A few weeks ago I was in Ecuador. After four and half days in a small room conducting training I finished my work for the week and escaped to be a tourist. With many of the countries I visit I’m never entirely sure if I will ever go back so I try to make the most of being there if possible. Often there is no opportunity, but Quito is geared up for tourists so I had many options. The Country Director asked as I had a few hours if I wanted to go to the craft markets. I suggested instead that I take the cable car up to the top of the mountain to get a view of the whole city.
So, we drove halfway up the mountain and then had to walk up a very steep slope to reach the starting point for the cable car. The city of Quito is already at 2,800m so by the time we were climbing the slope we were feeling it. The Cable care took 18minutes to ride to the top. In the middle I got a little shaking at the car swung and I realised quite how high off the ground we were. Reaching the top was well worth it. Although the air was thin – we were now at 4,100, the experience was amazing. We were looking out at the tops of volcanoes that were at the same height as us. While we were there clouds came in and enveloped us – amazing.
I could have stayed up there hours but conscious that I had company we headed back down. Definitely the most touristy thing I have done on my recent travels – and the most fun.
