Day 922
No flat roads here
I really need to have words with the town planners and road designers in Ecuador, and quite frankly most of the world, well apart from the Scottish. Scotland is hilly, but do they build their roads over the mountains, down to the river and back up again? No! They simply go with the flow, along the valley floor. If you want a view from the top, we’ll that’s why hiking was invented. Sensible folks. Here in Ecuador, they think big. There’s a mountain, hey let’s build a road over it. Then let’s make it go right back down to the river, and hey, what do you think we should do next? A lovely flat road by the river or right back up that mountain? Mountain it is! They have even managed to get their trains to go up the sides of a mountain, I kid you not! Naturally they often run out of tarmac so the surface varies a lot. It also rains a fair bit too, which adds to the fun. Nothing like a major downpour to rough up that gravel.
What does this mean for the intrepid duo, that’s me and Tom by the way. Well, it means a lot of hard work. The views are naturally fantastic, but I’d have enjoyed them just as much looking up rather than down. Often there are no views because we are now in the rainy season. So, it’s wet, misty and frankly freezing at times, especially on the downhills, despite it being summer. But downhills are fun I hear you say. Seriously take it from me, after slogging up a 5,000ft climb for several hours/days/years, the last thing that gives you joy is to ride down the other side, because you know what’s coming, yep straight back up again. Ecuador doesn’t do flat.
I have also taken up a new hobby. Those observant ones will know what I’m talking about, yep, bike pushing! This actually takes more energy than cycling but I never learn. Tom seems to have power beyond belief, he’s emptied all the heavy stuff out of my bags into his. I’m decluttering what’s left. Seriously what self respecting tourer needs all the stuff I carry? In Spain, and that was 2 years ago, I suffered from seriously cold hands, so now I have 3 pairs of warm gloves, yet I’ve only worn one pair once, madness. The first aid kit is already half its original size but my New Year’s plan is to whittle it down even more. Soap has long gone, my make up didn’t make it past Spain, but I can still get rid of more stuff, anyone need winter gloves?
I have also been ill, pushing up Las Minas gave me a bad back, and then in Quito I got the worst tummy issues of the trip so far. What food I could force down simply went straight out the other end. Neither of these made cycling easy, but and I know this sounds crazy, I’ve loved Ecuador. Those views are breath-taking. The people, especially the women, always have a smile on their faces. Their traditional dress is stunning. Our slow pace has enabled us to observe so much. Clearly life is tough, long back breaking days working in the fields without modern equipment is the norm. The hills are a patchwork to look at but you can’t get a machine up there, even if one was available. Our slightly improved Spanish has enabled us to engage more, which is wonderful. We have cut back on the miles we do each day, are taking more rest days, we don’t need to rush. My tummy and back are finally almost OK, Tom unfortunately took them both off me, so it’s rest and BRAT diet for him.
We stopped early the other day in Guamote, the only town for miles around, it was having it’s weekly market. Seriously I have never seen anything like it. Every single inch of pavement and most of the roads were packed to the gills with pop up shops, forcing their way through the madness were people selling ice-creams, bread, fruit, belts, rope, etc., and it all cost a dollar, just one dollar. Cars, vans, buses then tried to drive through, looking in the back of any vehicle we would see approximately 14 people, all in stunning local dress, laughing away, a sheep or two, about twenty bags full of shopping, and a grinning driver, hand on the horn somehow weaving his vehicle through this madness. Tom and I gave up trying to cycle and just joined in the melee and pushed on through, and naturally there were also several hundred dogs scavenging for food. We made the mistake of sharing a cake with one and it took several hours to lose it. He even joined us when we went into a restaurant, no one batted an eyelid whilst it sat expectantly at our feet. The restaurant was called Donkey Burger, we hoped it was just a fun name, not what we and the dog were eating, but it wasn’t beef!
Today we are in Alausi, we’re here for 2 days. It is naturally at the bottom of a mountain, the road in was destroyed by a massive landslide last March, tragically killing over 70 people. As yet the road remains buried so to get in is via a steep dirt track, downhill thank goodness. I realised that to get out of this valley we will have to ride up another massive hill, it will be over 10,000 feet of climbing and bizarrely I’m actually quite looking forward to the challenge. Ecuador’s planners are clearly growing on me!
