Quito, Ecuador

Monday 23rd June Just a short entry for today. We woke late again after a disrupted night of sleep. Mark’s phone went of at midnight and the TV turned itself on at about 3am. Gremlins??? The sun was out this morning so we decided to make the most of this and head to the TeleferiQo cable car. The view as we ascended the 2,5km up the side of Volcano Pichincha was spectacular as we passed up through the tree line to the grassy peaks of the summit. We did see some other Aussies by the way….a large stand of gum trees seemed almost to be waving in recognition to us as we passed over them. The air was noticeably thinner at the summit and it required a bit of effort to hike the couple of hundred meters to the lookout but, it was worth it for the view. We ventured back into the Old Town for a traditional Ecuadorian lunch after descending the volcano. The rain set in again so we headed for some cover inside the Monastery and Museo Francisciano. Building of this monastery began in 1534 at the time of the founding of Quito. It still is home to about 75 monks today. The rain did not let up so we decided to check out a local shopping mall located near our hotel. The most interesting feature was the fashion…it was straight out of the late 60s ~ early 70s. I saw some dresses that I remember being made to wear to parties back in primary school. We made a few observations on walking back to the hotel for our tour meeting: There are very few tourists in Quito. Reason: there is not a lot to do or see. Two days is plenty as an add- on to a trip out to the Galapagos Islands. The Ecuadorians of Quito are a short race of people: Reason: most probably due to the challenges of reduced O2 levels here. Will be interesting to see if this feature is evident closer to the coast and in other parts of Lat Am. Off to our meeting now. Adios! No photos on this one yet….sorry….will post later