Ecuador – Quito – Day 3

Quito has proven to be a much more interesting city than I thought it would be.  In general I’m at the point in all the travelling I’ve done that big cities have little appeal (exceptions for biggies or ones with good history) and churches even less appeal.  So far I’ve really enjoyed wandering around the old part of Quito.

This morning for a change of pace I took the Teleferico (cable car) to a high point on the local volcano (Quito is at 2800m and the cable car goes up to 4000m).  The idea is to get a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.  Unfortunately it was very cloudy so the cable car went up through the clouds and the top of the volcano was covered.  It was surprisingly chilly at the top.

Teleferico going up the volcano

The side of the volcano covered in clouds

The hills around Quito (not the llamas – my first siting!)

Quito view blocked by the clouds

From the viewpoint you can do a 3km hike to the top of the volcano that also takes you to an elevation of 4680m.  I really wanted to try the hike but the path was covered in clouds not to mention being alone at that elevation doing heavy exercise is probably not a good idea.

The path to the top of the volcano.

One of my major goals in travelling totally solo this time was to get over my mild fear of strangers (yes I can be shy/reserved).  Today has been a great leap forward in breaking through that.  I met a very nice Australian gent in the cable car down and we ended up wandering around most of the day together.  We went to the Museo Nacional (National Museum) to see the great collection of pre-Columbian artifacts.  Very fascinating but unfortunately just too much stuff to really soak it all in and process it all.  It was nice though that the signs were all in English.  There was an entire series of rooms dedicated to all the gold artifacts.  Very impressive.

Sculptures at the National Museum

Gold mask

As we walked to the old town we were joined by a couple of young women who were trying to find there way there.  As a group we wandered the old town a bit and grabbed some lunch.

Comparing notes for our guidebooks (they were all the same Lonely Planet)

Apple juice that had the consistency of apple sauce

Ecuatorial version of tobogganing – ride a skate board down an incline on the street

After parting ways with the young women we went to another museum of pre-Columbian artifacts which was very good.  I’ve been trying to visit it for the past two days but it was closed (wrong info in the guidebook!).  Fascinating to learn about the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous peoples.

I think I’m getting addicted to this talking to strangers thing as I’ve also found a couple in my hostel who are on the same boat for the Galapagos and I’m going to the Equator line with another guy tomorrow.  Who knew strangers weren’t so scary!?

Steps: 18,106, Distance: 12.55 km, Floors: 71

After all the socializing and wandering I’m now exhausted and sun burned.