Or, trying to, anyway….”
Lee and I spent the last day with our heads in the clouds, huffing and puffing in the thin air of Quito, Ecuador while we visited the sights at the highest of heights.
Actually, in the scope of places you can visit in South America, Quito isn’t the highest place you can go. But, the 10,000-14,000 foot elevations that we were exposed to here are high enough for me…..at least for this trip. Lee and I both live at sea level in our respective hometowns, so it was a bit of an adjustment. But, truth be told, we both did pretty well with the elevation until the end of our touring day yesterday when I developed a blinding headache, and both of were so fatigued that we went to bed at 8:00 pm, not that we did much sleeping, which is a common complaint of those trying to newly adjust to a high altitude. But, I took a nap (and did sleep) at 6:00 pm, in between touring and bedtime. So, I felt somewhat rested at 5:00 am this morning when we got up to get our luggage out for pick up for our journey to the Galapagos. We were pooped! Still are, a little bit!
When the nice people at SilverSea picked us up at the airport, we were instructed on the finer points of altitude sickness…headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, lack of sleep…. I am adding puffiness to the mix, although I’m not sure whether that’s altitude or something else. My body seems to be taking on water as it tries to adapt to its new surrounding, as evidenced by the tight fit of my shoes this morning. I guess it doesn’t help that we are drinking copious amounts of water, which is the antidote to altitude sickness. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate…water, no alcohol. No fun!
But, despite it all, we had a great day in Quito and the surrounding area. In the planning process, Lee and I agreed that we wanted to visit the old, colonial town of Quito and some of the old churches as well as a few sights that are outside of town. We had planned to take a taxi, but SilverSea had some other ideas. They offered some fairly priced guided tours to the places we wanted to see. We would get an English speaking tour guide and a chance to meet some of our fellow cruisers. My experience in Costa Rica told me that having a guide was often the best way to see things and get a good explanation of what you are looking at. So, we opted to take one of the SilverSea tours. It was well worth the money and the time. What a great day!
Antonio, our guide, was a former journalist with many interests. So, his commentary was spot on and very interesting and included some extra tidbits of information about the area and Quito besides what we were seeing on the tour. He seemed to know a little bit about everything. And, Pablo, our driver, deserved a medal for his superb driving skills on the narrow and steeply winding streets of colonial Quito.
Our first stop was at TeleferiQo, on the lower slopes of Volcan Pinchincha, one of the 4 volcanos that surround the city. From our perch on the peak of Cruz Loma, at around 14, 000 feet, one could get a look at the city from afar and from on high.
We reached our vantage point by gliding along the side of the volcano high above the ground in a 6-passenger cable car. It reminded me of some of my visits to the Swiss Alps where we did something similar and listened to the music of the cowbells as we sailed along. No cowbells here, though…..just the spectacular scenery and the nice company of some of our fellow cruisers and some friendly locals. We were lucky to do this on a clear day. We could see all of the nearby volcanoes, including one that had a small stream of smoke curling out of it.
When we reached the top, Antonio provided a lot of information. We learned that Quito was highly influenced by the Spanish and the art and architecture has many Muslim characteristics. The architecture incorporated more geometric figures rather than figures of nature like flowers and animals. We saw this later as we toured one of the old churches in colonial Quito. From our vantage point, we could see greenhouses on the far side of the city and learned that they are used to grow roses, for which Quito is famous. The roses have long stems and are beautiful, but have no odor because of the position of the sun in Quito.
Next, we went to stand on the north and south side of the equator…..at the same time! We visited the information center, Museo Inti Nan, where we learned about the quirkiness of events in and around the equator. Our guide talked to us about some of the customs of the indigenous people such as how they killed their food. They used huge, long blow darts that were quite heavy and spears that were equally as daunting. I can honestly say that if I would have to use one of those to secure my dinner, I would go hungry. I wouldn’t be able to lift it! Getting enough air to actually blow a dart through the hollow tube with enough force, while holding the blowgun would be a feat in and of itself!
We also saw a demonstration of how head shrinking is done. No. Not the psychological kind, but the kind where the head is physically removed from the body, emptied and shrunk in a vat of hot water. We saw several real live examples! Here’s a fun fact, if you were to have your head shrunk, it would be just the size of your fist. They don’t call it shrinkage for nothing! Don’t worry…..Lee and I both came back with our heads in tact! But, it was a close call! Whew!!
We also saw some guinea pigs that were being raised for someone’s dinner. Guinea pig is a staple here. Sadly…..or maybe not……we didn’t actually get to experience this delicacy. But, we hear it tastes like pork and is served with the head and legs attached. So, you can become very intimate with your meal.
We straddled the equator line and, thus, stood on both the north and south side at the same time. That was fun! And, we experienced the great challenge of walking toe to toe on a line drawn on the ground where the equator is located. There is a definite pull on both sides, making it very difficult to “walk the line”. We were drunk….but, not with alchohol. We also got a “stamp” on a dollar bill to prove that we had been to the equator. We could have had our passports stamped. But, even though Lee and I both read about this, we forgot to take our passports with us….memory loss…the effects of a high altitude…..maybe.
We also visited one of the old churches in colonial Quito that was completely done in gold filigree. My favorite part of the church was an organ that was added years ago and a spiral staircase leading to the organ. The powers that be thought that the symmetry of the interior design was off and had another spiral staircase painted on the wall on the other side of the organ to even it out a bit. The perspective from a distance was interesting, and we agreed that the painted stairs did, indeed, provide the needed symmetry.
We did a good bit of walking in the colonial part of Quito, making me think that I need to come back and do some more exploring. Lee had some empanadas from a street vendor that I was not adventurous enough to try. He was selling them out of a plastic bin. But, she is still alive and kicking so next time, I will follow her lead.
Early this morning, we boarded our flight to go to the Galapagos and several hours later we met our ship in the Galapagos. I am now at sea level on the ship, my headache is gone, and I am grateful. I am on to my next challenge….the water sports! We met a very nice couple that will be a good complement to Lee and I. The woman is at my level of outdoorsiness and the man is at Lee’s. I think we will switch partners. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Signing off headache free and happy!
….By the way, as I suspected, the internet here is extremely challenging. I’m working on how to get some pictures up on the blog. I’ll do the best I can, but I will post some on Facebook. Email me if you want to friend me and I will hook you up.
Travel With Betsy 
February 22, 2016 at 7:01 am |
Loved it! I felt like I was there!! I want to straddle the Equator–how cool!