TeleferiQo and Old Town

Besides the mangy stray dogs that are everywhere, it was fairly safe navigating the streets of centro historico/Old Town alone today. Of course, I stayed away from a few places I wanted to go that the guidebooks and travel websites say are "frequent sites of robberies and assaults" like the El Panecillo walk up to Virgen statue.
Other photos-Iglesia de San Francisco and the neo-gothic the Basilica del Voto Nacional.
TeleferiQo gondola goes up to about 13,500 feet on the east side of the Pichincha volcano. It's $8.50 and the views are priceless. If I'm not mistaken, you can bring your mountain bike up on the cable car exterior. I rode in silence the 8 minutes up with 3 other people of different nationalities. We all burst out laughing at the top when, before the doors opened, a window washer soaped and squeegeed the gondola windows and doors. It was a collective 'wtf' in the universal language of giggles. This is a shot from half-way, and another of me at the end of the cable car route in front of Rucu Pichincha in the distance. I begged some lady to take it for me as a selfie was kind of awkward.
The air was noticeably thinner and the sun more intense. Unfortunately, there were some clouds and there was no view of Cotopaxi in the distance.  After a stop at the bathroom by the ticket counter (which I had earlier scoped out as free/but dammit, forgot no one provides tp here/was all out of the tp in the wall dispenser), I was on my way. 
Against my better judgement, I got a non-licensed taxi back down to the city for $5. Yellow taxis that have a 4 digit registration code on the door are legit but only one was there and the driver looked grumpy. I quickly negotiated the price in Spanish with the grey cab and ended up having THE GREATEST taxi ride with Jesus. That's Jesús -not Jesus-just for clarification. 
10 minutes of his best tips on places to go/avoid. At one point in heavy traffic, he starts scrolling through his pictures on his windshield-mounted smartphone showing me pictures of him hiking Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. And the obligatory photos of his daughter. Qúe bonita! but pay attention to your driving, amigo. He dropped me off near La Compañia cathedral and that was that. A good start.
Spent the rest of the day exploring the museums and churches that are in a pretty compact area. Had lunch at the City Museum mostly because it had a good bathroom AND a cafe and I needed a rest. It was interesting (an old hospital) and well worth the few bucks to get in.