dreirad

Out of the clouds

Peeking out of the window it was white, the clouds denying us the view. We were sitting in our places, eating, drinking and playing with Chan, while far, far below us the landscape of a country went by, we woudn’t be able to apreciate on this voyage. Then, after about two hours in the clouds we began to descend and suddenly there was this huge sea of houses and cars. That was where we were going? Phuu! From one Millioncity into the next!

While we were waiting to get through immigration, Rahel and Joerg (other swiss bikers we had met in Oregon for the first time and again in Panama City, www.affenbrunner.ch) had already gathered all our luggage and we went to customs. The officer waved us through, nothing had to be x-rayed! How different from the Panamian airport, where a dog had marked our bike box. We had to open the thouroughly taped box again and take out our tent, open it roll it out and let the dog sniff again until the police decided that the dog was only interested in the smell of the cartboard! Luckily Joerg had brought the rest of the tape and he helped Flo tape the box back together again.

Now in Quito, Ecuador, it was much easier. There were no dogs. Rahel and Joerg had already organized a taxi and we rolled off from the airport with all four bikes straped to the cab’s roof.

One of the first things we all noticed was, that we could breath lightly. The air wasn’t thick with humidity anymore. It was warm in Quito, but not sweaty hot! how we all liked this climate at once! The first few days in Quito were all about getting organized again for the next part of our voyage. Again, we needed a few spare parts and Flo’s bike the attention of a mechanic. Finally, after three days acclimatisation, we were ready to head out of the city.

But first we had to stop one more time at the bike shop to let the mechanic finish some work at the rear derailleur of Flo’s bike. While we were waiting for the bike, a man called TV Amazonas and they came to interview and film us. We finally rode out of Quito around midday. What a pleasure to be able to ride again at that time of the day and not having to hide in the shade!

We headed north. We wanted to ride over the Equator ourselves! It was only about 50km north of Quito, a small detour! but how disoriented we felt. That flight had confused our sense of orientation completely. Our souls hadn’t arrived in Ecuador yet. That whole skipping Columbia had left a gap in our minds that can’t be filled. It is exactly why we enjoy the slow pace or our bikes. We can understand every meter we travel and our souls are keeping up and are not getting lost.

Firefighters

Wow, we could feel the altitude now sitting on our bikes struggling uphill out of Quito! We sounded like some hippopotamus and we didn’t feel like we had travelled over 10′000km on our bikes. We only made it 36km far that first day and stayed in a hotel. Our next ride was again only 37km almost exclusivly uphill. The canyons were steep and the views incredible. Ecuador is a beautiful country especially after the monotony of the Panamerican highay in Panama.

In Cayambe we stopped at one of the many bakeries selling their typical “bizochos”, a buttery, flaky cookie, when the commandante of the fire station invited us to stay with the firefighters for the night for free. We stayed with them for two nights and they took us for a ride in one of their big fire trucks into the next village. Chan was in paradise and enjoyed the stay with the “bomberos” even more than we did!

Before we rode on the next day, we watched our five minute show in TV and then left to take a break only a few kilometers south of Cayambe at the Equator. There was a new sun dial monument (www.quitsato.org), where we could stand on that imaginary line around the globe.

The middle of the world-mitad del mundo! The vulcano Cayambe stands almost perfectly on the Equator and it is the only place on it, where there is year round snow. A bit more to the south lies the highest point on the world, due to it’s pearlike shape, measured from the centre of the earth: Vulcano Chimborazo, which is the highest of the vulcanoes in Ecuador with a hight of 6310m.

Shortly after we crossed over to the southern hemisphere we met the first long distance cyclist in Southamerica. A woman from the US who is biking by herself from Vancouver to Ushuaia in less than a year, covering 100 to 130km per day!

That night we put up our tent in the court yard of a fire station in a small village. There was no space for us to sleep inside, but we could camp with them and they gave Chan 6 firefighter helmets, flyers and a ride in their truck.

