Day 905
La Culebra
After the joy of exploring Cuicocha Laguna we finished the day with a seven mile ride, all downhill. Now that’s what I call cycling! We had booked into a small hotel as a treat. Family run, with rooms set around a beautiful garden it was ideal for us. The owner had been busy putting up Christmas decorations, in the restaurant they even had a large screen playing the top 100 Christmas songs, Michael Bouble had sung a fair few of them! Eventually Tom could take no more and we went into the garden to join the owner’s family enjoying all the Christmas decorations. Armed with hot chocolate and sparklers, we managed to chat away in Spanish, thanks POC, and I even sat on a horse. No don’t ask me why, I hadn’t even had a drink!
The next morning it was payback time. We had decided to not return to the main highway but stay in the hills and quieter roads. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, hills in Ecuador equals the Andes and remote, means rough roads, well yes you’re right and no, I don’t know what we were thinking either! The only way out of the area we were in, other than retracing our route, was up a narrow road, the Minas. Apparently built for the miners, Google had declined to provide Street View of this ten mile climb, but it would be followed by a fifteen mile descent so it couldn’t be all that bad, surely? We began to realise we had quite a challenge ahead when several local cyclists took time to warn us that we were in for a hell of a ride. Well they were only half right. The surface was made of cobbles, but not smooth ones, oh no, thousands of random shaped sharp stones paved the road. As it grew steeper there was no way I could cycle. Tom found the strength to stay on his bike and keep cycling, for me it was a push. After what felt like several days, we reached the top. The relief was short lived as the descent was no joy either, more cobbles. Another century or two passed and we finally returned to tarmac and rode through the remote town of San Juan de Minas. In Ecuador, as in Mexico and South America, there is a vast mix of cultures due to its history, but here we had a town full of local indigenous people. We rode slowly through soaking up as much as we could, but it felt intrusive to stop, take photographs etc. The day continued with another climb, on tarmac thankfully, and with jaw dropping views all around us, it was almost enjoyable. We spent the night at a small restaurant with camping spots, the promised hot showers were cold, but the views made up for it!
Then the long awaited day dawned. Today we would ride across the equator! First though, yep you’ve got it, another climb. Not just any old climb though, no this was special. We were going to ride up the Alto de Culebrillas. This is the type of hill cyclists love. It winds up the mountain side like a snake. At 12.95k in length with an average grade of 7.4% it was going to be tough but we were looking forward to the challenge. Clearly thousands of local cyclists shared our thoughts as all the way up the tarmac had names of riders, encouraging messages and each kilometre point reached marked out in paint for us. The setting, surrounded by mountains, was stunning, the stuff of dreams. As we climbed we slowly saw the ‘snake’ ahead, then eventually behind us. The first 6k was a joy, then well, it got tough. The sun beat down, there was absolutely no shade, just more climbing. Local dogs slept in the sun, it was too hot to give chase. We passed a few buildings but they looked long abandoned, no chance of a cooling drink. Slowly we reached 8k, 9k, then 10k, not long now! The last few km got steeper but eventually we reached the top, and a mirage lay before us. What appeared to be a half built, half derelict town lay ahead of us, and yes, a tienda! We collapsed in the shade, ate and drank, fed a local dog or two and watched a group of local school boys chat away. They reminded me so much of my nephew Jed with his pals it was uncanny.
Then to the Equator! This is an invisible line that runs around the centre of the earth, at zero degrees latitude, dividing the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Back in 1736 a team of French scientists spent 10 years taking measurements to prove that the earth is not perfectly round but actually bulges slightly at the equator. A monument and museum has been built in honour of their achievements and the aptly named town, the Middle of the World. The only slight problem is the monument with the line of the equator is actually 008° out. The true line lies a few hundred feet away in a dusty car park. Suffice to say we visited both!
We are now taking a few days off in Quito, we had to climb probably the steepest hill of the trip so far to get here, so no cycling for a couple of days. Tom is being rewarded for all his awesome hill climbing abilities, with two major treats - a washing machine and an Indian restaurant 2 minutes walk away, he may never leave!
