We saw the pacific again… can’t remember when we saw it last. Bright sun too

Right across the border to Peru the desert starts and goes right down to the ocean… not too hot because of the ocean breeze. We had to stop a couple of times to take some pictures and once because Andy’s bike keeps losing screws.

Nada más!

Riding through Ecuador today from Riobamba to Machala we went through everything… cold weather at up to 11,000 feet, thick fog, rain, smooth pavement, potholes, dirt, mud, gravel, construction, twisty roads through the mountains and flat straights through banana plantations and farmland, 35 C heat… ah the heat… always breathtaking landscapes like we were riding through some fairytale.

Riobamba… the carnival was in town and all night I could hear kids screaming from their rides

Breathtaking views

We met a Colombian guy on a 180cc bike on his way to Argentina where he will fly his bike to South Africa, ride up to Egypt and across to India. He’s writing for a Colombian motorcycle magazine and we’ll post his info later… I don’t have it handy now. Good luck!

The road isn’t always what you think it is… sometimes it’s not even finished…

Clouds dancing on the road down the mountain. We went through the thickest fog I’ve ever seen, we couldn’t see more than 5-10 meters ahead.

We finally made it to Machala where we dropped into the first hotel we could find… tomorrow we’re going to Peru!

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.

Right on the PanAmerican highway there is a monument created by an organization dedicated to research about all thing releated to the middle of the earth.

Check out their web page: http://www.quitsato.org

We spoke a bit with the owner and he let us ride the bikes in to take some photos. Thanks!

We’re in Quito right now, walked around for a few hours and we have some cool pictures I think but I don’t have time to upload now.

Tomorrow we push south and I think we may be in Peru Friday night… unless we get lots more rain…

Take care everyone!

Bolivar square in Bogota… tons of pigeons because people feed them. If you have some feed in your hand the pigeons will land on your arm and eat out of it. The people behind me caught a pidgeon by just lowering their hand

On our way out of Bogota we got a nice surprise… radar checkpoint! I guess going 80 miles and hour in a 60 km/h zone just won’t do for the Policia Caraterra of Bogota. We got away with a warning though

We’ve done so many nice twisty roads going south from Bogota… wonderful mountains!

Parking at the hotel isn’t always easy when there’s no valet

Parking at our Popayan hotel in the courtyard right outside our room… Popayan has all old colonial style buildings and they’re all white

On our way south throuhg Colombia the 100′s of miles of twisties is broken up by some long straights through beautiful farmland

Going south in Colombia towards Equador. The awesomeness of the mountains and valleys just can’t be captured with these photos. Go there to check it out for yourself.

We’ve hit rain every day for the last three days which is a real change from the previous 2 months of no rain at all.

Close to the border with Equador we were following a Police car and I didn’t dare pass them on the double yellow line. As they pulled up to a roadblock I just went for it and heard the horn behind me. As I stopped I noticed a constant dribble of rocks coming down from the mountainside! I got the hell out of there while Andy was stuck on the other side. We waited for about 10 minutes before they let traffic through.

Welcome to Equador. Getting immigration and customs sorted out before heading into a small border town for the night. Tomorrow we go for Quito.