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Travelog part 1: Quito
I'm going to post these bit by bit as I assemble them, and then put up an index at the end with links.
Saturday, July 23 (travel day): in which we travel long distances quickly, and short ones slowly
There is nothing like traveling long distances by air to make you feel like a sheep. A tired, cranky, bored sheep. You wake up early, lug stuff through a long line, then sit in an uncomfortable airport seat for a while, then stand in line some more, then sit in an uncomfortable airplane seat. Lather, rinse, repeat, from one connection to the next, until many many hours later you are at your "final destination" (which sounds a bit grim, doesn't it?) and can finally collapse. At least you can get some reading done.
Our travel day started with an alarm at 5:15am. Shortly before 6 we arrived at Rolfe and Kristen's house and they piled into our truck, and we were at the airport at 6:15 for our 7:20 flight. (The La Plata County Airport is tiny enough that the two-hour lead time guideline can be safely slipped. I mean, come on, we have all of one gate.) Three planes and over fourteen hours later, we were in Quito International Airport.
Three hours later, we were still in Quito International airport.
It took over two and a half hours to get from the top of the jetway to the immigration desks, easily the longest I have ever taken to move roughly 150 yards. By comparison, the ~300 miles between Durango and Denver took only slightly more than an hour by jet. :-) Apparently, due to various delays, three international planes landed at once, and the immigration officers were overwhelmed. I suppose there was a silver lining, though: we were a bit nervous about customs, as we (collectively) were bringing four inflatable double kayaks (with paddles) for Rolfe and Kristen's friend Michelle and her husband Gary, who we were to visit in Tena, but nobody even looked at our luggage and we were passed through quickly.
We emerged from the airport shortly after 2 am Quito time, which is EST/CDT so 1 am body-time. The first cab to claim us was a tiny subcompact, which we eyed dubiously as there were four of us with six very large bags, but amazingly we managed to cram everyone and everything in and the driver took off at race pace toward our hotel. At this hour, the streets were mostly deserted, and he ran one red light after another, explaining that it was more prudent to go through than to stop and possibly be robbed. But he got us safely to El Cafecito, our hostel, where although the night man could not find our reservations in his book, he nonetheless found a room for us and we gratefully sank into as much oblivion as we could manage.
Sunday, July 24 (Quito): in which we take a walk in the park
In the morning we met Gary's nephew Cristian, who brought us some sleeping bags to bring to Tena, and in exchange we took him out to breakfast. Unfortunately Quito is mostly closed down on Sundays, so it took some time to find an open restaurant, and it turned out to be mediocre. On the other hand, we were in an outdoor cafe on Ave. Río Amazonas, which closes to vehicles on Sunday mornings, and we had a great view of all the cyclists and the occasional jogger taking advantage of the beautiful day. Quito is a high (~9200 ft) and relatively dry city, with a climate a lot like Colorado's. In fact (consider this foreshadowing...) this was the only decent climate in the whole trip, from my desert-rose perspective, anyway!
In addition to the cyclists, there were lots of people walking, all in the same direction, carrying wooden frames with shoes attached to them - stilts, we suddenly realized. Probably going to practice in the park, said Cristian (although of course he said this in Spanish; Rolfe speaks pretty good Spanish as he worked for several years in South America, I speak terrible but adequate Spanish, and we translated for Britt and Kristen who can manage only Una cerveza, por favor, and ¿Dónde está el baño?), and he indicated the park was about 20 minutes away. After bidding him farewell, we decided to head over there ourselves.
Parque La Carolina turned out to be a huge landscaped green space in the center of a business district, kind of like NYC's Central Park. Sunday is family day in Ecuador, and it seemed like every family in Quito was there: picnicking on the lawns, paddling little rental boats around a rather disgusting lagoon, doing bicycle tricks along the concrete bowls of a skate park, flying kites (some amazingly high), jogging and cycling along the pathways, and - above all - playing soccer.
I bought a big plastic cup of cut fruit (watermelon, pineapple, and guava) from a vendor for only $1 (US dollars are the legal currency of Ecuador, which makes things easy) and then we went into the park's Botanical Garden, which amazingly is open on Sunday, and learned that although the climate might be similar to Colorado's, the indigenous plants are most definitely not.
After we'd had our fill of weird plants, we people-watched our way around the park, then strolled back to the hostel in hopes of a beer on the patio. Alas, Sunday is also no-alcohol day in Quito, except at a few gringo-oriented restaurants. As in the morning, it was tough to find a place to eat dinner, but we finally stumbled into a fancy hotel restaurant that was not only open but served us a bottle of wine as well, hooray!
