The hotel owners asked us where we were going this morning and we told them the TeleferiQo and the Basilica. They told us to enjoy. We went back to our room and made sure that we had all of our belongings. We asked the owners if we could keep our stuff in the office and she said of course. We were done with our rooms so the housekeepers took full advantage and cleaned them up for the next set of guests.
Julio arrived and we all gathered into the truck and we headed up the hill to the TeleferiQo, a gondola lift (one of the highest aerial lifts in the world) that took us up to one of the highest points on the edge of the city.
We parked the truck in the lot, Julio reminded us to grab our jackets because it could get cold up there and walked into the main building to purchase tickets for the round trip ride. It was about $8.50 for an adult ticket. We waited a few minutes for our turn and hopped on. It would be about a 20 minute ride. We watched the landscape down below us as we got higher. We knew we wouldn't be able to see a whole lot due to clouds but unfortunately this was the only day we could do this.
It was a bummer because I saw through pictures that this view is amazing on a clear day. Lots of mountain peaks and amazing views of the city down below. We were almost as high in elevation as Mount Rainier and your breathing capacity definitely let you know it. We got out of breath easily up here.
We figured before we explored we should use the restroom and for some reason this was hard. The bathroom signage was confusing and we found ourselves near buildings that were rundown, boarded up and defunct. Eventually, we found the restrooms and made our way down the trail towards a swing in the clouds. We had to walk very slow and stopped to take breaks often. While we walked by the gift shop on our way outside we noticed the flavored oxygen bar. What? A flavored oxygen bar? Oh, the things I've seen.
I looked at the geocaching app to see if there was one nearby on the trail that we were on. We were less than 300 feet away. I had to go find it! I broke off from Amy, Josh, mom and Julio and took a small trail towards the cache, A Quito Beauty (GC68EN3). I could still see them the entire time. I was hoping I could find it quickly because the elevation was breath taking. I read the hint and it was worthless, it could be anywhere, so many tuffs of grass and I had to look for the obvious one. I had to have been there for at least fifteen minutes frantically searching in every tuff of grass that fit the description. I stepped back and looked at all the tuffs I've been to. I saw a spot I hadn't searched yet. I pulled the tuffs of grass back and there it was. YES!
This cache is now the highest in elevation I have found so far. It would be hard to break this personal best unless the caches on Machu Picchu were even at a higher elevation. We plan on going to Peru next spring. I logged my name, took a commemorative picture and put it back where I found it.
I joined back up with Amy, Josh, mom and Julio near the swing.
We enjoyed the scenic view (even though it was cloudy) and the swing with another group of people from Germany. We each took turns on the swings. It was exhilarating being on the swing and the illusion that we were on the edge of the world. Weeeeee!
We walked a little further on the trail and found a turn around point (due to time) where there were some historic points and structures to read about. We took our time walking back to the building.
While we waited for our cart, we walked around the gift shop a bit. We looked at the souvenirs and the other stuff they had on display. One shop even had a life sized stuffed llama. I was pretty excited about that.
Our cable car came and we took our 20 minute ride back down to the truck.
From there, Julio took us back down the hill to the Basilica, which was about a mile from our hotel in the Historical Center. We found a spot to park along the street and walked the block to the church. Julio decided to stay with the truck just in case. He told us he would meet us in an hour around the front of the church. The Basilica was massive! We paid a couple bucks to go inside and climb up to the top of the spires.
We toured the bottom of the cathedral before heading to the top. Every church we've gone to on this trip there were always people inside praying. The inside was beautiful as well as all the others we've been to thus far. We climbed up the staircase, trying to avoid the people walking down, to the room that lead up to the spires. We walked past this huge stained glass window.
Some of the panels were missing because there were people restoring them inside of a room we could see into.
We continued up one more flight of stairs and found the room we needed to get to. We made our way across a catwalk in the interior of the cathedral. We climbed up the tiny metal ladder up to the next level.
From that platform we climbed up two questionable staircases to the top. The wind was slightly blowing but neither mom or I are afraid of heights.
