Quito Day One

July 26, 2013

You're at the equator. It's supposed to be hot all the time, isn't it?

My preconceived perception was all wrong. Well ,let's back up to

yesterday.

When we boarded our flight in Miami, I struck up a conversation

with  my seatmate. She was a recent college graduate from Quito

who was returning home after visiting her aunt and uncle in Fort Myers.

I enjoyed talking with her. Well, she warned me about the constantly

changing weather in Quito.

Today I experienced it first hand. I went out early this morning and it

was COLD. We took a walk after breakfast to the Botanical Gardens

and it was beginning to warm up. By the time we got back I decided to

switch to shorts and short sleeve shirt. Fine, except in the wind.

Someone suggested we take the cable car for a scenic view of the city.

Just be sure to wear sunblock and take a jacket. Remember you're

at the equator and closer to the sun.

Today was a gorgeous day so I'm really glad we took the advice.

The drive to the cable car was up, up, up. Then we rode

the cable car up, up, up.

Of course, once we got to  the top of this mountain, there was additional

hiking up, up, up. When I walk uphill my heart rate goes up and

this was really steep. As my heart rate went up breathing became more

difficult. I'm thinking, I don't usually have this much trouble. Then it

dawns on me. Dummy, it's the elevation.

Quito is at an elevation of almost 10,000 ft and surrounded by

mountains. It goes from 2850 meters to 4050 meters. That's over

12,000 feet. I knew Quito was at a high elevation but didn't know

how high until I wrote this and looked up the numbers. I really

did not do my homework.  The views of the city were great but

we were so far away, we couldn't tell what was what or take really

good pictures.

We got some nice pictures of volcanic mountains. We had a great

view of one of them from the hotel this morning. It was really clear

and the waitress said it often was not.

It was breezy and cool on the mountain but not really bad, definitely

not hot.

All in all, a really nice start to our trip.         .