El Teleferico

Pühapäeva hommikul tegin silmad lahti ja kuna päike paistis, siis otsustasime Telefericoga ühe Quito vulkaani otsa sõita. Mõeldud, tehtud! Lõikusime kiirelt papaia lahti, praadisime paar muna ning asusime teele. Sõitsime metroo bussiga lähimasse peatusesse ja asusime telefericot otsima. Miskipärast kinnitas üks juhuslik vastutulev kohalik, et loomulikult on teleferico lühikese jalutuskäigu kaugusel. Meil võttis see aga umbes 40 minutit, kuna iga pisemgi tõus võttis hingeldama. Quito asub siiski kilomeetrite kõrgusel... Kohale jõudes viis kohalik buss meid väravast sihtpunktini, kus ootasime ligikaudu pool tundi ning seejärel saime umbes 10 minutit mäest üles loksuda. Teleferico sõidab 2950lt meetrilt 4100 meetrini, seega on tõus kohati üsna järsk. Vulkaani nimi on Pichincha ning selle kaks kõrgeimat tippu on Guagua(4784m), ketšua keeles laps, ning Rucu(4695m), mis ketšua keeles tähendab vanurit. Pichincha on endiselt aktiivne, viimati purskas 1999 aastal ning kattis Quito tuhaga. Viimane suurem purse enne seda oli 1660ndal aastal.

Tavaliselt on vulkaani tipus selge taevas üksnes keskpäevani, ent meil vedas ja päike paistis hiljemgi. Ja päike on seal tipus väga tugev! Nagu tuulgi... ehkki mulle Tuve'ga tegid vatijopedes kohalikud nalja :) Õhu hõredust me kumbki ei tajunud, kui siis ainult treppidest üles liikudes. Vaade oli aga lihtsalt võrratu! Veetsime mõned tunnid vaadet imetledes ning vaadates lennukeid maandumas. Seda ei juhtu just iga päev, et saab lennukeid ülevalt alla vaadata ning lumiseid vulkaanitippe teisel pool Quitot näha. Tagasi Quitosse jõudes tegime kiiresti süüa ja valmistusime algavaks töönädalaks.

L.

Telefericot otsimas/looking for Teleferico

Kloun bussis/Clown on the bus

Lumised vulkaanid/Snowy volcanoes

Quito

Rada/the path

Cotopaxi(5896m)-üks kõrgemaid tegevvulkaane maailmas/Cotopaxi(5896m)-one of the highest active volcanoes in the World

Tuve ja mina/Tuve and me

Teel alla/on our way down

Since it was sunny on Sunday, me and Tuve finally decided to go on top of Pichinchua by Teleferico. We ate some papaya, fried some eggs and left the house rapidly. It took us half an hour to get to the closest metrobus stop and we decided to walk from there on since one of the locals ensured that it's only a 10 minute walk to Teleferico... Well, maybe it is if you run a marathon :) It took us about 40 minutes to get up there since it's really hard to walk up the mountais here. Quito is a few kilometers above the sea level after all. There was a bus that took us closer from the gate and after half an hour of waiting in the queue, we finally could enjoy the ride up the volcano. The Teleferico rides from 2950 meters to about 4100 meters and it only takes about 10 minutes. The name of the volcano is Pichincha and it's two highest peaks are Guagua(4784m), which in Quechuan means a child, and Rucu(4695m), which in Quechan means an oldster. Pichincha is still active. The last time it erupted and covered Quito in ashes was in 1999 and the mayor eruption before then occurred in 1660.

It's usually sunny up there only until midday, but we were lucky and the sun was shining the whole time. And the sun is extremely strong up there! So is the wind though...  It wasn't hard to breath up there, but it was hard to walk up the stairs. Nevetheless, the view was amazing! We spent a few hours enjoying the view of snowy volcanoes, Quito and planes that were landing, after which we went home to cook and get ready for the week.

L.