Today we tried to get out of the house early before it started to rain. It hadn't started, but there were clouds that threatened rain. It took awhile to get everyone dressed and ready to go, and by everyone, I mean Joshua. :) Leah, Christina, Joshua, Lucas and I piled into the car and drove to the teleferico (cable cars). There was a little amusement park at the bottom of the mountain, below where the teleferico started. Joshua wanted to go on the trains and Leah promised him he could after we went on the teleferico. We walked up to the ticket counter and there were only a few people around. Leah said it had been really popular when it first opened, but now there weren't many people coming through. There were poles with nylon connectors between them like that have at the airport or the movie theater to control the people waiting in line, but all of them were pushed up against the side of the wall like they weren't expecting long lines again. Christina stayed with Lucas at the bottom since he's too little to make the trip in the cable cars and Leah, Joshua, and I walked up to the place where you boarded the cable cars. Along the way, it looked like a ghost town. Leah said that when they were busy, there were cute little shops and restaurants along the way, but one by one they went out of business. Leah was a little bit worried that Joshua would be scared to go in the cable car since Leo is afraid of heights, but he loved it. He was waving and saying "Hola" to all the cable cars that were returning back to the starting point and pointing out the cows and waterfalls we saw along the way. The view of Quito was amazing as we got higher and higher.
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| Joshua and Leah in the cable car. |
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| Joshua and I in the cable car. |
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| A waterfall we saw on the way to the top. |
When we got to the top, we looked at the view. There were clouds in the way and Leah told me that on a clear day you could see some of the volcanos in Quito's mountain range. Joshua was pretending to look out of the binoculars they had there and was telling us to look through them too. Kids have such vivid imaginations because without paying, all you see is blackness as you look into the binoculars.
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| Joshua and his binoculars. |
Leah and I ate empanadas up at the top. I had an chicken empanada and she had a cheese empanada. They call the cheese empanadas, empanadas del viento (wind empanadas), because they are fried and end up really light, basically filled with air. They sprinkle sugar on the top. Joshua had a popsicle.
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| The view at the top. The teleferico cables are to the right. |
After we took the cable car back to the bottom, we went to buy tickets for the rides so that Joshua could go on the trains. While we were waiting, Joshua started playing Hungry Hungry Hippo with some other little kids. I think they actually called it Happy Hippo there.
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| Joshua playing Happy Hippo. |
When we got to the trains, Joshua decided he didn't want to go on the trains. Leah thought he might be afraid. He had gone on this pirate boat ride before and gotten really scared. Instead we took him over to the cars. There weren't many kids on the rides, so Joshua got to pick which car he wanted to go in and had the ride all to himself.
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| Joshua in his red jeep. :) |
As we were walking back, Christina and I looked behind us and realized that Leah and Joshua weren't there. We waited at the end of the walkway. After some minutes it started to sprinkle. We saw them coming toward us, so we started to head down to the car since the rain was starting to come down harder. Leah told us that Joshua had to go to the bathroom and then was deciding whether he wanted to go on the trains or not. He ended up not being able to since it was starting to rain. We made it into the car just before the rains really started coming down.
Back in the house, we ate lunch and when the rains let up, we went to the park nearby again. Leo came out with us to ride his bike on the trail near the park. It was dry enough in some areas that we could actually walk comfortably around the slides and swings. I decided to dust off my gymnastics skills and try to do some things on one of the metal bars there. I did a pull over and successfully did a back hip circle, but after I dismounted, my wrist felt funny. I laughed and told Leah that maybe I was too old to be trying to do those things still. She said she was impressed nonetheless. :) When we got back to the house, she gave me an ice pack shaped like Elmo to put on my wrist. After Joshua saw it, he wanted to have it. Leah was telling him that I was really hurt and needed it. He finally let me be and we watched Tangled. It had started to rain on our way back and from the park and I missed when Leo returned, drenched from his bike ride in the rain. He went directly to the shower.
It was a long day, so we just ate dinner, relaxed, and went to sleep.
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