BrigidMan, the altitude in Quito is NOT playing around. And yes, it’s actually 9,400feet but pretty sure my lungs are rounding up. This may be shocking to some of you, but I am not a mountain climber. Ha. And having a college roomie date a climber only exposed me to a ton of climbing books and films (“Touching the Void” is a fantastic and harrowing read, btw). There is definitely no latent mountain goat gene in me. It’s wild, from an observational perspective, to find oneself winded easily. I’ve given my lungs a good pep talk, as it’s 3 flights of stairs to our room. Which is lovely.
Having a Sunday as our “wander around” day has been brilliant. As it’s a day for familia, the squares are full of laughter and kids and street performers and dogs, most of whom are wearing clothes. The dogs, I mean. Obviously the people wear clothes too. you get it). Hard to not buy delicious looking homemade ice cream from Street vendors. But if we’re going to play fast and loose with food safety, risking bacteria in the water, better to do that after our 5 days in the Amazon.
Cathedrals, museums, art gallery, lots to see in Old Town. We inadvertently found the red light district, so that was great people watching, as well. Those ladies, and some likely gentlemen as ladies, were working some insane shoes at 2pm on a sunny Sunday.
The equatorial sun is also not playing around. Even when cloudy, gonna have to be extra careful about sunscreen. Such is the life of a gal with extreme sun sensitivity. Guess that Meyers lady was right about the Pacific Northwest weather being beneficial for creatures who must avoid the sun. Gotta say, as awful as my sun rash can be, it’s still way better than being a glitter vampire.
Tomorrow we take a short flight to the east. Then 3-4 hr boat ride into Amazonas, and 20 minute canoe to our black water lagoon (with caiman & piranha). Wooo!!
I really want to see photos of the ladies and men wearing their seriously insane shoes at 2:00 pm. I just assumed you weren’t still talking about the dogs.