Back in Quito

We have been back in Quito (the bustling capital city of Ecuador) this week, working on getting our more long term visas.  Since I am volunteering at a Catholic mission clinic, we qualify for "missionary" visas that will allow us to stay in Ecuador for the entire year.  We came back to Quito this week to get our visas going.

We arrived in Quito on Monday morning.  First we had to go to the Conferencia Episcopal Ecuatoriana, the main office of the Catholic church in Ecuador.  (It is a quiet place bustling with nuns and priests -- I have easily seen more nuns in the past month in Ecuador than in my entire life in the U.S.)  They took our passports, some other documents and the visa fees, and advised us to come back the following day at 11am so that they could escort us to the Ministry of the Exterior to start the visa process.  So that is what we did -- and waited for a good 45 minutes before she got there.  Apparently she had been at the US Embassy, which had taken her longer than expected, and we had missed our appointment at the Ministry.  She wanted us to come back again the next day ("mañana" was becoming a familiar refrain).  The following day we waited again for about 30 minutes, and then went down to the Ministry with a Venezuela nun and priest, and the priest's nephew who works with him.  After another round of waiting, and taking official photos, I am happy to report that the visas are underway.   The kids really were troopers.

We felt like we deserved to come home to this beautiful sunset...

So, on to more fun items...  Wednesday we went to an interesting place called the Teleferico, which is a gondola that takes people up a mountain at the edge of Quito.  The city itself spreads out in a valley at an elevation of 9,300 ft.  The Teleferico takes you up to an elevation of 13,500 ft.  That is almost as high as the peak of Mt. Rainier -- it is HIGH.  The views of Quito are amazing.

The kids were super exicted to get on the gondola and ride up the mountain!

The views from up there are really spectacular -- the photos really don't do it justice.  On one side is a panoramic view of the city of Quito, extending out into the valley...

And on the other side is a view of the mountains, with clouds at or below the level where you are, as well as a little chapel.

There are hikes that you can do up there, but we were not prepared for hiking so we didn't do it.  Also, the sun suddenly went behind a could and the temperature suddenly dropped 10-20 degrees!  Funny how that happens when you are at wicked high altitude.
It really was a very cool experience -- well worth doing if you are ever in Quito.