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Hard on the Crown
Entry 24 of 41 | show all | print this entry |
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Saturday November 29th
A beautiful sunny day, we decide to hit the road again today heading for Latacunga. We entered Latacunga far earlier than expected and decided to keep going to Ambato. As we ride the bikes struggling due to the elevation climb we turn a huge curve and suddenly and very unexpectedly Cotopaxi was directly in front of us. She was beautiful and we stopped in awe. The vegetation similar to our northern region with huge pine and spruce trees. Their scent sending me home instantly.
We pulled into Ambato entirely unimpressed. Again we weighed our options and pushed on to a town called Baños. The ride superb as we ascended the hills heading towards the active volcano of Tungurahua elevation 5000 feet next to the town. We get our bearings and try to find a hostel, there is a huge parade and most of the intersections are blocked. We drive around the one way streets avoiding the crowds and finally find one. It cost us a whopping $6.00 a night. We quickly unpack and head down to watch part of the parade. The local´s put on quite a dance show, many indigenous peoples performing customary dances in the parade as well. The most impressive site were the horse back riders. The stunts these horses and riders performed like prancing and dancing sideways was amazing. I can´t imagine how many hours of training and work is required to perform such acts. The parade finally ended and we explored the town famous in Ecuador for it´s taffy made from raw sugar cane called melcocha to Ecuadorians. The makers boil raw sugar cane then they hang the taffy from a wooden stick nailed to the door frame where they stretch and twirl and pull over and over again. Trying to entice everyone walking past to sample their goods.
I try a small sample.. umm... why does mine have a piece of chiclet gum in it. Further examination reveals that the chiclet was actually my crown. Not good ! We stop for some supper. During our conversation Mike mentioned to me that while at the church in Quito he met a couple that witnessed the protest in Pasto. The couple got stuck in the bus station for nine hours. The police used tear gas on the crowd and several car bombs were detonated. We are lucky to have escaped the protest and count our blessings.
Sunday November 30
A warm sunny day, we find a great spot for breakfast. We decide to visit the natural mineral springs, after a kilometer walk we arrive. There are kids everywhere and the mineral baths look disgusting. After a minute of contemplating whether to take a dip in these therapeutic baths we decided to not. How therapeutic can kids pee be?
We head back to the central plaza and people watch for half an hour. We decide to strip the bikes of the panniers and go for a clean ride. We head to the jungle town called Puyo. We pass several waterfalls, beautiful rivers and deep valley´s. The air clean and very little traffic. We still have not seen any wild jungle life. We head back to Baños downhill carving the mountain side. At one point we entered a huge tunnel at least 500 meters long cutting through the mountain side. Very scary considering most vehicles here do not have working head lights and tail lights and there are no lights in the tunnel. I stopped at a roadside vendor and bought a long bean like fruit. We stop for some supper. It´s amazing there are people everywhere. Children unattended playing with each other. Adults walking around arm in arm. While waiting for our supper 3 kids were trying to throw cards. I showed them how to play 52 pick up and how to flick them so they travel far. They really enjoyed the games. I suppose when children don´t have video games they rely on their imaginations too play! As we head back to the room for a quite evening we pass a vendor roasting guinea pigs and an artist doing a wonderful portrait of a family. Once back at the room we opened the bean like fruit I purchased at the roadside vendor. The fruit felt soft like cotton but once placed on the tongue it turned to a gelatinous texture with no taste. I don´t like it and spit it out.
Monday December 1st
A cool drizzly day we awaken early knowing we have a long ride to Cuenca today. We eat breakfast, refuel the bikes and we are on our way. As we enter Ambato there are police searches, I believe because we are coming from the jungle area and they are looking for cocaine. We get pulled over to be searched, my search was easy, the officer opened one pannier inspected it and moved on to the next vehicle. Mean while the officer inspecting Mike has checked everything. He even performed a pat down body search. Inspection completed we carry on. As we head south towards Cuenca we keep climbing ,we pass beautifully rich fields, Holstein dairy cattle dot the landscape. Local women working the fields wearing their fluorescent shawls stand out like lighthouse beacons in the dark fields. The men plowing the fields with their oxen wearing shawls, hats and a single braided pony tail. As we continue to climb in elevation the top soil degrades in quality, the vegetation becomes sparse and stunted and the air temperature decreases dramatically. The road becomes very twisty doubling back on itself we continue climbing in elevation...... fog begins to set in wrapping itself around us. We can see our breathe, the bikes wheezing for more air as we continually climb. Then suddenly an opening.... warm sunshine the fog completely gone and a spectacular view. We stop for photo´s and then in silence just watch, feel and listen, absolute serenity. The road quickly descends from our stop position throwing us around like leafs in a tossed salad. We are grinning from ear to ear as we stop for gasoline. Just after our stop the road quality becomes poor until we hit Cuenca. After getting wrong directions from a police officer we finally find a great hostel. We lock the bikes in the street in front of the hostel until the restaurant is less busy. We have to drive them through the restaurant to park them securely. I met another American named Jeff from New England, he´s been on the road since May. He´s riding a DR650 to Ushuaia as well. I asked him to join us for drinks. We stay up late exchanging stories and drinking beverages.
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