A Day in Ecuador: Quito, where the altitude slows the first breath

You wake before the alarm, because Quito has already entered the room. Not loudly. Through the thin chill on the floor tile, through a dog barking somewhere below, through the way your first full breath seems to arrive a half second late. This is a capital city at two thousand eight hundred fifty meters, high enough that even making coffee can feel like a small negotiation with the air.