TelefériQo in Quito

A couple weeks ago we couldn't rent bikes for Ciclopaseo so we used that as motivation to do something fun and FINALLY go up the TelefériQo  (teleferico and Quito combined). It is a huge cable car or gondola lift, one of the tallest in the world.

It took about ten minutes to get to the top, and we were lucky that it was a clear day on our way up! When we went back down about an hour and a half later, it was already grey and raining. It’s about a three dollar cab ride from where I live in the North, and going up costs about 4 bucks. We decided to pay the three extra dollars and skip the huge line.

 Look how long the line is!

We paid 3 bucks and skipped the whole thing

Laura and Brian in the gondola

 

The TelefériQo goes up the side of the Pichincha Volcano. One of the peaks is active but I have been assured by many locals that the top opens in the direction away from Quito. This is the site of the battle against the Spanish where Ecuador gained its independence, a fact I only know because we have school off next Friday to celebrate Battle of Pichincha!

  Happy times at the top of the TelefériQo!

View of Quito from the top

  

The views from the top of the TelefériQo were beautiful, of course. You can see all of Quito, and on an especially clear day (which it wasn’t) you can see surrounding peaks like Cotopaxi. Hikers can summit the two peaks of Pichincha, but I chose instead to go in the mini plaza of cafes at the top of the TelefériQo and eat a pile of gross fried chicken. Didn’t regret that at all later.

 Fried chicken, doused in hot sauce

Peaks of Pichincha in the distance and clouds rolling in