If we see everything today what will we see tomorrow?

It certainly felt as though we were going to see all of the sights in one day when the guidemaster told us about the tour. Cable Car - check, Real Equator - check, Volcano - check, the fake Equator - check; we saw them all. What will be left for the other days?

We rode in a van through the City of Quito, it is sixteen kms in length and runs from North to South. The Historical District (where we are staying) is in the South and the trip took us twenty five kms North so we saw most of Quito through the window, trouble was it wasn't all of Quito as we rode the main roads and they skirt the City. But what we did see was the same as other South and Central American urban sites we have seen roads lined with the day to day life of the average worker. Shops, garages, bus stops and all the places that cater to all. But none of them anything but scruffy by our standards. And lots of dogs - no cats! 

The Telefériqo starts at the edge of Quito and ascends about three thousand feet to the start of a mountain range where one can hike or horse ride to another one of the many volcanoes that surround Quito. Wikipedia description is here. The temperature of the place was about ten degrees lower than the start and it was windy as heck. Nothing much up there except some concession stands, only one was open on the Monday we went but all would be open on the weekends. The eight minute ride was not scary as the cable car hugged the mountain side and didn't have any long spans - pretty tame. But still a worthy site. Onto the next sight.

Arriving at a National Park we were supposed to see a mountain range that shielded a volcano. But the volcano was a two hour hike and the fog obscured a good view of it. We did get to see what the 'oil money' had built - a modern vendors' shop and an interpretive centre.

There are two places to see the Equator. The actual Equator and the place the locals founded in the 1700s. They are about four hundred metres apart and are two completely different experiences.

The actual Equator runs through a place where there is a Museum and guides will run little click here for the reference But even if its not the right place it's close enough and gives the visitor a good time. They run scientific experiments to show that it is actually the Equator. The most impressive consists of a basin and a bucket of water. But just checking Wikipedia even this site is not on the line.

Enough for the tripping we were bushed and wanted to drink a glass of wine and relax, so the last stop was to a SuperMaxi (large modern supermarket) where we bought our wine and then headed back to the Hotel where we discovered that the plumber had not fixed the hot water and so another night without it. I wonder how much of a discount we could get for this? We haven't paid yet as the credit card machine was not connecting to the Bank when we were asked to fork out - we haven't volunteered to pay.

Eating the last meal of the day we all commented on just how cheap the food is here, another full meal for ten dollars each is a wonderment to us.