60. Ecuador - Into the Amazon

During my stay in Quito my host Diego had shared all manner of suggestions, advice and ideas with me. So much so that I found it exhausting to listen to him at times! However, one gem of an idea he gave me was to bypass done of the mountain region I already knew from my first trip here and make an excursion down into Ecuador's Amazonian region.

 After our hike up the slopes of Tungurahua everyone except for our host, Lenin, was exhausted and we all opted for a rest day before heading on. Clearly the muscle sets used for cycling are different to those used for climbing as my legs were screaming as if on fire! Furthermore, with my stomach still rumbling on uncomfortably I decided to be proactive in curing the problem and drank copious cups of herbal tea all day to douse the bugs that were causing me trouble.   

 Unexpectedly, we were paid a visit by the local newspaper in Ambato to be interviewed about our respective cycle tours. I'm currently on a roll with my Spanish and I handled my interview with consummate ease even if I do say so myself! 

What a cracking rest day. I felt reinvigorated by spending time with the other cyclists and, without wishing to sound overly spiritual or mystical, I was reminded of the importance of our trips. We're all on some kind of journey with rich  experiences and new learning at the heart of what we are doing. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this as planning takes over and I become preoccupied with covering distances, organising accommodation etc. These things will always sort themselves out but you only have one chance to enjoy each passing moment.                 

 The next day my stomach was back to normal, my legs were still screaming but it was time to move on. The other guys were heading south by the mountain route while I headed west towards Amazonia and the Ecuadorean jungle. Passing through Baños I noticed these road markings advising people in case of eruptions.                 

 HEP station.    

 The road down from the Sierra was just stunning and it was an easy 60 mile ride. My commitment to adventure is evidenced by my new tyres picked up in Quito. I'm back to chunkier 2.25 inch mountain bike style. I'll only get the benefit from these if I ride gravel tracks so that's what I must do once I hit Peru. No easy ride in the final months for me!           

 The Baños area is a major centre for adventure sports, zip wires, rafting and the like. Not for me, I'm happy with the bike. Also, in an attempt to protect my budget I'm trying to stick to $10 a day at the moment so as I don't withdraw more cash until Peru.   With a bit of discipline I think I can make it in $5 per day! This means scrimping on things like accommodation.     

 For example, staying with Bomberos. Here in the tiny Bomberos station at Shell I was welcomed with open arms. Wifi, shower, kitchen, eggs, rice, I was told to make myself at home. I don't need telling twice and soon settled in.  

 I suppose it would have been churlish to complain about the lack of a bed, they were all full, so I just pitched my tent out back. Tropics here so a few more bugs around (hence pitching  tent cover) and I was glad to have a roof over my head just in case of downpours. 

In the end, for all the kind hospitality, it was not the best night's sleep with vehicles and people coming and going and the tv blaring out until well past midnight but it's a free nights accommodation. I put up and shut up. By the time I woke up at 6:30am the next morning I'd had plenty of rest anyway and, having helped myself to a free breakfast, was in the road by 7:20am.                   

 Tropical flavour to the municipal architecture. During the day I was to see parrots flying overhead, hummingbirds zipping from tree to tree and a flock of exotic-looking kites, quite distinct from their sandwich-snatching cousins in Watlington.

 This is what I'd hoped for, views over the Amazon rainforest that give some impression of it's mind boggling vastness. I suddenly felt both that I was in a place very far from home, and very insignificant. A breathtaking environment to experience and a thoroughly worthwhile excursion from the mountains.  

 This region is in Ecuador's periphery and the paucity of funding for the area is evident. Even the church has a corrugated iron roof, a far cry from Quito's exquisite gothic cathedrals.  

Around the villages in particular, the jungle was less impressive, hacked back and cleared for settlement and small-scale farming. Amidst such 'progress' my hopes of encountering an uncontacted tribe soon faded...     

 Yes, a happy and contented day. Despite now riding my chunky, high friction tyres I still managed to cover 87 miles (140km), reaching Macas by 3pm. I was continuing to work the aches of the volcano hike out of my legs, the long ride actually helping the process more than hindering. Whatever you do don't forget to stretch after exercise.      

Following my night at the Bomberos I had a remarkable run of just wonderful hospitality, jumping from town to town along the Troncal Amazonas. First, in Macas, I stayed with Luis. New to Warm Showers but he´s already got his hosting skills honed to perfection! He really understood the needs of a cycle tourist and gave time for chatting about cycle tours and his area as well as giving me time to relax and recharge the batteries after a demanding ride. I should also say that the food was both plentiful and delicious!

