Hanging around in Quito

After our epic summit of Cotopaxi, Bladimir, the climbing hostal owner picked us up in his 4x4 and dropped us right on the Pan American highway. Just as we had said our goodbyes we saw a bus thundering down the road with a sign for Quito in the window. We flagged it down, it was full but they managed to squeeze Julie and I and all our bags onto a bench behind the drivers seat. We had a great view but also were in prime postion to be heading straight through the windscreen should the bus have an accident. Still this is what its like in South America, and the driver, thankfully, was pretty sane. It was actually quite interesting to watch how the conductor  let people on and off the bus, helping them with their bags, and how the hawkers who got on  to sell everything from herbal remedies to cure all ailments to icecream would always give the driver something in return for letting them on in the first place. Within and hour we were back at Quitos southern bus terminal where we had to get a taxi for the 40 minute journey to the center. For once we didnt have to haggle with the price. Things so far were going suprisingly well. We got back to the hostal tired and hungry but feeling a real sense of achievement.

The next day after dinner, Julie and I parted company. She was heading for Colombia, and I was staying in Quito to go to Spanish school for two weeks. It was sad to say good bye, but as things stand we are meeting in the very south of Argentina at the beginning of December, so it was more of a hasta luego or see you later.
My lessons started in earnest the next day. Four hours a day of one to one tuition! No time for day dreaming.  My teacher, Vinicio, was a really nice Quitoan man of Quechua background, who seemed to have a desire to talk about very serious topics. Aswell as homework and learning 10 new verbs a day, the topics for chat ranged from teenage pregnancy to the ecomomy to my thoughts on 9~11.  Given my limited Spanish this was no easy task! I pretty much spent the whole two weeks just doing revision and homework and keeping my self to my self. I had found a great park up from the hostal with amazing views and I tried a couple of mornings to go for a run, but at 3600m, it was really hard. Towards the end of the second week, I met some nice Dutch people with whom I started having dinner, so my no wine fortnight kind of failed.
I had managed to find a reasonably priced flight to La Paz in Bolivia, but it only ran on weekdays, so on my last weekend in Quito I decided to climb Volcan Pichincha. I had been told it was easy enough to do on my own, but being just under 5000m it was still quite a hike!

I woke on the Saturday morning to find the sun shining and a cloudless sky. This was the day to climb the volcano, but given the nature of the very changeable weather in this region I still packed cold and wet weather gear into my bag. The plan was to walk across Quito to the teleferiqo (cable car), head up as far as it goes and then hike the rest of the way. I could see the teleferiqo from my hostal window, it didnt look that far away. An hour and a half later I was still pounding the suburban pavements uphill in the heat of the morning sunshine and the teleferiqo was no where in sight. I was having to use guess work to navigate my way through the streets as my map didnt go this far out. I made a judgement call and took a right turn at a junction when I became aware of a whistleing behind me. I ignored it, but after the third whistle I turned round. There was a man standing down the hill waving at me and pointing the other way to a bus stop which quite clearly said in big bold letters Teleferiqo.

There is also a sort of fun fair type theme park where the Teleferiqo departure is. It has the kind of run down shabbyness of many British sea side towns. There were a few rides and some kiosks selling hot dogs alongside large glass sided buildings that I guess were built as modern conference centres bringing Quito into the 21st century, but these were clearly long unused. At the teleferiqo, however there were plenty of people, foreigners and locals heading up the mountain either just for the view from the end of the cable car or to do as I was and hike the whole way up. It is a popular acclimatisation hike for people who want to do other higher peaks in the area.
Once I got to the top of the cable car I was keen to get away from the crowds so started hiking up straight away. There were great views back over Quito and as far as Cotopaxi and the Illinizas. The further I went the fewer people there were. The path was well defined and no too steep and it was really nice to be out of the city and hiking independently and at my own pace.
As I neared the summit it started to get alot colder. The last section is a pretty steep scramble up to the top. There were no other people around at this point and I had to make a decision as to a route my self. The cloud was starting to come in around the summit and I knew I had to be quick. Just as I started to scramble up the cloud came down around me and my hand were quickly going numb. I had gloves with me, but I was half way up a rocky face and in no position to stop to open my pack. I knew I had to get up or down pretty quickly before my hands completly froze and I fell off. I chose down.

Just as quickly as the freezing fog had come in, it lifted and I was able to see other people coming up the mountain. I decided to follow them up. At the summit there was a chance for a couple of photos but the visibility had got bad again I was pleased to meet a group of climbers from Costa Rica on the summit who said I could follow them down.  As soon as we had decended a 100m or so we were back below the cloud level and out again into the afternoon sunshine. Definitely a lesson in the unpredictability of the weather especially in the mountains!