Monday, July 25 (Quito): in which we get high
Monday morning we had breakfast at our hostel, which was the most delicious breakfast of the whole trip, I think. Mmm Tostadas Francesas (French Toast) with fruit! Had to eat hearty, because we'd be tackling Rucu Pichincha, the lower peak of the volcano that towers directly over Quito. At a "mere" 15,413 feet (the higher summit is 15,669 but the trailhead's less convenient, and also, that part is STILL AN ACTIVE VOLCANO YIKES) Pichincha's not one of the Ecuadorian big boys, but it was big enough for me. Up until now, the highest mountain I'd climbed was Colorado's tallest "fourteener" (and the second highest in the contiguous US), the 14,440 ft. Mt. Elbert.
Climbing Pichincha was about like climbing a Colorado fourteener, too; the first part was a well-worn trail with lots of other hikers, the second a big scree slope with zig-zagging pathways, and the final climb was a rock scramble. The big difference was the approach. We took a taxi (for all of $3) through Quito to the edge of the mountain, climbing up switchbacked roads through neighborhoods to the visitor's center at the base (which includes an amusement park), then climbed a couple of flights of stairs and ramps to the base of the "TelefériQo" (a portmanteau of teleférico and Quito) at around 9680 ft. This gondola lift whisked us up to 13,450 feet, quite a luxurious way to begin a mountain climb!
Unfortunately the weather was not nearly as nice as Sunday's, and the peak was in the clouds. One guided group who were on their way down said that they had not seen a blessed thing at the summit. But we lucked out; shortly after we topped out, the clouds parted briefly to show us Quito below. Then the mist closed around us again.
We were joined on the summit by an Ecuadorian engineering student, who told us he is a member of his university's mountaineering club, and by an inquisitive bird, who made it clear he'd really like crumbs from our granola bars. The hike down was considerably faster than the hike up, as we took the direct route down the scree, and we made it back to the upper TelefériQo terminal in plenty of time to relax with a beer at the café before riding back down to town.
Just the photos (these plus nine more) at Flickr. I'll be adding to the Ecuador 2011 set as I put together my trip report.
Saturday, July 23 (travel day): in which we travel long distances quickly, and short ones slowly
There is nothing like traveling long distances by air to make you feel like a sheep. A tired, cranky, bored sheep. You wake up early, lug stuff through a long line, then sit in an uncomfortable airport seat for a while, then stand in line some more, then sit in an uncomfortable airplane seat. Lather, rinse, repeat, from one connection to the next, until many many hours later you are at your "final destination" (which sounds a bit grim, doesn't it?) and can finally collapse. At least you can get some reading done.
Our travel day started with an alarm at 5:15am. Shortly before 6 we arrived at Rolfe and Kristen's house and they piled into our truck, and we were at the airport at 6:15 for our 7:20 flight. (The La Plata County Airport is tiny enough that the two-hour lead time guideline can be safely slipped. I mean, come on, we have all of one gate.) Three planes and over fourteen hours later, we were in Quito International Airport.
Three hours later, we were still in Quito International airport.
It took over two and a half hours to get from the top of the jetway to the immigration desks, easily the longest I have ever taken to move roughly 150 yards. By comparison, the ~300 miles between Durango and Denver took only slightly more than an hour by jet. :-) Apparently, due to various delays, three international planes landed at once, and the immigration officers were overwhelmed. I suppose there was a silver lining, though: we were a bit nervous about customs, as we (collectively) were bringing four inflatable double kayaks (with paddles) for Rolfe and Kristen's friend Michelle and her husband Gary, who we were to visit in Tena, but nobody even looked at our luggage and we were passed through quickly.
We emerged from the airport shortly after 2 am Quito time, which is EST/CDT so 1 am body-time. The first cab to claim us was a tiny subcompact, which we eyed dubiously as there were four of us with six very large bags, but amazingly we managed to cram everyone and everything in and the driver took off at race pace toward our hotel. At this hour, the streets were mostly deserted, and he ran one red light after another, explaining that it was more prudent to go through than to stop and possibly be robbed. But he got us safely to El Cafecito, our hostel, where although the night man could not find our reservations in his book, he nonetheless found a room for us and we gratefully sank into as much oblivion as we could manage.
Sunday, July 24 (Quito): in which we take a walk in the park
In the morning we met Gary's nephew Cristian, who brought us some sleeping bags to bring to Tena, and in exchange we took him out to breakfast. Unfortunately Quito is mostly closed down on Sundays, so it took some time to find an open restaurant, and it turned out to be mediocre. On the other hand, we were in an outdoor cafe on Ave. Río Amazonas, which closes to vehicles on Sunday mornings, and we had a great view of all the cyclists and the occasional jogger taking advantage of the beautiful day. Quito is a high (~9200 ft) and relatively dry city, with a climate a lot like Colorado's. In fact (consider this foreshadowing...) this was the only decent climate in the whole trip, from my desert-rose perspective, anyway!
