Category Archives: Ecuador

Tumbes, Peru

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So long Ecuador, hello Peru! An easy border crossing today as I am slowly heading for drier areas.
It was already 21C (70F) and slightly humid when I left. Just a few days ago, that could have been the high temperature for the day. Fortunately, it didn’t get extremely warm today. It was also a very flat day of cycling, less uphill than any riding day since I started in South America. Airplane above was at junction of road from Santa Rosa to the main highway heading to the border.

Santa Rosa averages 19 inches (49cm) of rain a year and Tumbes only 12 inches (31cm) a year, so I am already heading to drier regions. Photo above was on the Ecuador side not long before the border. The road crosses through an ecological preserve and photo shows vegetation.

Also some large snails on the road.

A small church on the way.

Diesel gasoline has two prices, a normal price ($1.04/gallon) and international price ($3.51/gallon), showing it is subsidized here in Ecuador. Will need to see corresponding prices in Peru.

The border itself was in middle of a no-mans land. There are signs thanking you for visiting Ecuador and welcome signs for Peru, but otherwise not much for 2km on each side of this. I actually stopped briefly on the Ecuador side immigration office on other side of the road to make sure I didn’t need to do anything special to check out. Nope, one can check out of Ecuador and into Peru at the same building.

Official border sign. I believe the EU helped in building the road and hence this is why the EU flag is there along with Ecuador and Peru.

Welcome to Peru!

Here was the sign at the customs building.

This was as smooth a crossing as any I’ve had so far. I went into one building and first went to a line that said “Salida Ecuador”. They looked at my passport and stamped it. Next, I went one line over to the “Entrada Peru”. The woman handed me an immigration form that I completed. I came back to the line and had indicated that I might want to stay up to three months in Peru (I expect to cycle across quicker than that, but better to have enough time than to get caught). She stamped my passport and gave me a 180 day visa. After that I was done.

The only downside is I didn’t see any money changers at the border to change some dollars into Peruvian sol.

Here was vegetation on the Peruvian side of the border. The shoulder wasn’t great and disappeared not long after this. However, traffic was still fine so not a big deal.

Without too much trouble, found myself in Tumbes and a reasonable hotel. They do appear to be more expensive here than Ecuador. I then walked around. First to an ATM. It unfortunately only gave larger bills. Next to a restaurant that told me they would be able to take a larger bill. I had a good plate of rice and a not so good piece of meat with it. The entrepreneur didn’t quite give me all my change back, I think he said something like, “an extra tip” in Spanish, but still didn’t quite feel right.

One side of the plaza has this bandstand.

Another side has a church.

Not far away.

Otherwise walked a little around town. Wasn’t able to find a larger supermarket type store, but was able to get things separately at a fruit stand, a bakery and a small mini-mart. I did have someone suggest I put my camera away as it might not be safe. Otherwise, a warm afternoon as I slowly get me “Peru legs” under me.

Santa Rosa

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A descent today to land of banana plantations and air conditioned hotels.

I left early. Place next door was already open serving breakfast but had lights on. Overall today descended 2035m (66677 ft) and climbed only 652m (2139 ft). So there were a few shorter climbs but overall easier than yesterday. The descents were also not quite as steep. There was however a fair amount of road construction and places where pavement was replaced with gravel.

Followed a narrow canyon down the hill. Initially it looked dry without much vegetation.

Here was concrete pad used for drying some crops (coffee beans?)

There was a short tunnel.

As I got lower down, it became more lush again. These bananas are locally grown in small scale, likely close to the stall that sells them.

A little creek in one of the lush areas.

Several spots had signs with Chinese lettering, I believe some sort of joint project is being carried out.

There were also signs talking about a larger hydro project being built. Interesting that it listed both the energy output and the CO2 savings effects.

Eventually around 75km, I got to bottom of the hill with flat terrain after that. I spied this restaurant to stop for lunch. However, nobody came when I sat there, so after a bit I went another 5km to Buena Vista to another restaurant.

This is banana country with plantations on both left and right sides of the road.

Bananas themselves are covered with a protective packaging.

