Quito Alto

Quito Alto

Beanstalks. Everybody was doing them. The bean counters (yeah, pun intended) figured they're like a deep sea oil rig was half a century ago. Put a few - well, tens - of billions into it, and you get a steady return after a few years. And the stalks did turn out to be the things that really broke out the space frontier in the thirties and forties.

But I guess nobody figured out the part about saturating the market. Or the part of them being so vulnerable to all sorts of sabotage and accidents. The Ecuadorians got theirs done before the Brazilians, mainly with French and Italian money. These second generation elevators are a lot more comfortable than the first American and Japanese stalks. It's a long ride up, but the couches are comfortable and it's definitely worth the view.