Thursday, November 03, 2005
Quito II
The good news is that we have survived several terrorist situations so far...only here they call them taxis...I´ve figured out that you never say pronto or anything that indicates you might be in a hurry...even without that indication, the rides are truly something to behold. Some of the streets are "una via", ie one way...but I can´t tell any difference in the way the taxi drivers operate...they seem to drive on whatever side they think is the fastest. And this idea of leaving one car length for every 10 mph? Rubbish! If you ever did that, a bunch of pedestrians would be sure to try to leap into it...pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way here...in fact, if one of them tries to walk across the street when a taxi is coming, the driver honks his horn and sometimes shakes his fist out the window.
Yesterday we walked all over old Quito...like the manual on altitude sickness says...don´t overexert the first day...we walked up some awfully steep streets. The most interesting thing we did was to climb up inside the Basilica which is a giant old cathedral in the middle of town. First we take an elevator to an observation deck...then we walk up about 4 flights of stairs to a level where we can look out all over the city...then there are 4 flights of circular stairs if you want to continue...which we take on as a challenge...then there are three flights of ladders to go hand over hand...finally you are at the top...except the ceiling is made of welded wire about 4 inches square and if you want to, you can take one more ladder to this...which we do...walking on the wire is a bit difficult...you can´t look out very well because it´s mostly solid walls, but if you really want to, you can step out into the open and stand in a triangular area about 2 feet wide, hanging on to the re-bar so you don´t fall off and get impaled on one of the spires that are below you. We see this as yet another challenge and Cindy isn´t here to tell us we can´t do it....hee, hee. We say this is the only risky thing we are going to do this trip...except possibly taunt the hammerhead sharks in the Gallopagos...
More to follow...if we don´t get eaten....
Yesterday we walked all over old Quito...like the manual on altitude sickness says...don´t overexert the first day...we walked up some awfully steep streets. The most interesting thing we did was to climb up inside the Basilica which is a giant old cathedral in the middle of town. First we take an elevator to an observation deck...then we walk up about 4 flights of stairs to a level where we can look out all over the city...then there are 4 flights of circular stairs if you want to continue...which we take on as a challenge...then there are three flights of ladders to go hand over hand...finally you are at the top...except the ceiling is made of welded wire about 4 inches square and if you want to, you can take one more ladder to this...which we do...walking on the wire is a bit difficult...you can´t look out very well because it´s mostly solid walls, but if you really want to, you can step out into the open and stand in a triangular area about 2 feet wide, hanging on to the re-bar so you don´t fall off and get impaled on one of the spires that are below you. We see this as yet another challenge and Cindy isn´t here to tell us we can´t do it....hee, hee. We say this is the only risky thing we are going to do this trip...except possibly taunt the hammerhead sharks in the Gallopagos...
More to follow...if we don´t get eaten....
# posted by dennis @ 12:17 PM 