In addition to the cyclists, there were lots of people walking, all in the same direction, carrying wooden frames with shoes attached to them - stilts, we suddenly realized. Probably going to practice in the park, said Cristian (although of course he said this in Spanish; Rolfe speaks pretty good Spanish as he worked for several years in South America, I speak terrible but adequate Spanish, and we translated for Britt and Kristen who can manage only Una cerveza, por favor, and ¿Dónde está el baño?), and he indicated the park was about 20 minutes away. After bidding him farewell, we decided to head over there ourselves.
Parque La Carolina turned out to be a huge landscaped green space in the center of a business district, kind of like NYC's Central Park. Sunday is family day in Ecuador, and it seemed like every family in Quito was there: picnicking on the lawns, paddling little rental boats around a rather disgusting lagoon, doing bicycle tricks along the concrete bowls of a skate park, flying kites (some amazingly high), jogging and cycling along the pathways, and - above all - playing soccer.
I bought a big plastic cup of cut fruit (watermelon, pineapple, and guava) from a vendor for only $1 (US dollars are the legal currency of Ecuador, which makes things easy) and then we went into the park's Botanical Garden, which amazingly is open on Sunday, and learned that although the climate might be similar to Colorado's, the indigenous plants are most definitely not.
After we'd had our fill of weird plants, we people-watched our way around the park, then strolled back to the hostel in hopes of a beer on the patio. Alas, Sunday is also no-alcohol day in Quito, except at a few gringo-oriented restaurants. As in the morning, it was tough to find a place to eat dinner, but we finally stumbled into a fancy hotel restaurant that was not only open but served us a bottle of wine as well, hooray!
Monday, July 25 (Quito): in which we get high
Monday morning we had breakfast at our hostel, which was the most delicious breakfast of the whole trip, I think. Mmm Tostadas Francesas (French Toast) with fruit! Had to eat hearty, because we'd be tackling Rucu Pichincha, the lower peak of the volcano that towers directly over Quito. At a "mere" 15,413 feet (the higher summit is 15,669 but the trailhead's less convenient, and also, that part is STILL AN ACTIVE VOLCANO YIKES) Pichincha's not one of the Ecuadorian big boys, but it was big enough for me. Up until now, the highest mountain I'd climbed was Colorado's tallest "fourteener" (and the second highest in the contiguous US), the 14,440 ft. Mt. Elbert.
Climbing Pichincha was about like climbing a Colorado fourteener, too; the first part was a well-worn trail with lots of other hikers, the second a big scree slope with zig-zagging pathways, and the final climb was a rock scramble. The big difference was the approach. We took a taxi (for all of $3) through Quito to the edge of the mountain, climbing up switchbacked roads through neighborhoods to the visitor's center at the base (which includes an amusement park), then climbed a couple of flights of stairs and ramps to the base of the "TelefériQo" (a portmanteau of teleférico and Quito) at around 9680 ft. This gondola lift whisked us up to 13,450 feet, quite a luxurious way to begin a mountain climb!
Unfortunately the weather was not nearly as nice as Sunday's, and the peak was in the clouds. One guided group who were on their way down said that they had not seen a blessed thing at the summit. But we lucked out; shortly after we topped out, the clouds parted briefly to show us Quito below. Then the mist closed around us again.
We were joined on the summit by an Ecuadorian engineering student, who told us he is a member of his university's mountaineering club, and by an inquisitive bird, who made it clear he'd really like crumbs from our granola bars. The hike down was considerably faster than the hike up, as we took the direct route down the scree, and we made it back to the upper TelefériQo terminal in plenty of time to relax with a beer at the café before riding back down to town.
Just the photos (these plus nine more) at Flickr. I'll be adding to the Ecuador 2011 set as I put together my trip report.
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Cool pics. I will happily anticipate the remaining posts. :-)
Also: Wow, I'm surprised by your finding a bird at that altitude. Which I suppose just goes to show my own ignorance. Certainly I've never spent any time beyond 11K feet, and even that was just driving through. Huh. That looks like a jay of some sort, very much like the gray jays I've seen on various trips. Smart, bold beggars. *g*
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We definitely have gray jays and Clark's Nutcrackers here in our high mountains, both major beggars and camp robbers, but I dunno, this guy doesn't look like a jay to me. Maybe
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This was a moderately large bird, maybe chicken-sized. It reminded me of nothing so much as the NZ weka in size and behavior.
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BTW, in my searching I was tickled silly to learn that there is an Ecuadorian bird called cock of the rock. Because I am twelve. And also disappointed for you that this wasn't it. ;-)
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M.
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I have been trying to figure out the bird but don't really know where to start. I'm hoping a bird expert friend will weigh in.
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I liked that you had a bird to pester you too. (looked pretty rugged or was the wind just whipping it's feathers?) =D
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How is your foot, exactly? I gather you're running some?
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So glad to read in your comments how your foot is progressing! Great news!
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The fruit is so cheap and tasty! Food in general is about 2/3 the cost for the equivalent quality in the US, IMHO. And of course there are things you just don't get in the US, like guanábana.
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