The road from Macas to Limon started gently but later was obstructed by a mountain range that would take me two days to traverse. In moments of pain (many) I only had to look around at the scenery for distraction and relief - simply stunning.

Luis (Macas) put me in touch with Luis (Limon). Another great host with whom I spent a pleasant evening exploring the town a little and meeting his backpacker friends. I picked up a bit of useful advice about the road ahead in Peru and left filled with a hearty breakfast. Something that has impressed upon me about the food is that it´s all local produce - meat, fruit, vegetables. Ecuador abounds in food, it is such a productive land.

Picture of contentment having just crossed the main pass between Limon and San Juan Bosco. Minutes later my derailleur cable snapped leaving me with just the bottom nine gears for the ride into San Juan Bosco. I was having such a nice day that I refused to let it bother me!

Casa de Ciclistas in San Juan Bosco. This quirky little house is set up purely for passing cyclists. It is an absolutely charming stop with all kinds of bike-influenced decorations, running water, shower, no electricity, no Wifi, a peaceful retreat from the trappings of the modern world.

Sadly my plans for a peaceful afternoon relaxing were scuppered by having to fix the gear cable. I has a spare but just could not get it to thread through the gear system. I felt better when the bike mechanic in the village also took 1.5 hours to complete the job!

Note to aspiring cycle tourists, you don´t need to be super technical to do a cycle tour. I clearly can´t replace a gear cable but I´ve made nearly 11,000 miles. There will always be someone around to help you out of a fix. 

Exterior of the Casa de Ciclistas.

Gear cable fixed I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Erica who runs the Casa de Ciclistas when the host is away.

This naughty dog, Sasha, had been chasing chickens around the village and gotten absolutely filthy. She hates water so this wash was also a form of punishment. Five minutes later she was chasing chickens again!

Erica and Mum. Another huge breakfast meant there was no snacking despite a challenging ride on to El Pangui. I kind of take it for granted now but I should say that the soups in Colombia and Ecuador are delicious and ever changing depending on what is grown locally.

El Pangui Bomberos. No Wifi this night (they had it but didn´t know the password) but I did get a room to myself and soon furnished it to my liking. A pleasant afternoon reading Trollope while listening to Freddie Hubbard and John Coltrane. Living the rock and roll dream.

As usual, I was left to my own devices at the Bomberos but we took a few pictures on my departure and also recorded an interview about my night´s stay. Good fun and more good practice of Spanish.

The ride from El Pangui to Zamora was slowly upstream following this river´s course.

Last town on my Amazonian leg.

Zamora Bomberos. Kind of left outside like a dog this night. You have to take the rough with the smooth and be stoical at times... As long as you have access to water and electricity you can´t really complain too much. Two weeks since I´ve been in a hotel.

Climbing out of the Amazon Basin towards the town of Loja back in the highlands.

Drenched in sweat (and mist) it was over 6000ft to the pass that would lead me into Loja. The Amazon stretch over, a cracking interlude in the mountain riding.

Two days and I should be at the border with Peru. Dirt tracks, 4000m + riding await. I can´t wait, I´ve really got the bit between my teeth at the moment.

Don´t forget OXFAM, any sponsorship, big or small, gratefully received!

59. Ecuador - 40th birthday in the highlands

 Quite a number of people wished me well on my birthday and expressed the hope that I could take a day out of the saddle. No chance! Often the best part of the is trip is the time on the bike, riding on, enjoying the landscapes and being disconnected from social media for a few hours at least. 

 So on my birthday I treated myself to a 70 mile ride to the capital, Quito with some spectacular views along the way. This is Imbabura. 

 The first 60 miles flew by and I was in high spirits. The last 10 miles into Quito were tough and I had to take a few breaks to ease the pain.     

 I stayed with a lawyer, Diego, in Quito and he left a birthday message for me on my bedroom door. In truth there weren't any big celebrationons but I was grateful to have a roof over my head and the freedom to come and go as I pleased during my stay in Quito. Good enough reason for some kind of do when I get back!

 The apartment complex where I stayed, a few miles north of the city centre.  

 View over part of the city centre. I'd visited Quito as a backpacker a few years ago so I had an idea of what to expect. Nevertheless it was interesting to see the city with a new perspective and, having now visited a glut of colonial towns in the Americas, I was even more impressed than first time around.  

 The colonial architecture is very attractive and the centre doesn't have the gentrified feel of  many other cities I've recently visited.   

 Diego, my host on the left, and his sister's family. I visited their home and we tried some top notch Ecuadorian coffee.     

