Friday 15 December 2006

Pichincha

There is a teleferique from the outskirts of Quito which takes you from 3000m to 4000m, from there one can climb Guagau Pichincha, a volcano which is still active apparently! It´'s last explosion was some 10 years ago which resulted in 3 or 4 inches of volcanic dust landing on the city.
Left the top of the lift and followed the path for about 1 hr, stopped for a drink & saw at my foot a comb, what a strange thing to find !! could this be a SYMBOL, signifying what ??? A parting of the ways perhaps ?? a hairy moment ahead ?? Then a rabbit crossed my path , what can it all mean ?? symbolism is not my strong suite so could not work it out . Puzzled I walked on.
It was very misty, at a biforcation of the ways I was left with a choice, seeing a group making thier way up a ridge i decided to follow them, it was a S1 scramble quickly changing to a S11 however soon caught up & discovered it was a school climbing trip & they were all roped up & had all the gear, There was a an instructor with them and i had a chat with him ( the group were all novices ,I could tell by how tentative they were ) & asked him if there was a way off the ridge, he said he did not know as( being english ) he had not been here before, oh well might as well keep going, so passed him & his group & caught up with the next group of roped up "climbers" ... another english so called guide, asked him if the route became better, ¨" do you mean does it get harder " was his supercilious reply. I told him I would start again " is there a way off this ridge ? " he did not know either, so not much of a guide, but a complete .....er. Passed him & his group & made my way up, I might add I was In trainers & jeans & this obviously pissed him off, If only i had 10 Regal & a can of export with me !!!! I did not find this scramble too hard up to S 4 in places, Then I reached a tricky bit ( discovered later it is called the" Devils notch" probably a R2 maybe a R3 as there is an overhang), so rather than ask for help from him I left him with a parting shot & downclimbed all the way as ther was no way off. It was now too late to make my way back up so made my way back.
So there had been a hairy moment & a parting of the ways & what about the rabbit ??
Went to a Quiz, it was all about Christmas, the team did not do very well, My high point was knowing the date of Epiphany, DO YOU!!!
SS.
On my way back from the quiz I was confronted by a very scantily clad young lady, who after smiling at me pulled up her skirt & showed me her uñderwear !!! why she thought I would be interested in looking at Her tiny knickers I have simply no idea, 2 puzzles in the one day.

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