The TeleferiQo is an amazing cable car that takes you up 2.5km along the volcano Pichincham, making it one of the highest in the world. The summit is another 3 hour hike that I decided wasn’t the brightness idea to attempt. Even at this height the altitude was taking some getting used to, and I’m not exactly at the pinnacle of personal fitness.
There’s two types of tickets, the normal line and the express line. The express tickets are twice the price of the normal (at $8.50), and tourists have to purchase them. Gringo tax!
The ride itself was at first pretty relaxing. You’re not more than a few metres from the ground, so if a cable did happen to snap the fall would result in only a few bruises. As we got higher the distance between the car and the ground grew dramatically. Finally it reached a point where there was no flat ground below, just a steep drop off the side of the volcano. My horrible mind started thinking if the cable car did fall at this point it would be certain death. Just tumbling over and over down the volcano until nothing more than a twisted pulp of metal and people. The girl sitting opposite me must have been having the same thoughts as she whimpered and clutched her boyfriend, burying her face in his chest for the remainder of the ride.
The destination is the lookout of Cruz Loma. There’s a map of 4 or 5 different hiking or bike trails you can take from here. I chose the shortest one, a ten minute walk to the lookout. The views of Quito and the surrounding mountainside are incredible. It really puts into perspective the size of Quito and how it’s this sprawling mass of buildings filling out at the base of mountains and volcanoes.
It’s a fair bit cooler at this height, especially when the wind picked up. Yet for what ever reason the cold didn’t really affect me, despite only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. There is something so crisp and fresh in the air that I didn’t feel like rugging up in a jacket, but more like I was drinking an ice cold glass of water. It was a pure and refreshing experience.
While having lunch in one of the restaurants, I sat and watched the clouds make their way over Quito. It’s amazing watching this from so high up. Below you can see parts of the city descend into dark and drop in temperature, while nearby there are pockets where the sun was still able to shine through and warm that little area.
Quitos weather generally has a habit of being sunny and warm in the morning, and by late afternoon the clouds roll in. And since it’s the wet season right now (they literally have two seasons, wet or dry), the clouds that roll in tend to be on the darker side. We’ve had a few rainy nights, a couple times together with a lightening show. On this particular day I watched as the storm cloud headed directly towards me. Now was probably a good time to head back down.
Back in the cable car it had already started raining. As we made our descent the sound of the rain on the car was being oddly loud. Too loud. There were two young girls in the car, and they were pointing at the ground. Looking down I could see what was going on – it was hailing. And it was getting stronger and louder as the small pellets attacked the car relentlessly.
Eventually we reached the bottom and exited. It was only an onslaught of hail when we were further up the volcano, but now at base it was a mix of torrential rain and hail. A courtesy bus came around and started picking people up to take back to town. On the way back most of the side walks looked as though they were covered in snow, the hail filled every corner and space it could find. Finally closer to town the rain started to ease and the hail was no where to be seen.
The last tourist attraction I wanted to see was the Mitad del Mundo, or the Middle of the World. This is where the Spanish plotted where the equator is located a couple hundred years back, however they were slight off 300m according to GPS. Still not a bad effort.
To get here via public transport you need to take a Metrobus to the outskirts of Quito to Ofelia bus transit station, then change to one of the several buses with ‘Mitad del Mundo’ stencilled to the windscreen.
The ride to Ofelia proved difficult as at the time I still had some slight side affects from the Typhoid pills. Catching the Metrobus at first seemed to be okay, but as the bus left the winding streets of downtown and hit the straight main road out of town, the driver put his full weight on the accelerator and the bus went into hyperdrive. After the bus was what seemed airborne for a moment, I could feel my legs weakening and I knew where this was leading.
At the very next stop I got out and walked back to town. The next day I decided not to chance any further side affects rearing it’s ugly head and jumped into a taxi. There must be a few million yellow taxis in Quito, and the bulk of the population appears to use them rather than drive themselves. They’re so cheap too, I have no doubt it’s exponentially more expensive to own your own car than just cab it everywhere.
The cabbie had to ask for directions a few times where Ofelia was, but we eventually made it. I jumped on a bus headed for Mitad del Mundo and away I went. The only eventful thing that happened on the bus was being asked for an additional 15c. I wasn’t expecting this, and we were given these pink tickets after we left Ofelia. So when the ticket lady came around later in the trip I watched those that didn’t have a pink ticket pay money, and those that did have the pink ticket hand it over and that was that. When she came to me I handed over the ticket and she just stared at me. And stared. Suddenly she shouted something in Spanish I couldn’t make out. And again. And yet again. The girl sitting next to me looked at me like I was crazy. I could finally make out she was staying fifteen. I grabbed the change from my pocket, handed it over, and she left. Nothing like getting yelled at for 15 cents.
The bus didn’t stop outside the Mitad del Mundo entrance, but at a nearby road. I only realised this is where I had to get out because I could see the monument across the road. The complex is a bit of a disappointment. I had pictured in my head a nice parkland space or something, surrounded in trees and the mountains.
Instead it’s ringed by a dusty highway carrying exhaust belching trucks, and what looks to be an attempt to start a new suburb next door. It’s far from the pretty surroundings I had dreamed up. That’ll teach my overactive imagination.
The monument itself is pretty cool and impressive. The rest of the complex is just a big tourist grab. There’s about a dozen souvenir shops and restaurants, a room with some insects, a planetarium, and that’s it. There’s also two more museums outside the complex where you have to walk back along the highway to get to, but I wasn’t bothered, and instead jumped on the next bus back to Ofelia.
Tonight is my last night in Quito. It’s been a little over a week and I’ve really enjoyed it. Next stop is north to Otavalo!