Saturday, July 9, 2011

We slept in this morning!  After breakfast, we took one of the blue busses to the " TeleferiQo (cable car) on the western side of Quito - well, almost there; we got off at the base of the road leading up to it.  Just so you'll know -we didn't- there's a little bus stop at the base of the road where one can catch a free shuttle to the cable car.  We started walking up the steep hill; Jenny probably would not have made it when the driver asked us if we were going to the cable car - we said yes so he told us the bus goes there! 

When we bought our tickets for the cable car, we noticed there were two types - general and express; both were the same price.  We just asked the ticket seller for dos adulto; she gave us express (because of my age?)  There were two lines getting on so we were routed to the express line.  Going up, it didn't matter much because both lines were short.  However, coming down, there were probably 60-70 people in the regular line but no one in the express; we went through the express (a guy was at the entrance and he checked our tickets!) line and got right on the cable car!  Age makes a difference in Ecuador, older folks go to the front of most lines, or even to a special line!  I enjoy the special dinners at our church in Huntsville because we old folks get to go first; Jenny gets to go also, not because she's old, but because she's married to me!

We had some more fantastic views of the Quito valley.  Being at the top (4100 meters -13,451 feet) was cold, slightly windy, and rainy but I got some pictures and video.  At least it wasn't as cold as being at the top of Cotopaxi! We stayed for about an hour or so.

Back to the hostal then, since we had not eaten lunch, we dropped off our backpack and cameras then went to dinner at the Magic Bean, a nice "gringo" restaurant in gringolandia.  Jenny had a mushroom tenderloin; I had Milaneba chicken; both were good. Jenny was too full for desert so I had a piece of Engadina (pie).  We could not find a translation for it but the crust is very hard with some sort of filling w/walnuts.

For Gerard - they have Spaguetti al pesto. :-)

After dinner, we looked for a bookstore near gringolandi; we want to get some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade Spanish readers to help in learning Spanish.  We did find it but it was closed; kinda expected it as late as we got there but now we know where to go on Monday.

It's a small world - when we got on the bus @ Colon and Amazanos, we saw the guy who is a circuit trainer at the Curves where Jenny is going while here!  He was on his way home after work (Curves closes @ 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.

Ecuador lost to Venezeula; no one here was happy about that.  We watched most of the game at the Magic Bean.  I like their sports shirts; I gotta get one.  While walking around gringolandia, a guy tried to sell me one but even the largest looked too small. Perhaps not though, they may stretch!

Tomorrow, church services at the Davolls' church in Cumbaya. If we get an early enough start, we may brave the city bus to the coliseo then get the express bus to Cumbaya.

Still haven't heard from Continental, so I guess I'll need to write the president of the company when we get back - not from here because postage is so high ($2.00 for a postcard).

Until tomorrow, we wish all of our friends and family (if any are reading this!) a good night's rest and a great day tomorrow.