Wednesday, 3 August 2011 Quito is situated in the Andes Mountains in a valley that stretches north to south. This valley is home to the Guayllambamba River and is surrounded by volcanoes on many sides. The valley floor is approximately 9,200 feet above sea level. This makes Quito the worlds second highest national capital after La Paz, Bolivia. (When I first heard this fact, my instinct was to ask, "What about Kathmandu, Nepal?" It turns out that Kathmandu is not even half as high as Quito, weighing in at only 4,200 ft in elevation - yes Elisa, in Salt Lake City, you are currently situated at a higher elevation than Kathmandu.) The Vida Verde School where we are taking classes and the homes of our host families are all on the eastern edge of the valley. Through our classroom window, we can look west across the valley and see Pichincha, the closest of the volcanoes to the city of Quito.
Wednesday, in the morning before our clases started at one in the afternoon, Emily, fellow member of the ChACE program, and Stephane, our new friend from Germany who is also learning Spanish at Vida Verde, set out to experience the city's famous TelefériQo. We took a taxi, who by all accounts most certainly overcharged us gringos, to the lower station of the TelefériQo at the base of the Pichincha volcano. The TelefériQo took us to a ridge known as Cruz Loma in a cápsula. In the capsule, we were joined by a man carrying garbage bags to collect the garbage from above and bring it back down. I feel sorry for anyone who had to ride down with the garbage itself!
Once we arrived at Cruz Loma we were able to see magnificent views of the city and the surrounding geography. We were not far from the summit of Rucu Pichincha. (Unfortunately, we did not have time to summit before class. That will have to be another days adventure.) Rucu Pichincha is one of pair of twin peaks that make up the Pichincha Volcano. Rucu Pichincha is dormant while Guagua Pichincha is active. Guagua Pichincha is 283 feet higher than Rucu Pichincha but is separated from the city by Rucu Pichincha. Guagua Pichincha has erupted as recently as 2006, but all lava was directed away from the city because of the presence of Rucu Pichincha. Quito did experience enough ash to close down the airpot for the day. Across the valley to the southeast sits Cotopaxi. While many here claim that Cotopaxi, with an elevation of 19,347 feet, is the tallest active volcano in the world, a little bit of internet research reveals that this title belongs to Ojos del Salado in Chile, the summit of which has henceforth been added to my personal bucket list. Also on the bucket list is a burro ride that is offered from Cruz Loma to Rucu Pichincha. For this adventure, which can be either half an hour or an hour long depending on your appetite, you are outfitted with a traditional poncho and sombrero. When this happens, I guarantee there will be pictures. Overall, this was a great way to get a layout of the valley. Bellow are some photos from the day.
Our initial landing at Cruz Loma, about 13,500 ft.
From the backside of Cruz Loma, we see the peak of Rucu Pichincha, 15,413 ft.
Cotopaxi, taken from the TelefériQo while looking southeast across the valley.
FYI: You can click on the photos to make them bigger.
ReplyDelete