After a very busy week we decided to spend the day being typical tourists yesterday. We visited the teleférico to see a view of the city and the amusement park Vulqano which was next door.
The teleférico itself was worth visiting as the views Quito were spectacular.
The ticket system however was distinctly uncomfortable. There are different tariffs for the teleférico depending on whether you are an Ecuadorian national or not. The price for Ecuadorians was $4.90 and for foreigners it was $8.50. We paid for our tickets and were then told which queue to join in order to get into a car going up the mountain.
Having paid the tourist price the queue we were ushered into was the "express lane" which meant that we overtook all the Ecuadorians who had been pateiently waiting for more than an hour. I cannot tell you how uncomfortable this was.
On the right was the Ecuadorian queue and on the left the non Ecuadorian queue which was very short indeed. It felt like some kind of enforced apartheid system and we all felt very embarassed. It did not help that all the Ecuadorians stared at us...the "rich Europeans" who were going on to the teleférico before them. We all felt as though we were doing something wrong, even though we had no choice in the tickets we were given.
Still, the view was spectacular, and on the way back down we found ourselves in the queue as the three penalties in the Spain Paraguay match were taking place so the atmosphere at that point was very excited, with everyone cheering when Spain missed.
Cameron, Lucie and Luca all enjoyed a trip to El Vulqano park afterwards, and we did what parents all over the world spend their weekends doing. We took photos and we waited.
The teleférico itself was worth visiting as the views Quito were spectacular.
The ticket system however was distinctly uncomfortable. There are different tariffs for the teleférico depending on whether you are an Ecuadorian national or not. The price for Ecuadorians was $4.90 and for foreigners it was $8.50. We paid for our tickets and were then told which queue to join in order to get into a car going up the mountain.
Having paid the tourist price the queue we were ushered into was the "express lane" which meant that we overtook all the Ecuadorians who had been pateiently waiting for more than an hour. I cannot tell you how uncomfortable this was.
On the right was the Ecuadorian queue and on the left the non Ecuadorian queue which was very short indeed. It felt like some kind of enforced apartheid system and we all felt very embarassed. It did not help that all the Ecuadorians stared at us...the "rich Europeans" who were going on to the teleférico before them. We all felt as though we were doing something wrong, even though we had no choice in the tickets we were given.
Still, the view was spectacular, and on the way back down we found ourselves in the queue as the three penalties in the Spain Paraguay match were taking place so the atmosphere at that point was very excited, with everyone cheering when Spain missed.
Cameron, Lucie and Luca all enjoyed a trip to El Vulqano park afterwards, and we did what parents all over the world spend their weekends doing. We took photos and we waited.
The reversed racisim isn't nice, I know. I've experienced it time and a time again in Tanzania.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good that you had a fun tourist/family day.