Day 93 1/27/2022
Odometer 33,425 – 33,430 —- 5 Miles (10,730 Miles Total)
Quito, Ecuador.
I slept like shit last night and I’m pretty sure it’s because of the elevation. I’m at almost 10K feet elevation and I’m confident that’s why. Breathing here is definitely affecting me. I walk up a few stairs or up a steep street and I’m hurting for air right after. We had a few things planned for the day so we got right to it. We had a quick little breakfast downstairs in the hostel and went out for a little walk around the main plaza down the block.
I heard this place was pretty dangerous this morning. Well shit I had no idea this place was that bad and now im having second thoughts about being here. After hearing this I don’t even want to be here any longer than I already am, especially because of the expensive parking overnight for my bike.
We were going to check out the 7 churches on the main strip the hostel was on. Immediately after we got two blocks away and I pulled out my nice camera we got too much attention so I put it right back in my backpack. Within minutes we were warned by many people about having our cellphones out and my big camera. I’m going to skip ahead here a bit and just mention it now but every single time we had our phones out we were warned by cops and civilians about getting robbed. I’ve been in some sketchy areas but to be warned this many times a day by many different people about even our cell phones is a bit disturbing. How fucking dangerous is this place?
We walked a few blocks away and stopped at a little shop for chocolate and coffee and made our way down to a huge beautiful church. We took some pictures there and then called an Uber to take us to a motorcycle rental shop where we could rent a helmet for Jacki. When we were there the owner, who was from Texas, mentioned the sketchiest place in Quito is the old city center which was exactly where we were staying. They said don’t even think about taking my bike out in the daytime and parking it out of my sight because it will get robbed. Well fuck. I don’t want to be here at all if I can’t even take my bike anywhere.
We got in an Uber and went back to the Hostel so we could take the bike out to a big statue on a huge hill behind the hostel. We got on the bike and started heading up there when I noticed some clouds. I ignored them thinking Jacki would mention something about the rain if she thought it would rain since she’s a pilot. Nope. We got to the top and it started raining pretty hard. We got a cool view from the top of the statue of the whole city and then we ended up waiting there for almost two hours for the rain to stop while trying to call her an Uber to get a ride back to the hostel with no luck because we had no service. I’m sick of this rain already. An Uber finally showed up and I rode my bike back to the hostel. I was wet so we waited around a bit for my clothes to dry and then we went for a little walk around the nearby area to get some food.
We got some shitty pizza and then went to a little bar. We got warned once again by a bunch of people about our cell phones and at this point I want to see someone try to take it from me. I need to let some anger out and kick someone’s ass. I’m sick of the rain stopping us from doing what we want.
We planned on taking the bike to a huge crater with a lake in it 2 hours south of the city for a big 6 hour hike but I decided I didn’t want to go because she didn’t have proper gear and i’m not riding 2 hours in the rain each way to do a hike at 14,000′ in the rain. I don’t think she understands what it’s like to be on a cold bike ride for 2 hours. It’s the most miserable feeling in the world. It’s exactly why I took winter waterproof gear on a trip to a place with hot temps. The last thing I want to do is be on a bike and cold. We decided to figure out what we would do in the morning when we saw what the weather was like. That was the day. I hate you rain.
