Thursday, November 02, 2006
REI Posterchild
Hello everyone,
Well, again, there was a change of plans, but things ended up much for the better. Edwin´s girlfriend/fiance/whatever is sick now (God, I hope I didn´t give them all my nasty gringo sickness!), and so Edwin thought he should tend to her today instead of going tot he soccer match. Which really is for the best as I remember that I don´t actually like to watch sports, especially not soccer (sorry, Berger, but its true). He advised that I take the teleferio, as it is most safe for tourists. So I took a very expensive seven dollar cab ride to the base of Mt. Pichincha. The state of the art amusement park at the base didn´t really tempt me and I bought my ticket to take the gondola up, up, up the mountain. It was fun and reminded me so much of summers with my family riding gondolas in the Colorado mountains. I spied many Puya beneith (retrosa, maybe??), but they ended abruptly at a certain altitude and we kept climbing. The end of the gondola was at 4100m, which is pretty darn high.
I didn´t want to buy touristy clothes or food, so I set off on a trek to the summit of the volcano. It was a lovely, rolling grassland and this mist hung overhead, but beneath it I had a stunning view of gigantic Quito (180 degrees of it). I found my first Americans who took my picture. I love finding Americans in other countries! They were a family of Christian missionaries from Ohio, spending a year out on the edge of the Amazon. I found it curious that they spoke no Spanish and didn´t really know anything about the culture. The dad teaches biology at a school for English speaking Christian missionaries kids, so I guess they don´t really need it. They were super nice though and I was all too glad to chat with them for a bit. Continued hiking, as they decided to take a horseback ride instead (which might have been fun). The trails went straight up the hillsides, which is a real killer at that altitude. I had to take lots of breaks, but luckily all the exercise kept me plenty warm. I had on all my field gear from REI and the scenery looked right out of the catalogue. Hiking felt so good. When we collect, I´m usually paying the driver by the hour so we are in a bit of a rush and can´t really take time to just hike about. But I go to today!!
When I was just about tired out, I stopped to chat with a couple of engineering professors. One is a Cuban who teaches in Syracuse New York and could speak English quite well and the other was Equadorian. They kind of questioned if I really knew what I was doing going to Loja tonight, as it is a major holiday, but they didn´t know themselves how to get around in the country, so I found it a bit rude. I think it is a bit of the subtle sexism and ageism that I encounter here. I´d like to think that I really am challenging peoples perceptions about what young women alone can do.
The clouds were really coming in, so I never did get the perfect picture of rugged Pichincha, nor did I make it to the top (I think that would have been a serious mistake to try, though a weird grouping of an Irishman, an Australian and a kiwi (New Zealander) were trying). I went back and had my first decent cup of coffee of the trip. Everyone drinks instant Nescafe here in hot milk, which is pretty nasty. They made real drip coffee and I was in heaven. I sat and drank it with this nice Colombian man who had been in my gondola on the way up. He didn´t speak any English, but luckily his Spanish was straightforward enough and my brain was clear enough that I was able to keep up. He said my SPanish is very good, which is really the best compliment I can get here. He was working for an oil company near Coca in the Amazon reason (boo, but he seemed to appreciate nature, so I tried not to judge. More later perhaps on all the environmental atrocities in Ecuador). He told me all about how great Colombia is and how I should visit and he took my email and I took his. Maybe I will? I think he really wants me to visit so I can speak English to his two daughters. That could be a fun way to make a living. He says that real Colombians know exactly how to get around the country to be safe.
We took the gondola down and he helped me take a bus and get on the right Trole line to get back home, which helped make up for the expensive cab ride earlier. I had a nice Papaya ice cream and am now waiting for Edwin´s call. I have no idea if the buses will be full tonight because of the holiday, but I¨m counting on Edwin to know what is up. Hopefully I´ll write from Loja next!! Happy dia de los Muertos. I didn´t get to see any weird traditions, but it was a great day nonetheless.
