We’re in Quito, Ecuador today and will head down south. The pace of the trip has accelerated, no more lazy wanderings down south as the realities of making money and going back to work hit us, me especially since Roar has a more flexible schedule. We hope to make Lima, Peru by April 16th or so, which will give me about a week to sell or ship the bike and fly back home. Roar might stay longer but that’s up to him….
Last Sunday we headed out of Bogota. We made it to a small, picturesque town called Carcamarca (I think) nestled in between the mountains on the road from Ibague and Armenia. This road is fantastic by the way and shouldn’t be missed if you ride. Great views, beautiful pavement, slow tight twisties.
We ran into tons of toll roads on our journey through Colombia but, guess what?, motorcyclists ride them for free! All you need to do is head over to the far right for the special motorcyle lane.
The next day we arrived in Popoyan, a well preserved white washed colonial town. We attract attention wherever we go and Roar made a quick and easy friend and I was amazed at how far his Spanish has come. He kept this conversation going (or maybe she did) entirely in Spanish.
The cops across the street
Munching on some delicious street meat that cost fifty cents
The road from Popoyan to Pasto is another fantastic road not to be missed by other riders. It starts out with slow twisties, through the mountains on uneven pavement making it more challenging. It turns into long sweepers with good pavement which turns into a small pothole maze. Strangely, I saw cactus on this ride. Never thought I’d see it down here. Fantastic, fantastic views of steep mountains that are very distracting when you’re concentrating and leaning in for a turn.
We pushed through Pasto (at about 6000 feet and cold) and headed to the border near Ipiales. The border crossing was pretty easy and we stayed the night in Tulcan for seven bucks per person. So far, I wasn’t too impressed with Ecuador. It was run down and dirty and reminded me of former communist countries like Bulgaria and Romania.
Early the next morning we drove out to Quito on good roads with much more considerate drivers than in Colombia. We stopped at an equator monument at 9000 ft. I thought that if I ever crossed the equator it would be at some hot jungle location and not where I was freezing from riding in rain in the mountains. The whole ride from Pasto on has been cold and rainy and at elevations from 6000 to 10000 feet. I never would have thought it but if you spend some time looking at a topo map it makes sense.
Quito was another surprise. Roar told me that the old town was listed as a UNESCO heritage site. Once there in person, I could see why. Tons of beautiful buildings, churches, government buildings, theaters, some of which date back to the 1500s. All of this on hills reminscent of San Francisco, again at 9000 ft. This is where the clouds play and they constantly moved from one mountain and valley to the next. Unfortunately, the pressures of getting back home won’t allow us to stay longer although I’d love to come back here and really check things out. Quito has my curiosity.
