QUITO, ECUADOR - Amazing Cable Car Ride But Will I Survive The Altitude Sickness?

Описание: A MUST DO in QUITO, ECUADOR is the TELEFERICO (TELEFEREQO) CABLE CAR system. It is recommended that you wait for your body to ACCLIMATIZE before doing anything too taxing when you first arrive in Quito. Me being the arrogant fool that I am pushed myself too hard too soon and paid the price: ALTITUDE SICKNESS at the top of the cable car system.

It was day 2 on my trip in Quito and I felt great. I had explored the OLD TOWN the previous day and met two girls in my HOSTEL who wanted to ride the cable car system the following day. I had lived in LOJA for 4 months and just assumed that my body was fully adjusted to the high altitude. Loja sits at 7000 feet altitude, Quito is at 9000 feet, it turns out that extra 2000 feet would be too much for me. But I didn't find this out till I was high up in the cable car system.

It was 8:00am and we headed towards the cable car system to start out adventure. It is highly recommended that you take the following:

SUN SCREEN
A HAT
CLIMBING BOOTS
RAIN PROOF JACKET
PLENTY OF WATER

We decided to take the bus from out Hostel to the Teleferico, it is possible to take a taxi for almost $5 but us being cheap BACKPACKERS we elected for the 40 cent bus ride. Unfortunately the bus does not take you straight to the foot of the hill (where the cable car system begins), it drops you off and the you have to hike for 30 - 40 minutes up hill. I have to tell you, this part was a struggle, big time struggle. My advice, don't take the bus, take a taxi cos it will drop you off right at the cable car system.

I burned all my energy before we even started the trip. After paying $8 for the rerun ticket we jumped in one of the cars ad the journey up the hill began. The cable car carries you 800 metres up the side of the hill, a journey which takes about 15 minutes. Sadly it was a very cloudy day and the view was ruined by the white candy floss standing between us and the city view below.

Upon reaching the top we started our ADVENTURE. There is a HIKE called VOLCAN RUCA PICHINCHA which is roughly 5 hours round trip and we went for it. I was doing okay at first but then I became really breathless really fast. Having taken several hikes in Loja I assumed I would be fine with the different altitude, I was wrong. I was over 3000 feet higher than my body was used to and it took a toll on my body. My MUSCLES tired very quickly, my breathing was laboured and I had to stop several times. This was a different beast than what I was used to.

My females colleagues (who were much younger than me) stopped and encouraged me at first, but I had to tell them to just leave me behind. I was going at my own pace and there was no point holding them back. I pushed myself to the very limits of my endurance. I met several climbers on the way to the first hill. Some over took me, others were turning back complaining that they were getting sore heads, another symptom of altitude sickness. I had no sore head to speak of so I assumed that I was doing better than they were.

It was when I reached the base of the mighty hill (or mountain if you want to be technical) that my own headache kicked in. Massive pressure on my ear drums, a splitting pain right behind my eyes and of course the breathless. I was looking at another 2 hours before I reached the top of the hill. Worst of all the time was 2:30pm and the cable car system shut at 5:00pm (or so I was told). I had failed, even if I reached the top there is no way I would make it back in-time for the final cable car. I had to urn back.

Do I feel disappointed, definitely. Embarrassed as well cos the whole thing was caught on camera. But I tried my best and that's all that counts......at least that's what I tell myself when I'm alone at night.

#backpacking # Quito #Ecuador