It is supposed to be dry season and summer in Ecuador, at least in the highlands, where we are. But so far we had been rained on almost every day. We stopped in a bigger town to get groceries and had planned to ride on after it. But we were stuck in the supermarket for over two hours and above our heads the sky was growling and grumbling, lightening struck every minute or so and for a while it spit hale down onto us. Around 4pm we looked for the firefighters again and got a place to stay for free once more.

Avenue of the vulcanoes

South of Quito we reached the intersection to the Panamerican hwy. Now there was more traffic on this main highway through Ecuador from Quito to Guayaquil, the largest ecuadorian port. Right at the intersection an ATV rider stopped us and gave us a bag full of goodies. He had seen us the day before already and wanted to give us a gift. We took a break with view of the third highest mountain (vulcano) of Ecuador, the Cotopaxi.

This part of the Panamerican Hwy. is called the “Avenida de los vulcanoes” and we were lucky to get glimpses of the giants although they are hiding in the clouds most of the time.

On our way up the first pass over 3500m we got rained on again. But with our speed of 4-5km/h uphill, we soon left the rain behind and could take off our rain ponchos. It was a long climb and all of us needed a break at the gaz station shortly passed the summit. But the rain was quickly catching up to us and again we hurried on down hill this time now definately too fast for the rain. We stayed in a cosy little cabin in Lasso and enjoyed the last rays of the sinking sun before warming up under a nice hot shower.

Since I had caught a cold we thought we would not ride far the next day. But the PanAm Hwy was dropping gently over a distance of about 20km when we arrived in Latacunga. We took a break at the plaza and checked our e-mail, but I wasn’t feeling comfortable in this town and wanted to ride on. Now the road was still easy to ride and when we got to the next town we had already decided to continue on to Ambato some 20km further.

Those last km were taking us down into canyons we had to climb again on the other side a few times before we arrived in Ambato and again found a place to stay with the bomberos. Ambato was a big labyrinth of streets with no signs for directions. We got really confused as to which road to take to ride over the next 3600m pass to Riobamba. On a steep uphill still in the centre of the city, my bike made a weird sound. I stopped and discovered that one side of my back rack was broken off the frame. We asked for a welder and were pointed accross the street. This welder believed the frame to be aluminium and couldn’t help us. But he led Flo to another one just down the street who fixed the frame for free!

Through the city we then climbed higher and higher and needed to stop for lunch still at the outskirts of Ambato. There was no break from climbing up that day. Just higher and higher we pushed. Clouds rolled in and our ponchos were protecting us once more from the wetness. Although we had left Ambato really late, we still made it up to the summit at 3618m. At about 3400m I started to feel the altitude and had to walk my bike. Flo didn’t have any problems neither did Chan. At the summit the old railway station is now a mountain hostel. We were welcomed with a beautiful cup of herbal tea in front of a warming fire. It was cold up there but the place is so beautiful, that we stayed for two nights. Chan played with the owner’s daughter; they were flying kites and we enjoyed the magnificent view of Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest vulcano.

Visitors

Five long and strenuous days brought us from Riobamba to Cuenca. The landscape was still beautiful though there were no more snow caped mountains. The potholes on the highway grew more and more and finally there was no more pavement and the highway was all gravel road winding its way up and down steep mountain flanks and valleys. We camped on a soccer field in a tiny village and in the fenced in gardens of people’s houses. On one summit the wind almost blew us from the bikes and tried to send us back to where we came from. It blew with such force that we had to push the bikes uphill with the weight of our bodies and somethimes had to wait for a gust to settle down a bit.

Neverthless, we made it to Cuenca a day after my father and his partner had arrived there.

Chan loved his grand father he hadn’t seen for almost three years at once. Flo and I were completely out. “Big daddy” had to help him dress, play with him, prepare his food, comb his hair and go pee with him. For one week we visited the area and just enjoyed time together.

Now they are off to northern Peru, then Lima and back to Switzerland. Our bikes got new shoes which will hopefully last for a long time. Chan got his library renewed and we could get rid of 15kg equipment we don’t need!

An interesting part of our voyage lies ahead of us in the backcountry of Ecuador towards Peru and in Peru. Lonely highways a lot of gravel and big mountain passes. We are both looking foreward to the next two weeks as well as anticipating it with much respect!