Buena Vista even had a banana monument in the central town square.

Also this church off the square.

Not sure why this guy was posing with the monument at entry to the town, but got a photo anyways.

After Buena Vista, I continued until meeting a major north/south route that goes to the border.

However, that is saved for another day, I cycled into town of Santa Rosa. The monuments already have more to do with the sea.

Downtown Santa Rosa streets were town up and town didn’t give best impression. However, found a reasonable hotel in downtown. First one in a while with air conditioning and that was useful this afternoon.

Santa Isabel

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Halfway down from the mountains to the plains. Today 1770m (5810ft) of descent and only 804m (2638ft) of climbing as I started leaving the mountains on my way to the coast. It is already warmer here. My shower water never really warmed up and this didn’t matter as I was hot anyways.

Left a little later so as to have breakfast in the hotel before departure. The first 3.5km was riding through the city, first on cobblestones and then on back streets. After this I was on the main highway, though still in Cuenca until ~9km or so. Photo above was a bike repair place I happened to pass on my way out.

These folks were preparing a road pig. I see more of them at places along the way.

At 21km there was a fork in the road. Going left would stay in the mountains to Loja at least. Going right was still flat for another 11km but then started steeper descents. I decided I would try the coast for a while, knowing that I’ll trade cold and climbing for heat and headwinds.

This gas station had a nice little shop and place to eat a snack.

End of the flat at 31km just as I crested the hill into the downhill. While there was a fair amount of downhill, I was surprised at the amount of shorter sharp, 10-11% climbs that I still had. The road would dip down, go around a bend and then climb back over the next ridge. This happened multiple time and accounts for much of the 800m of climbing for the day.

A view of the valley from the top. While the road never really got close to the river, it did roughly follow the valley down. At town of Giron at 45km, I stopped and had lunch. Breaded chicken, rice, fries, avocado and slice of tomato. These “plate of the day” meals are pretty good in Ecuador.

Small church that I passed. From Giron in particular, I had a lot of the short sharp climbs, so a bit slower cycling. However, nice to come up to Santa Isabel with one last 160m (500ft) climb from the low point. The actual town of Santa Isabel is still at least 100m higher, but there are two roadside hostals here on the main road.

A view from my hostal room looking back up the valley.

Overall, nice to have part of the descent done so far. Tomorrow expect to finish descending down to close to sea level and hence exit the mountains. I am already lower in elevation than I’ve been in Ecuador.

Cuenca

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A relaxing rest day in Cuenca including purchase of additional spare brake pads and studying blogs for Peru.

Today was an easy day looking around Cuenca as well as looking at some other blogs. It was sunny morning with many people on the streets.

The pigeons were out and no longer hiding under the eaves to get away from the rain.

I saw the inside of the new church.

Here is the old church.

Hardly the only church as they seem to be on many street corners, as well as other interesting historic buildings.

Here is a more typical street again.

Given that I was on a rest day, I also tried an experiment to see the local bike shops. In Ecuador as in Colombia, it seems like repairs and new sales are sometimes different shops. I had brought with me to Cartagena, two spare sets of brake pads. One had been used in Pasto, when I had them replaced but I still had a spare set. The ones on the bike now have worn, but also don’t need to be replaced yet. So, I figured I could easily get to Lima before it would be useful to find pads again.

However, since I had a rest day, I tried to find a local bike shop from Google Maps and see about getting another spare set of pads. Finding the shop was the first hurdle. I had gone looking yesterday in the rain and despite back and forth on the street, I never found a shop. So I read the Facebook description more closely and seemed to say they were located inside a medical clinic. This morning, I found the clinic and started asking. At first they didn’t know anything about a bike shop, but then told me two local entrepreneurs sometimes used their offices. They weren’t there but would be in an hour.

I came back in an hour and met two young gentlemen. No real shop, but these were the mechanics. I had brought with me a worn set of disc brake pads, still in the original package. I showed them the details, model numbers, etc and asked if two replacements (front and back) could be found in Cuenca? They weren’t sure but started dialing their contacts with cell phone. They were able to locate the pads, at a place that wasn’t nearby. I gave them $ for the pads and we arranged they would drop by the hotel in afternoon with spare pads.

