Machachi, Ecuador  52 km

Our 1st day on the bike – almost 3 weeks off!  Our legs are like lead and I am nursing a chest cold, my bad knee, and both of us trying to re-adapt to the altitude.  All in all it was ok – we took things slow.  In Machachi, looking for a hotel instead of a cement block room with a bath down the hall, we asked several locals and were directed to a hospedaje.  Lucky – it was beautiful and included breakfast.  It is cold – like every afternoon in the Andes.  I’m going to try for a nap!  - Judee

1. Hospedaje, Machachi 2. Interamericana to Latacunga 3. Latacunga muni building

Wow is it good to be back on the bike!  We wended our way through the traffic up and down steep hills with a 10 km downhill to spit us finally out of the “burbs”. On the auto pista we hit 40+ mph and the bus next to us was checking our speed.  Lots of city and town traffic…many trucks and buses, so we are sucking diesel all the way.  The altitude is literaly breath-taking…pant, pant, pant…even with my asthma meds catching my breath is difficult.  Legs pooped out early as did the lungs.  My, my time off the bike is costly to ones’ endurance and strength.  The mountains around us are volcanoes, roughly in altitudes of 4,000m to 5,897m (Cotopaxi).  Tomorrow we will pass by the most perfectly shaped and picturesque volcano.  – Art

5-26  

Baños is a magical mountain town on the side of an active volcano.  It is a resort mecca with hot sulfur baths and all sorts of outdoor activities: mountain climbing, rafting, canyoning, horseback riding and mega souvenir shopping.  When we rode into town we went to see Jim Redd and Marshia Jackson who own the Hostal Posada del Arte – café and restaurant.  We had met them in Quito in a bicycle oriented coffee shop.  Sorry but they had no rooms, so they directed us around the corner to the Hostal Casa Real where we found a cozy room with balcony looking out upon a tumbling and pleasantly noisy waterfall. 

Many gringos wonder the streets: French, German, English waifs, out of cafes and restaurants.  In the evening – 6pm- we go stand in a long line of Ecuadorians to enter the hot baths just down the block. We pay our $2 each and watch the crowd to see how they negotiate the changing and storing clothes, showering and which pool to go to that is the hottest.  We plunge into the hot, steaming, lightly smelling murky water and relax, looking up at the water fall.  The pool is full, shoulder to shoulder as we worked our way out into the cold air, race to grab our clothes, wrap towels around us and trot back to the hostel.  Later after dinner (an outstanding tenderloin), Jim and Marshia came over to share a bottle of wine and exchange riding stories – Art

   
           Coming into Baños was both a trial and a treat.  We arrived from Latacunga to the outskirts of Ambato with only 30 km on our day.  So we decided to head toward Baños following the signs.  It was a wide, new highway with a large shoulder.  At about 8km, down into the DEEP Patata River valley we sailed, only to get to the bottom and have to ride the steep 2km up the other side!  Back and forth across valleys and hills we followed signs – coming into Pelluila.  After over 20km we had just circled around Ambato!  We still had 24k to go!  And what a ride….down, down, steep down.  In places the headwind was so strong; we had to peddle to even go 21k!  Only one small section was up…and UP it was!!  We were so glad to get into town.  It took a little running around to find the Casa de Arte and they were full.  Oh well – the day was like that! - Judee

1. Road to Baños 2. Baños Cathedral 3. Jim and Marshia

Kapou! Wow! Snap! Zap! The road from Baños to Riobomba was the most challenging for me so far on the journey.  It started off with a good breakfast at our hostel and the ride through town to the road…up to the junction (8k) for Riobomba…sharp up into the clouds and drizzle…grinding away in our granny gears.  Soon the road turn to dirt and gravel at areas where we were soon to find washed out bridges, replaced by temporary metal folding ones.  All the bridges were washed out 7 years ago when the volcano sent huge mud slides down the mountain.  These detours were steep and dangerous.  We walked the bike twice: once up and once down because of loose gravel and dirt turning to mud in the drizzle.  Climbing up the mountainsides became cooler, so we put sweaters and jackets back on.  Good tailwinds most of the 58k journey.  –Art

5-27 1. Road to Riobamba 2. Folding bridge 3. Can you find the truck?

5-28 

Riobomba to Alausi by tourist train.  Up at 5:30am so we can get our ticket at 6am and see if they will take the bike. Got tickets, loaded the bike on the train and we climbed to the roof of the train.  Got our seats and rented our cushions.  While we waited in the cold drizzly morning air for the train to pull out at around 7am, the sales people continually moved up and down over the cars selling hats, gloves, scarves, coffee and food.  Everything seemed to cost $1 or more.  We got coffee and bananas (since we had no breakfast) and Judee bought an Alpaca hat.  The roof seats filled in…a group of Canadian girls sat across from us.  All the groups bought new hats.  What fun choosing them and trying them on.

