Hi,

Today it is Wednesday the 4th of August, and I am now three days in Quito. I am already getting used to the trafic, the noise, the polution and the spanish language, I still can´t say anything, and also don´t understand all of it, but there is a slight improvement ...

Today we went to with a cable-car to the top of one the mountains that are surrounding Quito. All the way up to 4160 meter, pretty high. They have warned us already about the altitude sickness symptoms. drink enough water, take it easy and don´t hurry ...

First we took two taxis to the start of the cable car, the road to get there was already pretty steep, and our driver had to shift to the lowest gear to keep the taxi moving on the slope, there were 4 Westerners in there, and not the smallest ones, so no wonder that it didn´t go very smooth... Finally with a boiling engine we arrived at the top, where we were going to take the cable-car up.

it was just the same like the ski-lifts which are everywhere around the world, so it looked decent and reliable. after getting a ticket and paying 2 dollar more than the lokal people, yes they take good care of the tourists, we went up. nice smooth ride, with a very nice overview of Quito. It was worth every penny of the 8,50 US$ we had to pay.

Once up at the top, there was a hiking path which took you further up the mountain, so we did that also, because maybe the view was even better from there ... and it was !!

After spending some time over there, and realising that we didn´t bring any food and not enough water we decided to go back down and get something to eat. They had a nice hamburger, double with cheese, with some pattatas fritas, which tatsed like a 2 Michelin Star menu after the hike up and down.

After that we took a taxi back, and it was around 4 in the afternoon that we were back, time to relax and update the website, this time also with some pictures.

Tonight there is nothing on the program, just have some dinner and relex a bit, tomorrow I will start cycling on my own, and at 4 pm we have a group meeting in the hotel, to get to know eachother, and get more information about the trip ... Friday we start to cycle to Mittad Del Mundo, the Ecuator, where the official start will be of The Andes Trail 2010 !!

I will keep you updated as much as possible, however now I am in a big city, and I am not shure how that will be for the rest of the trip .. we will see !!!

Michiel