Quito

pm local time.
Today we hired a guide to see the city, $US70 for an english speaking Quito guide including his vehicle - pretty good value I think. We discussed what to do then headed off. Being earlier ijn the morning we took a cable car to the top of the nearby ridge, to look at the city. It fills the valley for 40 km, being up in the andean highlands flat country is scarce. We had to walk a feww hundred metres up to the cablñe car and were surprised to feel breathless and heart racing. A few minutes later we were another thousand feet up at 4,000m, which didnt help. We walked quite clowly up up path to an observation point.
The city is a curious colour, whitish pink. The houses are so packed you dont see a lot of detail, just a strange wash of colour which reminds me, if I may say so, of what seagulls leave behind when the krill is running in the harbour. Apparently they use local pumice deposits to make their aggregate and thats the colour. We saw one of the high points briefly, a nearly 6,000m volcano with a snowy cap. The snow levels starts about 4,800 m or so, compared to our snow line of about 6 - 8,000 feet 2-2,700 m or thereabouts. Thats the tropics, pushing these altitude parameters well up from what we are used to.
The local volcanoes are active, and there was ash and pumice deposits where we were viewing.Our guide says he has experienced significant ash deposits twice, in the city. We learned that these mountains are the Andean chain, but rather than being aggessively uplifted by plate movement as they are further south, it is an area where one plate is subducting below the other with volcanism resulting, pretty much the ame as our south Island and north island situation.
Nexr we visited a famed landmark, a statue of the virgin mary with wings, on a hill over the city. Its a fact and a bizare commentary on humans that the walking paths up the hill to the stature involve a virtually guaranteed mugging experience. So we thought why not drive up, and did. On the way we stopped to view an old city cemetary, which to save space is a vertical wall where your remains are posted, in a slot.
We then moved into the old part of town to see the city section the spanish built in the 16th century and onwards. Fabulous moorish, gothic, baroque and spanish influenced churches and civic buildings. The most ornate was the interior of a church so ornate it looked frothy with detail, all covered in gold leaf. No photo permitted by we were hushed by the specatacle of it and walked round soaking it up. We visited the presedential palace in front of the main square, once an inca market then converted by the spanish to a central plaza. The armed guards at the gate are dressed in the uniform of Simone Bolivar, a political figure revered on many latin american counties including Cuba. We saw the changing of the guard as one shift replaced another, very comical like the marching soldier in Sebastians home in the movie bladerunner.
We loved our day here and feel a lot more comfortable with the place compared to initial impressions which probably reflected the location of our hotel and the streets we first wañked out into. The hotel is excellent very comfortable and home like, with charming english sounding owners, an older couple. We had a brilliant meal last night and even decided to test the advice for travellers at altitude, to eat lighly and refrain from drinking or smoking. We ate vigorously, consumed a bottle of wine then retired to the fire (it is cool enough to warrent one in the evening) and sipped a cognac. Sadly they have this attitude of not lighting cuban cigars otherwise that woul have been included. sp much for medical advice we slept well and woke up fine!
I have to get off this machine but have to comment on what fascinated me most, the mountain people, short stocky people with hats like trilbys and ponytails, brightly coloured hand woven clothes and a lkarge box on their bag secured with a sling across their chest. They are in town selling produce.
Above 10,000 feet all down the andes are villigers living in the alpine terrain, speaking in their old tongues and raising animals, growing produce and weaving. They cannot really be considered citizens of this country or that they are their own peoples of the Andes. We are looking forward to seeing and learning more.\sx