They just recently arrived. Interestingly enough, it is the exact same packaging as I had as well. So, Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes are still a fairly common model, in USA as well as Ecuador. It took a bit, but once I got in touch with locals, they were able to locate the right spares. This should last me for a while now.

I’ve also been looking through several blogs for the coast of Peru. It will likely take two days to reach the lowlands and then another day to enter Peru. From there to Lima is along the coast. It isn’t all flat, but should be considerably flatter and drier than here in Ecuador. The challenge appears to be wind. The Humboldt Current brings waters to coast of Peru and when deflected by the Andes turns north. Hence, prevailing winds are from south or southwest and can sometimes be strong headwinds. Will see what I get in that next stretch.

Cuenca

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Over the hill and into the city.

First a photo from yesterday of the main church in El Tambo.

One blog I had been following cycled from El Tambo to Cuenca in two days. I decided it probably wasn’t too difficult to ride it in a day (only 75km) and then take a rest day.

The first three kilometers were downhill. After that the next fourteen climbed up and over a larger hill. However, again grades were never very steep.

On the way up was this monument in Canar.

Looking back on Canar itself. Not long after this, it became more cloudy as I climbed into and through some of the clouds.
Not too far from the top was this radio station. Always nice to see those towers and stations since give a good indication one is almost all the way up.

Here was the top itself, second highest point I’ve cycled on the trip and don’t expect to exceed this until later in Peru/Bolivia.

Bibilian had this nice little shop. By now it was off and on drizzle. This also marked bottom of the hill after ~600m (2000ft) of descent from the top. Some hills to climb over here to Azogues. This is where other cyclists had stayed and given it was still early, made sense to keep going.

The road became three lanes but never extremely busy so for most part traffic moved around me. It was mostly descent until the 55km mark. After this a slow but overall climb back up to Cuenca. Without too much difficulty, I found myself to the central square.

Above is a picture of the New Cathedral, completed in 1885.

Statue in one of the parks.

By now it was raining more heavily. The pigeons had taken roost under the eaves to get out of the rain.

There was a nice indoor market here.

Overall, look forward to a rest day here in Cuenca. Chance to look around a bit more. Also, after this I expect to descend down to the lowlands and coast before crossing into Peru. Hence, will also be a chance to review some of the blogs of others that have ridden north coast of Peru.

El Tambo

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Climbed a mile today, 5300ft/1616m. Overall a beautiful ride as the road skirted around edges of steep valleys.

I was on the road early since I expected a lot of climbing. Not far out of town I went through a chain-link fence gate which seemed strange. The road went down out a valley and then slowly came back on the other side. Photo above is Chunchi from perhaps a kilometer away, though I had already cycled five kilometers along the valley edges.

I soon discovered the other half of the chain-link fence. In photo above there is a fence with large piece of construction equipment parked behind it. Apparently, the main road was closed off for construction with a detour. Easier to see from this end, where it would be tough to accidentally go through the fence. I do think I saved some climbing as the detour much have gone through the valley where it is even deeper.

A small church in one of the villages I passed. That restful dog to the right is deceiving, today I had quite a few barking dogs come out to meet my bike. Almost all of them were just making a lot of noise and running along, though one dog did decide to bite my pannier.

This cow did not want to be led, eventually it gave up and came along.

The truck was doing a milk run. It stopped ahead of me and met someone with a large container. The top went open and contents were deposited into the tank.

Both these purple and yellow wildflowers are common here.

This was looking down into the valley and beyond, with clouds below. My route went from 2240m to 3080m (10,100ft) today. I got the sense that it wasn’t too far west to descend down to the lowlands. I’ll be up at this altitude for a few more days before descending to the coast. Expect it to be warmer, flatter and a lot windier.

At 42km I came to Zhud and chance for lunch pictured above. This crossroads town featured in several blogs I had read as wasn’t clear if there was a hotel or not and by now there was already a lot of climbing. It was still early in the day, so made sense to go the last 18km over a few more hills to El Tambo.

