In Quito

We arrived in Quito after a long but uneventfull flight at 11pm and were met by Jess, Sam and Dani. We spent the first night at Dani´s grandparents, which is a pretty nice place. They have a driver and two maids. Not quite what I was expecting when I arrived. The next day we moved into our hostel, La Casona de Mario, a pretty nice place run by an Argentina guy. We then set out to explore the city and checked out a couple of the markets. Lots of stuff but I am waiting for this weekend when we visit Otovalo to buy anything. Driving around in the city is insane although I am getting used to it already. Horns are used as a form of echo location rather than to warn other drivers. Lines and signs appear to be mearly a suggestion rather than absolute rules. Suprisingly I haven´t seen any crashes yet, although banging sideview mirrors is a regular occurance. It makes cab rides much more exciting. The buses also seem to all be burning bunker diesel so it is pretty smoggy. It also seems that the flight paths for the airport cover the entire city, and the planes need to take off and land at higher speeds due to the thin air. Combined with the horns it makes the city pretty noisey. We also went to a park where I saw my first llamas. The next day we headed out to explored NewTown Quito and I began my search for a climbing guide. There are a ton of companies but not all are equal. It is difficult to decide who to go with but I got some reccomendations from some other people so I have narrowed it down to a couple companies. Later on Saturday we went out to Gonzoles´s (Dani´s uncle) farm which is an hour out side Quito. After a crazy ride out there in the back of a pickup we arrived at what would more acutately be described as an estate rather than a farm. Sam and Dani´s wedding reception is going to be out there so they had to tend to wedding duties while we explored the area. It was nice to get out of the city and see the country side. It is near Pasochoa which I hope to climb later this week or next. On the way back into the city Gonzoles gave us a tour of Old Town at night which was pretty cool to see. The next day we decided to go back and explore it during the day. The lonely planet guide said that cars were forbiden on Sundays but this turned out to be wrong. We toured around and checked out all the old Colonial buildings. It was pretty cool to see buildings that were close to 400 years old.
On Monday we took the telefiqua up to Ruca Pinchicha. It is basically like the gondola on grouse but cost $4 instead of $30. The top is also at 4100m, which makes hiking around fairly interesting. I hadn´t really noticed the elecvation in Quito but up here a little hill left you gasping for air. We did a 3 hour hike up the volcano but ran out of time so we didn´t make it to the top. I will have to go back earlier in the day. It was also very cloudy so we couldn´t see much. I will have to figure out a way to upload some pictures. That is about all for now. I am going to be doing acclimitization climbs over the next few days in preperation for Cotopaxi and Chimbarzo. Chimbarzo is going to be pretty expensive as I have yet to meet anyone who wants to climb it as well, so I would be paying for the guide by myself. I´ll wait to see how Cotopaxi goes and then decide. We are heading out to see the park this weekend via the El Boche train which you ride on the roof. We are also going to be heading out to the Equator and the markets at Otovalo so I will lots more to write about. Hopefully I will also be able to post pics by then.

Chow