Love,
Rachel
Well, again, there was a change of plans, but things ended up much for the better. Edwin´s girlfriend/fiance/whatever is sick now (God, I hope I didn´t give them all my nasty gringo sickness!), and so Edwin thought he should tend to her today instead of going tot he soccer match. Which really is for the best as I remember that I don´t actually like to watch sports, especially not soccer (sorry, Berger, but its true). He advised that I take the teleferio, as it is most safe for tourists. So I took a very expensive seven dollar cab ride to the base of Mt. Pichincha. The state of the art amusement park at the base didn´t really tempt me and I bought my ticket to take the gondola up, up, up the mountain. It was fun and reminded me so much of summers with my family riding gondolas in the Colorado mountains. I spied many Puya beneith (retrosa, maybe??), but they ended abruptly at a certain altitude and we kept climbing. The end of the gondola was at 4100m, which is pretty darn high.
I didn´t want to buy touristy clothes or food, so I set off on a trek to the summit of the volcano. It was a lovely, rolling grassland and this mist hung overhead, but beneath it I had a stunning view of gigantic Quito (180 degrees of it). I found my first Americans who took my picture. I love finding Americans in other countries! They were a family of Christian missionaries from Ohio, spending a year out on the edge of the Amazon. I found it curious that they spoke no Spanish and didn´t really know anything about the culture. The dad teaches biology at a school for English speaking Christian missionaries kids, so I guess they don´t really need it. They were super nice though and I was all too glad to chat with them for a bit. Continued hiking, as they decided to take a horseback ride instead (which might have been fun). The trails went straight up the hillsides, which is a real killer at that altitude. I had to take lots of breaks, but luckily all the exercise kept me plenty warm. I had on all my field gear from REI and the scenery looked right out of the catalogue. Hiking felt so good. When we collect, I´m usually paying the driver by the hour so we are in a bit of a rush and can´t really take time to just hike about. But I go to today!!
When I was just about tired out, I stopped to chat with a couple of engineering professors. One is a Cuban who teaches in Syracuse New York and could speak English quite well and the other was Equadorian. They kind of questioned if I really knew what I was doing going to Loja tonight, as it is a major holiday, but they didn´t know themselves how to get around in the country, so I found it a bit rude. I think it is a bit of the subtle sexism and ageism that I encounter here. I´d like to think that I really am challenging peoples perceptions about what young women alone can do.
The clouds were really coming in, so I never did get the perfect picture of rugged Pichincha, nor did I make it to the top (I think that would have been a serious mistake to try, though a weird grouping of an Irishman, an Australian and a kiwi (New Zealander) were trying). I went back and had my first decent cup of coffee of the trip. Everyone drinks instant Nescafe here in hot milk, which is pretty nasty. They made real drip coffee and I was in heaven. I sat and drank it with this nice Colombian man who had been in my gondola on the way up. He didn´t speak any English, but luckily his Spanish was straightforward enough and my brain was clear enough that I was able to keep up. He said my SPanish is very good, which is really the best compliment I can get here. He was working for an oil company near Coca in the Amazon reason (boo, but he seemed to appreciate nature, so I tried not to judge. More later perhaps on all the environmental atrocities in Ecuador). He told me all about how great Colombia is and how I should visit and he took my email and I took his. Maybe I will? I think he really wants me to visit so I can speak English to his two daughters. That could be a fun way to make a living. He says that real Colombians know exactly how to get around the country to be safe.
We took the gondola down and he helped me take a bus and get on the right Trole line to get back home, which helped make up for the expensive cab ride earlier. I had a nice Papaya ice cream and am now waiting for Edwin´s call. I have no idea if the buses will be full tonight because of the holiday, but I¨m counting on Edwin to know what is up. Hopefully I´ll write from Loja next!! Happy dia de los Muertos. I didn´t get to see any weird traditions, but it was a great day nonetheless.
Love,
Rachel
# posted by Rachel Jabaily @ 4:46 PM 
