Shorter ride today with over 1400m (4700ft) of descent. A little warmer, but not to worry we’ll climb this all back on way to Quito.

San Gabriel was nice little town, with the main commercial street up on the hill. We were back on the road early and for first time in several days, the road was dry. It stayed dry and sunny and even warmer here at 1760m (5800ft). Gasoline in Ecuador is relatively inexpensive. Also interesting to find another country it is sold by the gallon.

Off in the distance, our first volcano. This before one of the first descents.

Still some small hills to climb. Made an excuse to stop by photographing the environmental sign.

Religious shrine on entrance to one of the villages.

Mammoths!

Also saber tooth cats.

Mural told of the slaying of the mammoth.

All these murals and more at entrance to village of Bolivar.

Not much further and we started the serious descent for the day. My tire felt a bit soft, so stopped at 20km and pumped it up. Otherwise, the descent was on good two lane road and with stretches in the 8-10% downgrade. It was tiring to go so slow down this hill.

Another religious shrine along the way. Seems like many of these Ecuadorian villages want to mark entrance with some interesting shrine or memorial.

Finally at the bottom! It was considerably warmer here and also seemed a bit drier.

Without too much trouble, cycled to a nice roadside resort. Next door was small restaurant. The specialty was fish.

Overall today was shorter day, but significant climb back ahead and not sure where next place to stay. When we arrived, I checked my back tire. Pulled out three small wires as well as a piece of glass. I ended up patching the tube as well.