Day 1) After receiving special treatment at Miami Airport in the form of being escorted into the "there seems to be a problem" interview room, we finally arrive in Quito to be welcomed to the most fantastic hostel with a terrace that looks out over the city of Quito. Time for a beer and then bed.
Day 2) First stop "Basilica" - not content with being 3000m up we try to go an extra 30 or so metres up a very nice cathedral. You can climb right up into the clock tower, with little but common sense to stop you re-enacting that scene from The 39 Steps...
The altitude really does knock it out of you, so Jacqui used her remaining brain-oxygen to take a spanish lesson and Rob diverts the oxygen to his legs and walks to the local Turkish Bath/Spa/Steam Room. You can't go wrong for 3 pounds for 3 hours almost exclusive use, other than the fact it compunds the headiness of lacking oxygen and Rob manages some minor hallucinations after scaling the 3 floors of the hostel to our room.
We decide to take it easy by joining in "French night" at the hostel. French Onion Soup, "Coq au Vin" (as Jacqui was to refer to Rob later that night) and Crepe Suzette. Oh, and Rob managed to disgrace himself by abusing the ridiculously cheap wine. So just like a normal Thursday evening in Highgate really. Rob was escorted to bed by his adoring wife, only to wake at 1am screaming "Quito, Quito, Quito" (I think this was my drunken homing pidgeon instinct kicking in).
Day 3) Apparently Rob promised he wouldn't drink tonight, although I'm not sure such a promise from an inebriated person would stand up in court...
We decided to explore the town and there were two main points to note. First is the phenomenon of public welding. Never have we seen so much welding of metal articles to other metal articles, so publicly, as in Quito. It's the sort of place you daren't stand still for too long lest you find you have been welded to something. Second are the people made to dress in yellow, with some kind of barrel (full of pop corn or ice cream) attached to them. It appears to be some form of community service, possibly for crimes against fast food...
In the evening we had Argentinian Steak and a bottle of wine (Jacqui had half so it didn't count as a breach of the drinking curfew), before checking out the New Town nightlife and fumbling our way home.
Day 4)
With a minor level of acclimitisation, we decide we really don't need as much oxygen as we've been living on for the last 20 odd years and go on a day trip to the adjacent volcano "Pichincha". This entails a rodeo 4wd trip up to 4000m, followed by a 2 hour hike up to the summit (4800m). To say it was a challenge does not really capture the sense of nausea and breathlessnes we experienced, however we made it and were treated to a fantastic view that you normally only get to see out of a tiny porthole on the side of a Boeing 747. On the way back we get to stop at the large monument of an Angel which overlooks the city (and is guarded by one of the roughest neighbourhoods in Quito)
On returning to Quito Rob discovers a newfound level of blood-oxygen and is cured of his altitude sickeness. Jacqui has a little sleep and then they rejoin the terrance for BBQ and "All you can drink for $3.50" happy hours, and Rob smokes a Cohiba he picked up at an obscenely cheap price the night before (and no Richard, a Cohiba is a perfectly legal Cigar).
Tomorrow off to the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, where, we heard over dinner, you can acquire all sorts of unpleasant parasites and illnesses. Hopefully one of them will eat Jacqui's flea that she picked up 3 days ago and won't let her alone...
