Acclimatisation and diving into the cultural deep end

I'm at the point where I'm in Quito, and getting used to the near 10000 feet or 3000m altitude. I noticed when walking to a bike shop (10km round trip) to buy some tyres, I was a little breathless and a mild headache. Although I left Australia with a mild chest infection.

Being in Quito which is the capital of Ecuador (but not the largest city), I've been surprised about how few people from other cultures are here, after being amongst Sydney for so long. So I fear I do look like a tourist, with little chance of blending in.

The people here are friendly, and thankfully accommodating with my weak skills speaking Spanish. I'm learning from them as I go. There is the occasional person who can speak English. I'm glad for the course I did last year to get by with the essentials. The company that has organised this ride has offered some more short sessions to learn more Spanish before we start riding.

The view from the hotel in Quito. Real mountains!

A better view of the mountains beside Quito. 

Note the houses going up the mountain on the top left of the photo. Steep place to live!

I've noticed when I visit places, I think of a chaos scale. Watch how people drive on the roads, how uneven the footpaths are, how many and how pushy are the beggars, how obvious is poverty.

The first, and so far very limited impression I've gotten is Quito is,

• It's not as congested as Sydney
• Getting around on foot, cars do seem to at least respect traffic lights most of the time. Indicating a lane change doesn't happen, but they may indicate when they're turning. Crossing roads can be deceiving. There are zebra crossings, but if there's a green traffic light showing traffic to cross your path, best wait. It's only on the smaller side streets without traffic lights do cars seem to stop to avoid pedestrians, although I'm not counting on it!
• Not run with the efficiency and planning like what I've seen in parts of Europe, it certainly feels more predictable and safer than say Jakarta Indonesia or Cairo Egypt (I had some close calls in Cairo).  It's somewhere in the middle.
• I haven't had people chase to sell me something, or feel that I've gotten someone's interest just for passing by.
• The storm water drains have a slight whiff of sewerage, watch your step as there's crumbling concrete and the occasional uncovered hole in the paths.
• There are some grand older buildings here, and some newer buildings with much imagination in their design. Although I've seen that some of even the newer buildings are in need of repair.

The schedule