 In the end, honestly, my time in Quito wasn't that restful. I had to spend a fair bit of time tracking down some tyres I'd ordered from the UK, finally found them in a suburban post office. Recurring stomach problems knocked me out for a day and then another day was a complete washout with heavy rain confining me to the apartment. So, on Saturday, I cut my losses and cycled on. 

 (Non)views of Cotopaxi. Shrouded in cloud. I'm not going to get to see it this time, I'll have to console myself with memories from 5 years ago.   

 Latacunga. 

 I enjoyed a short but really interesting stay with Javier and his family in Latacunga. We stayed up late chatting and putting the world to rights. Politics was the hot topic of conversation as the second round of the Ecuadorean presidential election was held on Sunday. 

 Moving on from Latacunga it was a short hop to Ambato with views of Tunguruhua.  I stayed with Luis in Ambato and there were five other cyclists in his home when I arrived.   

 Luis is super-active, a keen runner, mountaineer and cyclist so today he took us for a hike some of the way up Tunguruhua. This is not Luis, it's a horse.

 A Brit, an Argentinian, a French and three Canadians.  

 Starting at 6:30 in the morning (after a painful 4am get-up) we climbed just over 2000m to this point at 3983m (according to my phone). It was pretty chilly and, with the cloud closing in,  

 we made our way back down. How my knees ached by the time we got back to the bottom! 

 View of Banos during the hike. 

And this is where I'm up to with the ride. I'm hoping to make Peru in the next 10 days and will be proceeding with some caution. The region from Colombia through to Peru has suffered a lot of flood damage recently and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the roads remain rideable.

58. Pasto to Otavalo - Gateway to the Andes

 Another wonderful week of hospitality in Colombia, the country and its people have made a huge impression on me. Though the country may be economically inferior to many Western countries there are great lessons to be learned from their warm and welcoming culture. I sincerely hope I can pay forward to other travellers some of the kindness that has been shown to me. 

And Colombia's cuy - guinea pigs - really are super.  

 Fantastic mountain rides brought me to Pasto, overlooked by Volcán Galeras to the left. Suddenly there was a noticeable change in the culture, the nature of the people and place. Surrounded by high green hills the countryside could pass for the Lake District. Cooler climes mean people wrap up warmly and ponchos and sombreros spoke for the first time of being truly in the Andes.   

 Luisa and Boris, friends of my host Jorge from Bogotá, kindly looked after me in Pasto. Lovely, lovely people! Boris teaches at a university in town and Luis is a lawyer working in advocacy for indigenous groups in the Narino region. She was a fantastic host taking the time to show me around town and the surrounding countryside. It was fascinating to hear of the struggles she faces in her work; Colombian law is apparently very good with regards to the rights of indigenous groups' to land, resources etc. However, the implementation of the law is a massive and ongoing challenge. It sounds like fascinating work and it's been such a privilege in this trip to meet people from a range of professions and hear about their work.    

 Luisa took me to the local market to learn a bit more about the region's myriad varieties of fruit. We came hone with bagfuls of unusual and exotic produce, I'll never remember all the names. When the conversation turned to British fruit I realised what a paucity of varieties we have in comparison. 

Luisa is preparing for an IELTS English exam with a view to studying in the UK for a year so I had a little breather from Spanish and we spoke mostly in English. I soon realised that some ideas come out more naturally in Spanish now so there was quite a bit of English/Spanish/Spanglish - all good fun!

 A must visit place is La Cocha, a lake a few miles from Pasto. 

 Though it was heavily overcast and raining when I arrived at the lake the journey was far from a waste of time. The ride from

Pasto involved a high pass which was great fun to attack in an unladen bike. Furthermore the trout I had for lunch was fresh and delicious.   

 Lakeside village.  

 Moving on from Pasto Luisa arranged with me to stay with her father in Tuquerres. With the promise of lunch I foolishly said I could make it to Tuquerres by 1pm and then failed to get an early start. Though only 45 miles away the ride involved some punishing climbs. Halfway there I stopped for a quick coffee break and was about to call Jesus, Luisa's father, to say I'd be late. But of course this is not the British way of doing things, you make an arrangement then you darn well stick to it right? Fortified by the coffee I decided to take the ride by the scruff of the neck and just hammer it. So, drenched in sweat, I powered up the slopes, pushed through the pain barrier and made it to Tuquerres at 1pm on the dot. How I took it out of my legs though! Intense stretching after that ride...        

 One child's pet is another man's... 

 ...lunch! Luisa's parents Jesus and Ana and some ex-guinea pigs. No cutlery, you tackle the poor mites with your fingers. Pretty tasty though I have to admit I recoiled ever so slightly when a chunk of cuy proved to be a portion of head! I protested that I couldn't pull the meat off, "No, you've got to tear the meat off with your teeth." When in Rome...  

