). After hanging out there... eating and talking... we took the gondola back down the mountain and headed back to their house for dinner.
After dinner Phil and I sat down and went over some of my ideas for improving the organizational/administrative side of Casa Gabriel; he seemed to like my ideas.
Shortly after that I said goodbye to Debbie, Tully, and Danelle and headed to bed. I got back up a little after 3:30 AM, took a shower, finished packing, and then Phil and I headed out to the airport at around 4:15 AM... Quito was very quiet. We probably drove for over a mile before seeing someone else on the road.
At the airport, I said bye to Phil, got checked in, paid the exorbitant and ridiculous exit tax (around $38), kicked back in the airport lounge for an hour or so, bought two-dozen very beautiful roses for my mom, and then hopped
on the four hour flight to Miami. After three additional flights and 16 hours in transit, I arrived at the small airport in my hometown (the final flight on the regional prop-plane had all of seven people on board). My mom was waiting for me.
-----------------------------------------------
Notes: Quite the trip... mind-bending. New culture, new people, 20 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons, helping Casa Gabriel, meeting and getting to know the Casa G. boys, learning about Quito, spending dozens of hours during and after dinners talking to fellow adventurers from around the world (from just as varied backgrounds/stories), and much more. I hadn't felt like that since I was 16 (12 years ago). It was a tremendous joy and I was thanking God for His faithfulness. Amazing.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.045s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gunga
Carolyn Taylor
Lovely Ecuador
I enjoyed your photos. I was in Ecuador in 2005 and thought the flight in from Lima,Peru to Quito was the most fantastic ever with all the views of the mountains and the still steaming volcanoes. So beautiful...viva Sud America! Carolyn( aka blog name 'gunga').