Today we rode the Teleferico in Quito to the top of Rucu Pichincha at 15,407 feet. The air was cool and crisp with the mercury barely reading 50 degrees fahrenheit despite our location directly at the equator! Wow, what a view of the valley floor below and the home of more than 1.6 million Quitenos. This is a city of extremes. A UNESCO world heritage site, a capital city at 9,350 feet that’s the second highest in the world (after La Paz, Bolivia), the one that’s closest to the equator, and a city filled with people that have hearts of gold and are so friendly.
Oh man, that looks like my kind of city. From the tram it looks similar to the 3rd highest capital behind Quito - Bogota. Colombia is where Belalcázar went next. Sounds like he was (characteristically, for Spanish conquistadors) a bad dude. Brings new meaning to the term "women and children first"! Died in Cartagena. I guess if you gotta go, there are worse places to do it....
Have you eaten any cuy?