12.16.14: Quito

Geek Notes

    -Where to start?  So far, I've geeked out on geology, geography, physiology, general science and astronomy.  I've neglected history, primarily because I was never very good at it in school.  But Quito redefines how I view the discipline.  I once heard Anthony Bourdain say, "I remember the moment I first realized I had been living my life in black and white..."  I now know what he meant.  There is a generic quality about home.  We become so intimate with our surroundings that we are lulled into apathy and become desensitized to the details and richness of our everyday environment. Sometimes it takes a shock to the system to wake us up.  Quito is my wake up call.  Quito is not just the Capital of Ecuador, it is Ecuador  To understand that, you have to start with it's unique and complicated history.

    1300 years ago, Quitu tribes inhabited the Ecuadorian Andes.  The Cara tribes from the coastal plains moved up the Esmeraldas River, and in the year 800 AD defeated and assimilated the Quitu, subsequently establishing the Shyris Civilization.  Shyris Kings dominated what we now refer to as the Kindom of Quito until 1462 when, get this, TUPAC Inca took control of the region with his army of 250,000 Inca warriors.  The region was soon incorporated into the Inca Empire and thrived until the arrival of the Spanish in 1534.  Similar to native North Americans, the Inca were mostly eradicated by European infectious diseases for which they had no immunity.  The surviving Inca/Cara/Quitu were ultimately integrated into the Spanish society.  By 1535, Quito was officially established and given the rather lengthy name of, "The Very Noble and Loyal City of San Francisco of Quito," which is why they call it Quito today.  Bring in Roman Catholicism and 300 years of Spanish rule, and the locals were ready for a rebellion. After a few failed attempts and some internal conflicts, Antonio Jose de Sucre (dude with sideburns), under the command of Simon Bolivar, led troops into the Battle of Pichincha.

Their victory there against the Spanish, marked the beginning of independence for Quito (May 24, 1822).  It would be another 100 years before the Spanish American Wars were fought, effectively ending Spanish rule in the region.  Then it gets complicated...  Lots of fighting and border disputes.  Bring in rich oil reserves and power struggles. Blah, blah, blah.  Fast forward to 1995 and Peru and Ecuador have a little skirmish.  Hostilities ended in 1998 with a peace treaty and the formal borders of Ecuador as we know them today were finally established in 1999.  Interesting side note: Ecuador received one square kilometer of Peruvian soil under perpetual lease with no sovereignty in the agreement.  Peru didn't like that very much. 

    -Architecture deserves some geek time.  One of the best reasons to travel is to soak in the native architecture.  Quito's Historico Central is loaded with beautiful structures, but none are as spectacular as the Basilica del Voto Nacional. The basilica is the most important work of neo-Gothic Ecuadorian architecture and is one of the most representative of the Americas. It is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the New World. The building is noted for its grotesques in the form of native Ecuadorian animals such as armadillos, iguana, and Galapagos tortoises.

    The Basilica is 140 m (460 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) wide. It is 30 m (98 ft) high in the sanctuary, 15 m (49 ft) high in the votive chapels, 74 m (243 ft) high in the transept, and 115 m (377 ft) high in the two frontal towers. In the sanctuary, there are fourteen bronze images representing eleven apostles and three evangelists. In the crypt, there is a pantheon containing the remains of several heads of state.

    -Rucu Pichincha is an active stratovolcano volcano that dominates the

 Quito skyline. At 15,413 feet, it is a formidable mountain and an ideal summit for acclimating. The nice thing about Pichincha is it's accessibility.  Not only is it in Quito, it has a gondola that takes you 13,500 feet up the Southern flank of the volcano.  That leaves a very doable 2 hour climb to the summit.  We saw the summit from town today when we were at 9,800 feet.  Rucu is one of two peaks within the Pichincha complex.  The other peak, Guagua Pichincha erupted in 1999, spreading several inches of ash on Quito (that's the ash cloud in the picture).  It is slightly taller than Rucu and has a large caldera at the top.  We plan a summit attempt tomorrow, and with any luck, Kimberly and I will set personal altitude records (I've been to 14,179, and Kimberly has been to 12,000).

    -You may have noticed I keep saying "summit attempt."  It's probably time that I start to temper expectations a bit.  The odds of reaching the summit of Cayambe are nowhere near guaranteed.  Matter of fact, the odds are greater that I won't reach the summit. I have a set of secondary and tertiary goals that I will attempt if reaching my primary goal is not possible.  I'll talk about these in a later post.

    The summits of large mountains were not designed with people in mind.  Summiting them under ideal conditions is never a guarantee.  The air is thin and altitude sickness can hit anyone at any time. When this happens, you have to descend as quickly as possible to alleviate the symptoms.  The catch is that ideal conditions are far from the norm.  Large mountains, and in particular solitary volcanoes, have their own micro-climates.  So even when it's pleasant in the nearby city, conditions can quickly become dangerous at altitude.  Storms can appear out of nowhere and winds can reach ludicrous speed, making climbing impossible.  Last week, when rainstorms caused flooding in California, the winds on Mount Shasta gusted up to 150 mph.  Winds above 45 mph are common at altitude and make ascending nearly impossible.  Throw in ice, snow and the threat of avalanche, and you get the picture.  Our itinerary is extremely tight.  Everything has to go like clockwork, or my goal of summiting Cayambe will likely not happen.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the luxury of building in additional climbing days if I'm snowed out on the 21st. 

    -About Ecuador being officially dollarized.  I lecture about this in my International Economics class, so in the interest of keeping you awake, I will only hit the highlights.  Smaller countries have a hard time managing their currencies.  Bouts of hyperinflation are debilitating and can cause chaos in the economy.  Some countries choose to peg their currency to the dollar or other stable currency, but this presents a host of additional problems.  Some say F&$% it, drop their currency and simply adopt the US Dollar.  After a series of financial crises, Ecuador did this in 2000 and has had good success with it. They do mint dollar and half dollar coins which are funny because they say they are "US Dollars" but they are obviously no good in the States.

Flag

Seal

Ecuador

Pichincha

Quito

December 6, 1534

Sebastián de Benalcázar

Quitu

32 urban parishes[show]