Super couple of days in Tuquerres, I honestly think I ate more here than I have anywhere else in my trip as Jesus and Ana fed me at home and in the town's restaurants. I also enjoyed having my breakfasts made by Jesus' maids So much for slumming it on a tough bike tour, I'm living a charmed life!   

 With my belly (and panniers) full of food I ride on towards the Colombia-Ecuador border just past Ipiales. 

 Mixed feelings about moving on. Colombia would be top of my list of countries to come back if and when I had the chance so I was hesitant to leave. Nevertheless I was excited by he prospect of visiting Ecuador, a country I've been to before, and experiencing it from saddle-eye's view. 

 Obligatory border photo, country #12. The smile was slowly wiped off my face as I stood in line for 2.5 hours to get stamped into Ecuador. Even then it wasn't so bad as the people in the line are so friendly and curious about my trip. Three more months of being the centre of attention...  

Finally stamped in, it was 4pm and I had two hours of daylight left to cycle on to Julio Andrade  where I was to stay the night. I saw a fairly violent thunderstorm and heavy rain ahead but I had no choice but to ride straight into it. I could have wimped out and got a hotel room and dodged the rain but, as I said earlier, that's just not what us Brits do, right? So, soaked to the skin but in fairly good spirits, I made it to Julio Andrade before dark.      

 Richard, on the right, kind of hosted me in my night in Julio Andrade. Now I think I've become pretty good at walking into strangers' homes, ingratiating myself with the folk with meaningful conversation or small talk and settling in comfortably to make myself feel at home. But this must go down as one of my stranger Warm Showers experiences. 

 A constant stream of people came into the house, who were they? Was the house a restaurant? A community centre? A homeless shelter (mattresses were stretched out in the floor)? I just couldn't make sense of what was going on. Anyway, I sat by the fire until 10pm drying my shoes by the fire and then was about to ask to go to bed. Richard then announced the start of the 'ceremony'. It transpired that there was to be some kind of religious ceremony that would run through the night. Richard went around the room registering people and collecting their $20 contribution.

 Absolutely exhausted, utterly bemused and running out of good humour by this point, when Richard came to register me I told him it might be better if I go to bed and got some rest. "But there will be activity and music all night, you may not sleep." 

"But Richard, I don't know what's going on!"

"I'd like you to join in, other cycle tourists have taken part in the past." 

 I gently put my foot down and insisted on going to bed. I was exhausted and couldn't see the point in paying $20 for a sleepless night of bafflement and prolonged awkwardness. On the morning I saw this sign advertising the event - no pregnant women or women who on their period. OK. Remedio del Yage? I don't really know what this is but it's said to lead you on an inner journey, some kind of indigenous herbal drug maybe? No one really explained anything to me so I just don't know!   

 Through the night there was loud conversation and music (Richard plays several instruments) but I did snatch a few hours of sleep here and there. Sloping off to bed early was definitely the right thing to do but I half would have liked to know what the ceremony entailed.

Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining and, deciding to cut my losses, I got away early making a 7:30am start. Warm farewells from the family, they had no inkling of the complete confusion I underwent during my stay! 

I should perhaps add that they did look after me well with coffee, agua de panela and soup all served. Memorable first night in Ecuador! 

 Hail the Messiah. 

 Gorge(ous) views. Despite the lack of sleep I got the bit between my teeth today and cycled 78 miles to Otavalo. Exactly seven hours riding, some lovely sweeping downhill curves and some challenging climbs, my fitness levels are sky high st the moment.  

 Otavalo is a major handicrafts centre and, what with my birthday being in just two days, I might treat myself to something during my stay here (if I can bare to trawl around the markets, I don't really enjoy shopping too much). 

 I was glad to make it to Otavalo by 2:30pm to dodge the rains. Sure enough, by 4pm the heavens had opened.

These rains threaten to put a bit of a damper on my time here; Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are all experiencing unusually heavy rains at the moment and everyone I speak to cites climate change as the cause. I do hope the Trump administration wakes up to the reality of and responsibility of fighting this global menace. Northern Peru in particular has suffered horrific flooding events and I fear that if I went there now it would be impassable and outright dangerous. Incentive to slow down and enjoy Ecuador at a leisurely pace (not 78 mile days).

No post would be complete without a reference to OXFAM. If you're reading the blog and want to contribute to its (hopefully) upbeat outlook on the world then please make a donation; it's a wonderful charity and sponsorship keeps a smile on my face and positive words in my vocabulary.