Ecuadorans on a bench.

Got into El Tambo not too late and found nice hostal. Time to relax after a good day of climbing.

Chunchi

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Beautiful riding through hilly terrain. As the crow flies, the distance today was only 13km. However, the route went over a large ~300m (1000ft) hill and then winding its way across and back on a steep valley. Today distance still only 35km, but nearly three times as far as the direct route. Overall, still easier and shorter than I anticipated.

Started the day with a 5.5km climb out of Alausi. Grade was fairly consistent 7-8%, so mostly a case of going into my lowest gear and slowly climbing. Photo above was looking back on Alausi from part way up the climb.

I could now see across to the other side. Note the road that is part way down the mountain.

Today no sheep and more cows again.

Several small villages along the way, this one with nice church.

Now back on the other side. Climbs here weren’t as consistent, a few had stretches of 12% climb. However, none extremely long.

This photo looks back across the valley to where the second photo on this page was taken. The main road is almost all the way at the top near the microwave towers. However, there also appear to be some smaller cross roads lower down as well.

These construction workers were clearing organic debris from the gutters.

Found myself to the main square in Chunchi earlier than anticipated. Still 742m (2430ft) of climbing where perhaps thought there could be even more. Not complaining however, as this gave me time to get leisurely lunch in town and look around. Also, expect tomorrow to be quite a bit tougher so happy to have an easier day before a challenging day.

Streets in town were not as busy as Alausi.

A somewhat modern looking church on the main square.

Last few days, towns have many internet cafes like this one. I take this as a sign that broadband is not necessarily available in individual residences (or more expensive than people can pay). Somewhat a contrast to cities like Quito with far less frequent internet. The cell network does have 3G data however and reasonable connectivity, particularly given the hilly terrain.

A nice restful afternoon here in Chunchi as look over next few days. I expect a few days to Cuenca before then departing the highland areas and towards lower coastal areas.

Aluasi

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Aluasi is a great little town at bottom of a steep valley. A contrast from Guamote where I departed yesterday. I was at a nice hotel right by the bus “station”. Not many people around other than waiting for the bus and streets seemed to quickly turn to dirt. In contrast, many people out an around in Aluasi and even looks a bit more touristy.

Overall, hardest part of today was steep descent last few kilometers into town. I left Guamote around 6:30am and it was 4.5C (~40F) and colder than normal including a wind. Fortunately, a tail wind this time. The route slowly climbed a few hundred meters and crossed areas with evergreen trees. However, a lot of more open lands as well.

Passed this simple church, note the importance in the facade.

These folks were going from one bus to another. A majority of people in villages are wearing a colorful traditional dress.

At 24km, I reached a high point and from here almost 1000m (3300ft) of descent awaited, most of that in last kilometers. This mural was telling us about Alausi.

I crossed train tracks several times yesterday and also at start of today. I haven’t seen any live activity but crossings are all well-marked.

This is sheep country as the number of sheep I saw today outnumbered the number of cows (one and that was on a road sign warning of cattle).

Stopped at a gas station before the final descent. The parked bike sometimes draws interest.

Town of Tixan in the distance, I had circled this on road above. After this the downhill route became steep. My GPS recorded 10%, 11%, 12% and 13% consistently and a brief point of 16% but not sure if that was right. I even walked a kilometer or two since I was otherwise going so slowly/carefully that it was easier to walk the bike downhill than keep on the brakes at -13% grade.

By now I was very close to Alausi, hooray!

The central square is next to a train station.

People out selling produce.

Volleyball game in progress. These guys were good and had some spectators. Otherwise, I like this little town and have wandered up and down the main street. It would be a nice place to stay for a bit, though I’ve also looking forward to climbing over the hills ahead. I do know whatever way I go, it will be a steep climb out of this valley.

Guamote

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Found my first flat road in Ecuador. Only 3km worth, but seems longer than previous flat stretches.


