We've been told we're lucky to still be alive after today's adventure. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This morning, we visited the mountain guide agency to wrap up all the details of our Cotopaxi summit attempt on Thursday (snow gear, ice axe, crampons, harness, etc.)
We discussed with them the best day trips we could do to acclimatize ourselves to higher altitudes before our climb, and they suggested several, including a climb of Pichincha, the mountains right behind Quito. Since it was too late in the morning to attempt to climb and come back down before the end of the day, the guide suggested we hire someone to drive us in a 4x4 close to the top and we could walk back down in just a few hours.
Simple enough.
But after lunch, our taxi driver had no idea what we were talking about. We had him drive to the travel agency, where the lady explained to him what we were trying to do. It appeared that he understood. Turns out he didn't, but we didn't realize this until much later.
Our driver took us on a 30 minute ride to the southern part of Quito, then drove up towards the mountains (unlike most cities, which are generally round in shape, Quito is one long stretch of city with a series of mountains cradling it on its western side).
We left the main streets and came upon more sparsely populated dirt roads, at which point our taxi driver stopped and negotiated with a pickup driver for him to take us the rest of the way up (the taxi would never have made it).
This beat-up old red Datsun pickup was small and ancient. Since there was only room for one passenger in the cabin, Pascal sat up front and I had the dubious honor of riding in the back.
Big mistake. I was tossed around like a rag doll all over the hard metal, which will keep my chiropractor gainfully employed for the next 20 years, and I clung for dear life. The few times I was able to muster the courage (idiocy?) to only hold on with one hand so I could film with the other, I'm afraid the soundtrack of this footage will contain some choice expletives.
And let's not forget the dust. Since we're talking dirt roads, every time some other truck passed us in the opposite direction, I gagged and coughed and sputtered as I was enveloped in a thick dust cloud. Fun, fun, fun.
Speaking of other vehicles, at some points the road was so narrow that these giant dump trucks coming from the opposite direction had to pull some fancy maneuvers to avoid crushing us. At one point, one of them missed, and I had the pleasure of witnessing first-hand, not even one foot away, the screeching of metal against metal as the truck took out the rear end of the pickup and ripped the entire taillight right out of its socket. Pleasantries were exchanged between the two drivers.
Some time and a few butt bruises later, our driver deposited us in the middle of nowhere by the side of the road. It was as high as it went.
We found some trails going up higher, and started climbing. The scenery was beautiful, and the weather quite pleasant. We met some Andean farmers along the way, as well as the odd collection of grazing cows now and then.
Eventually, our trail became less and less distinctive (i.e. if we kept going through the rough underbrush, we'd have no clue how to get back). When the clouds came in and enveloped us in a constant wispy fog, we decided to call it a day and turn back.
We had a generally merry time on the way back down, enjoying the crisp mountain air, the striking views and the mild but healthy excercise. Mostly following the road from which we came in the pickup, we caught up to a family of Andean Indians walking down as well, each of them carrying a load on their shoulders as big as themselves.
After exchanging a string of friendly 'buenas tardes' we soon passed them but stopped not too far ahead to take some pictures of Quito from above. When they caught up to us, the mother of the group engaged us in conversation and didn't waste much time asking us if we realized that we were walking around in one of the most dangerous parts of Quito.
Apparently, murders in this part of town are commonplace, and just three days ago a tourist had his throat sliced while walking around taking pictures. Muggings and rapings are also rampant. We'd accidentally wandered into the South Central / Harlem of Quito.
Oh crap.
This was not good. In fact, the surroundings as we descended further did start looking more and more degenerate and not in the least bit hospitable. Even the dogs looked mangy and unfriendly, skittering with a gnarl from shady run-down shacks and crumbling cement block houses.
Thankfully, this Indian family had enough concern for our well-being (even they were fearful in this part of the town, and only traveled in groups) to show us the quickest way to get onto a bus and out of dodge.
The bus driver, frankly, looked halfway incredulous when he saw us, and the few young kids hanging out on the streets looked on curiously, pointed at us, tugged at their mom's dresses, and probably said something to the effect of: "look, ma, victims!"
So, yes, we made it out without incident. And none too soon, as far as I'm concerned. Kind of like Russian roulette: it's perfectly safe five times out of six.
Since a lot of prayer was involved in that last bit, it was only natural for us to visit a giant statue of the virgin Mary next. This giant winged Mary overlooking the city stood upon a globe and had a dragon crushed under her feet. Kinda cool.
Next, we made our way to a very impressive cathedral--probably the biggest and nicest one I've seen outside of France. It was too late to visit anything but the antechamber in front, but I found a small, barely open metal door hidden off to the side with a small set of stairs leading up.
Thinking we might find something interesting, Pascal and I headed up the dark stone stairwell, using Pascal's flashlight when it got too dark to see. Several turns of the stairs up, I thought I heard a noise downstairs and had a bad feeling. I immediately rushed back down before the guard closed the door and was about to padlock it! We would've been stuck in this dark stairwell all night!
Instead, we'll enjoy our nice comfortable beds at the hotel in preparation for tomorrow's great adventures...
Cheers,
Gabriel