Train to Alausi

             The ride was cold, scenery awesome: open fields, small villages, wide vistas of the mountains and valleys and narrow gorges with rivers rushing alongside below the tracks.  As the train would pass by, local children would rush toward the trackside and wave hoping the passengers would toss them lollypops.  Many women and children were dressed in native clothing: felt hats, bright shawls and skirts, dark leggings and broad smiles.  Sitting on the roof as the train lurched and rolled, screeching and grinding through the curves gave new meaning to the term “joy ride”, but it was! 

Waving for suckers, er, lollypops

At the town of Alausi lots more passengers boarded the train for the ride down to the Devils Nose and back.  These folks totally filled the roof top leaving little or no room for our feet or legs,  so some hung their leg outside the train.  The quarters were bearable because the views of the mountains and canyon were distracting.

            Upon returning to Alausi, we unloaded the bike, got money and found a nice small hotel for $14, showered, and had Chinese downstairs for our dinner. - Art

5-29 

Up at 6:45 for our ride through the Andes.  Breakfast across the street: the usual eggs, rolls with cheese and jam, instant coffee and juice. For $3.10 – Wow, food here is cheap and tasty.  The weather is good, sun popping through the clouds warms the cool morning air as we climb the steep streets of town to reach the highways heading south.  We were told by another passenger on the train that this was not as easy as the road out of Quito…lots of long ups and downs.  We climbed 6k, then 10k down in two hours, back up and the road surface turned to gravel, making for both tougher ups and downs.  At the start of the climb, we were wearing short sleeves; at the top, soaking wet, we put on long sleeves.  On and off all day for 58k and 5 hours in the saddle we came to a small village where we decided to plop.  No place to stay so we camped in the market shelter after a dinner of chicken and a mountain of french fries and beer for $4. 

1. Road from Alausi, Ecuador 2. Alausi 3. Can you find the statue in Alausi?

              On a disquieting note: we were almost taken out by a small bike load of 3 kids…young ones…almost T-boned us…swerved in front of us and lost control, hitting a road sign…children flying head over heels in all directions.  Luckily none were hurt and the driver was hauled off by his terrified mother.

              The local children watched our every move as we set up the tent and prepared to settle in for the night.  Night sounds all around our tent: dogs, children, trucks, church bells, birds, men singing, TV, cans being kicked and donkeys braying.  How entertaining!

1. Road to Cañar 2. Streams out of the mountains 3. Above the clouds

              I need to share that I was moved to tears as we experienced the over-powering majesty of riding through the Andes!  Awed by the vastness, up and down passes, patterned by the clouds and planted fields on the very steep slopes. -Art

5-30 

Cañar – Up, up and away?  At least 2-3k up for every km down.  Steep and so difficult.  Carbo load is not an issue: breakfast is rice with potatoes and eggs (maybe some chicken) with white bread, coffee and fresh pulverized juice (papaya, pineapple, orange, guava, etc.); lunch: rice, potatoes, yucca (like potatoes) and indistinguishable meat – much of it fat, skin, bone, gristle--prepared in soup or a platter with a smattering of vegetables ( green onions, carrots, peas); dinner: rice, potatoes, maybe a little chicken or spaghetti (carbonera with bacon and eggs).  Ecuador (or all of Latin America) is not the place for a low-carb or low cholesterol diet – but there are plenty of fresh fruits!

Andean people

5-31 

67km to Cuenca, the first 8k up. Up. Up – 3k ridge top into the clouds, drizzle and cold down, down, down , very cold…visibility less than 50 feet; steep and slippery winding through the mist…wiping glasses…keeping the drum brakes on full,  feathering both front and back brakes…hands turning numb…what is in front of us??  Clear road…we are dropping below the clouds into green valleys...sun breaking through to display farms and fields…we are so cold we must stop for coffee!!  Two cups later we continue down, down, down on a very fast curvy road with little traffic.  We pass a truck…we are moving so fast a bus can’t pass us….finally into a town and some uphill.  We stop to take off our cold weather gear and are down to shirt sleeves and zoom past a large city, continuing on down for approximately 30 miles in all and up into Cuenca, a beautiful, clean modern city – the third largest in Ecuador.

In town we look for our hotel and are approached by a young man who told us he spent his senior year of High School in Hudson, Ohio!  He helped us find the hotel we were aiming for, just down the block!

Cuenca, Ecuador. Home of the Panama Hats

6-1 

We are going to enjoy Cuenca for a few days.  This city has a lovely colonial center and some great restaurants.  We are in a lovely little hostel with inner, grassy courtyards where we can clean up our gear and bike in preparation for the next leg or our journey: over the Andes to the coast and into Peru.  Thank goodness we decided not to leave today – it is raining.  Great for all the flowers in our hostel, but not to great for riding and camping – which our next 200km will require.