I wasn’t expecting today to be too long or difficult, so had the included breakfast at the hotel. My routine has generally been to set my alarm for 5:30am and get on the road when I am ready, typically a little before 6:30am. Today I was an hour and a half later.

The first 5km were through an urban area with lots of traffic. I was pleased to see just a bit of Chimborazo again even if the top was hidden by clouds.


It was very busy in this area and as I came past 7km, I saw everyone seemed to be on their way to this market. After this a lot less on the road. The first 20km had a bit more climbing than descent.

I came through this small town.

Nice looking fruit stand.

Roasting cuy (guinea pigs), apparently one carrousel can hold ten. They were busy putting on sauce and then slowly rotating them over the fire.

After the 20km point, there was a brief section that was actually flat. The road paralleled shore of a lake as well as a railroad track. After this point, the rest of the day was also fairly easy with more descent than climb.

A good example of the road.

A similar section of road that I took with HDR mode in my camera.

Saw these interesting cactus type plants as well. Definitely drier here than in Colombia, though not quite arid either.

Even with late start, I was in Guamote not long after 1pm. I found a hotel that looked locked. However, ringing the bell and someone came. I didn’t have a bell later to ask to be let out, but eventually someone showed up. Once again, internet was connecting locally but not to the DNS server more remotely.

There wasn’t much to the town, but I tried to see if I could get my phone updated with internet again. The first shop wasn’t much help as they kept asking if I had saldo (remainder) on my plan. I had a few days left, but had gone over the data limits. However, they couldn’t figure it out.

Next place I stopped was an internet café with a young woman (hard to guess age, 16? 25?) attending. We couldn’t update my existing carrier, but she could sell me a SIM card for another provider, Claro. Upgrade went easily, but then we were missing some configuration to make the internet connection. She kept at it, with help texts and calling Claro until it was working.

Later in evening there was an attendant at hotel that I could show the non-working wifi. He plugged in the network cable to the wifi extenders and all was working again. Definitely interesting to have combination of tech stuff as well as language mixed together. Usually, I have a good idea on the troubleshooting, but don’t always have enough Spanish to explain.

Riobamba

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What point on the earth’s surface is furthest from the center?

Apparently, Chimborazo is that point. Today I cycled past Chimborazo on a ride that was easier than I anticipated. The first 27km for today was mostly a climb of 800m (2600ft) to cross highest point so far on the bike trip. After that it was predominantly downhill almost the same amount to reach Riobamba. What made it easier was that the climb really didn’t exceed 9% anywhere. Also, I feel fully recovered from previous saddle sore.

The hotel filled up including some noisy guests arriving around 3am. However, still a reasonable place to stay. Only downside was internet stopped working in middle of my blog update from yesterday, so I kept that one separate still.

I had breakfast in my room and then started riding up the hill. There was a Shrek behind that fence.

One village on the way up had a basketball court prominently in front of the town church.

Restaurant advertising Cuy (guinea pig) as a specialty.

Another village had this shoe at the entrance monument.

Sign telling of Pope Francis visit to Ecuador in 2015.

Past Mocha it did get steep for a bit, but never extreme and so I could put in lowest gear and slowly crank up the hill.


Once I got up near top, views of Chimborazo came into view. It was tough to tell where clouds sometimes ended and the peak started. The clouds kept shifting in front of the peak. As I cycled along, I must have gotten 20 different Chimborazo photos since each time the clouds would make it look a bit different. This peak is Ecuador’s highest point at 6263 meters (20,548 ft) and also point furthest from center of the earth.

The top of the road crested out near 3600m (11,800ft) so Chimborazo was another 2600m (8700ft) above where I was cycling.

After this a reasonable descent with few extremely steep bits. The road was often four lanes though the shoulder was also at times minimal. Fortunately, traffic was light enough and moved over to make way.

Riobamba is located on a downhill and is a bit of a strung out city. First time, it seemed like a “strip” type city that is common in the US west. First hotel I tried was full, but second one had room and was nice place to stay. Today is a Battle of Pinchincha holiday. The town is pretty quiet and many shops are shut down. Not sure if this is because of the holiday or this is always how Riobamba runs.