The only way is up

So after 10 weeks in Central America, which we’ve absolutely loved, it’s time to see what Ecuador and Colombia have to offer. First stop is Quito, sitting 9,350ft above sea level it’s the second highest capital city in the world (bonus points if you can name the first) and of course the one closest to the equator.

There’s less oxygen at this altitude so we take things easy to acclimatise spending a pleasant afternoon in Parque Carolina. It’s Saturday and the park is full of folk doing all the things people usually do in parks of a weekend. Mainly eating, judging by what we see.

The botanical gardens are lovely. We especially like the bonsai forest, which is the equal of anything we saw on our trip to Japan and there’s a fun section dedicated to carnivorous plants - not so much fun if you’re an insect I guess. 

This piece of civic art is interesting, Wend has always had a thing for skinny blokes so she's happy.

Next day, having had enough of taking it easy, we dig out our hiking boots to attempt the walk to Rucu Pichincha. To get to the start of the trail we take the teleferico Cruz Lomo that lifts us over 800 metres in 15 minutes. It's a white-knuckle job, and not my kind of thing at all, but provides spectacular views of the city below.

We knew walking at this altitude would be a challenge but within a couple of minutes we’re both struggling for breath. Small steps and lots of stops help us manage, but when we reach 4400 metres and my lips start turning blue (an early sign of altitude sickness) we decide not to push our luck and turn back.

It’s lucky that we did, because just as we reach the teléferico, thick clouds roll in obscuring any view of the mountain and torrential rain soaks everyone left out on the trail.