Ecuador Trip Day One

Day One of our trip was spent traveling.  I saw my first bird of the trip inside the airport while waiting to be x-rayed and go through security - an American Tree sparrow.  I had trouble using the check-in kiosk which turned out to be really lucky. The Delta employee who helped me told us our flight would be delayed over 2 hours which would make us miss our connection in Atlanta. She put us on stand-by for an earlier flight.  When we got to the gate, there was a long line of people hoping to get a stand-by ticket but since we got put on the list already, we got on and they didn't.  This was huge because there is only one Delta flight to Quito per day.  We would have missed a whole day in Ecuador if I had been able to use that kiosk by myself.  We talked to some other travelers who were going to the Galapagos.  One woman was a physician going on a National Geographic tour.  We talked about altitude sickness. Quito is over 9,000 feet.   Since I know I get altitude sickness at that height, I had a prescription for Diamox.  The physician said she often prescribes that too but now she prescribes Viagra for altitude sickness.  She said if I felt ill in Quito and happened to see her in town, I should ask for some Viagra.  I don't know if Viagra affects women the same as men, but I'm not interested in trying it while in a foreign country.  Who knows what could happen?  Night fell as we flew south.  I kept track with the traveling map. In my window seat I could see the lights of Tampa, Key West, Havana, and Panama City.  We landed in Quito.  Our driver was there holding a sign with our names on it.  He took us to the Sierra Madre Hotel which was about 20 minutes from the airport.  We went right to bed.  My friend wants to go ziplining tomorrow-crossing the land while harnessed to a steel cable.  I'm not so sure about this.  I have a little fear of heights.  But she really wants to go.  At the very least I can watch her do it.