The view from up here was amazing. You had a great 360 degree view of the city. We were up there for about 10 minutes or so. We came back down to and walked back into the cathedral to check out the gift shop. I grabbed a few postcards and we each grabbed a 50 cent strawberry ice cream bar. We went outside and took a few more pictures before heading back downstairs.
On the staircase down, we ran into some pilots who were on their day off (they flew from Florida to Ecuador) and they talked about their airline strike and some of the amazing places they've seen over the years. We told them why we were here and they thought it was great and that they hoped that we got to help a lot of people on our trip. We thanked them and continued on our way. We got a few more pictures outside with the gargoyles before meeting up with Julio at the truck.
We drove the few blocks to the hotel and grabbed our stuff from the office, paid our bill and packed our suitcases into the truck and van, same set up as we did when we arrived at the hotel a few days prior. We thanked the hotel owners for their hospitality and the use of Julio and his wife as drivers. They said to have fun up in Cotacachi and to help as many people as we could.
We were off towards Cotacachi, which was about two hours northeast of Quito, about 75 miles away on the E35, Ecuador's section of the Pan-American Highway. The ride up there was boring at times, we drove through several little communities and we crossed the equator again for the 4th time. We stopped in Cayambe so Josh could get some drinks and snacks and Amy could pee. I gave Josh money so he could grab a Coke for me since we were here.
We finally got to Otavalo, which was the last city until we reached our destination, and the traffic sucked. I wanted to be in Cotacachi already. I was tired of being in a vehicle. We texted Joyce that we were almost there and she had given us her address several hours ago so Julio knew where he was going once we reached town. We got off of the Pan-Am Highway and turned onto a two-laned road that took us right into Cotacachi. Joyce had told us what to look for since her community is gated and the ally way is tiny and might be hard to find. She said to push the buzzer and she will come help us. Julio found the place without any problems. We got out and pushed the buzzer. Joyce came out and helped us with our luggage.
We tipped and thanked Julio for driving us around over the past few days. He said he had fun and it was a pleasure getting to know us. He and his wife returned to Quito.
Joyce gave us a tour of her house and told us all where we were going to sleep and the info on the food and such. She basically said make yourself at home and help yourself. Her house was amazing.
She had hot water and a washer and dryer, we just had to switch the propane tank over when we needed to use one or the other. We got settled in a bit and she asked us if we were hungry because she wanted to take us to one of the places she frequents. We grabbed the stuff we would need and headed out.
Along the way she took us on a mini tour of Cotacachi, showed us the grocery store, the famous leather street, some of the bars and restaurants that she and the ex-pats (US residents who have retired in a foreign country) hang out. It was a quaint little town, full of busy shop owners, farmers and tourists trying to experience as much as they could.
Joyce took us to Colors and Flavors, a restaurant that has exceptional reviews. It has a variety of food including the traditional Ecuadorian food. It is very well known for its steaks. Today, I wasn't feeling steak-like so I ordered the chicken cordon bleu, fries and a Coke. We ate our food, visited and Joyce shared more of her stories with us while she's been living here. She told us about Inti Raymi or know as the Sun Festival, where the people who live here, dress in colorful costumes, share food and drink and dance for hours near the town square. She showed us some videos from last year's Inti Raymi on her phone. We paid for our food and walked around town a little bit more before heading back to Joyce's.
Once there, we all got cleaned up, relaxed a bit, Joyce showed us how to use the TV, which she had it rigged to get Seattle's local channels, sports, and news. She also had to "jail break" a fire stick so it would work on the TV the way she wanted it to. We had it made in the shade staying at Joyce's. It was awesome. She gave us all the WiFi passwords and mom and I spent some time organizing our photos from our trip thus far. I posted a few of our albums on Facebook so people could see them.
We spent about twenty minutes getting our beds ready for those of us who spent the night downstairs. Joyce had bought some sleeping pads so we would all be comfortable during the time we were here. I grabbed a few blankets and two pillows. I did my bathroom stuff, plugged in my phone and got my ear plugs out. Those are hands down one of the most important items I brought with me because I didn't want to hear snoring all night long. Especially, since Amy and Josh were not too far away and they liked to snore. Tomorrow we would be going to Otavalo and doing more exploring of Cotacachi.
Next Adventure: Otavalo and Cotacachi
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