Quito to Alausí
After 26 hours of travelling, Zurich – London – Miami – Quito, we reach the capital of Ecuador in the province of Pichincha. After a spectacular approach to an extremely short runway, with a view into the local residents' bedrooms, we land at "Mariscal Sucre". The customs and immigration formalities are straightforward and quick. The driver from the Hotel Sandmelis is already waiting for us, and we are driven to our accommodation just 10 minutes away.
A proper acclimatisation period of 3 days is a good idea. The 6-hour time difference, though, will bother us for longer.
We spend the first day putting our bikes back together and taking a taxi trip to the "Mariscal" district. A taxi ride costs about 2-3 USD, and the distance within the city makes no difference. For safety reasons, it is recommended to take a taxi rather than walk or take a public bus.
On the second day we decide to take a guided tour of the city centre by taxi. We visit the "Virgin of Quito", the city's patron saint, on the "Panecillo", the "Museo de la Ciudad", wander through the historic quarter and see the Plaza San Francisco, the Basilica and the Independence monument on the Plaza de la Independencia.
Quito's old town, with its colonial look, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO; the city has 13 million inhabitants and lies at 2,850 metres.
Day three: the hotel's taxi driver takes us to the nearby "Pululahua" volcanic crater. The farmed hollow is enclosed by a crater rim about 5 kilometres across (our estimate). Because of "racing hearts", we decide not to join a 45-minute hike from the car park down into the hollow. We prefer to linger at the equator monument "Mitad del Mundo" and take the obligatory photos. The monument is not on the equator line! The museum with its exhibition of Indigenous culture, not far away (about 1,000 m), is on the real equator, which was calculated by GPS. There is also a hands-on, educational tour about the Coriolis force and gravity, the position of the sun in the 4 seasons, and magnetism.
Day four: with a queasy feeling, we leave the Hotel Sandmelis heading south. Thanks to the good directions, including a sketch, from the hotel owner, we reach the expressway and conquer our first 1,000 metres of climbing on the way to Machachi.
At the Hostería Chiguac, a starting point for climbers heading to the surrounding volcanoes, we find welcoming accommodation. Now comes the first hurdle. The way to Lasso, on the "Avenue of the Volcanoes", leads over a pass at 3,500 metres in Cotopaxi National Park. Following in the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt, we spend the night at the "Hacienda La Ciénega". Built in 1580, the hacienda is one of the oldest in South America. The rooms of today's country estate are furnished with 19th-century furniture.
Via Latacunga, which lies at an altitude of 2,850 metres (like Quito) and has an average temperature of 12 degrees, the Pan-American Highway takes us to Ambato. The Hotel Ambato seems to us the best place to spend the night and the starting point for a stroll around town. The Monday market on the Río Ambato is uniquely set between the volcanoes Chimborazo (6,310 m), Carihuairazo (5,020 m) and Tungurahua (5,016 m). At the widely praised pizzeria "La Fornace", run by an Ecuadorian who learned his trade from Sicilians, we eat superbly. Well rested and after breakfast, we set off for Riobamba. Within 3½ hours and 34 kilometres, we are once again at the top of a pass at 3,600 metres. Literally: 30 kilometres up, followed by 30 kilometres down, and we reach the Hostería "El Troje" in Riobamba, where we spend the night.
We break off the day's stage to Guamote after 35 kilometres in Cajabamba, because of 35 degrees of heat and exhausting ups and downs. A small lorry then takes us through the winding, foggy mountains (visibility less than 30 metres) to Alausí.
Our decision to take the "pickup ride" works out perfectly, so nothing stands in the way of a train ride to the Devil's Nose, "Nariz del Diablo", on Thursday. The breathtaking railway ride from Alausí (2,347 m) down into the valley (1,800 m), dropping 500 metres, is the steepest railway descent in the world. Today the line is used only for tourists, and the steam locomotives have been replaced by Mercedes-Benz lorry chassis with bus bodies.
An uninvited roommate, who ate the biscuits off our bedside table in the night, disturbs our well-earned sleep at midnight. We soon found the mouse hole in the skirting board and blocked it with soap and toilet paper, so we could sleep peacefully for the remaining hours until dawn. Only changing hotels guaranteed us undisturbed nights for the rest of our stay in Alausí.
Alausí to Cuenca
Alausí, just a tourist starting point for the "Nariz del Diablo" and a car park for coaches, has nothing else to offer. The town does not have many hotels or restaurants. Still, you can always find an acceptable place to stay and something to eat somewhere. Especially at the restaurant at the station, where we had a very good, reasonably priced lunch together with a tour group. The way to Chunchi is peppered with three passes (the highest at 2,700 m). In total there are 750 metres of climbing over 39 kilometres. The effort is rewarded with sensational views of the surrounding mountains (all over 4,000 m) and varied vegetation.
The stretch Alausí – Chunchi should have been completely paved by the end of 2008, but 2 kilometres are still missing. We assume the gap of bumpy track will be finished by the end of 2009.
Addendum:
From Quito to Ambato there is heavy traffic, especially lorries with their smoking exhausts. From Ambato heading south, the traffic drops noticeably. The heavy traffic is reduced to rolling fuel tankers supplying the petrol stations. The cars mostly belong to people from the communities along the Pan-American Highway. The roads are very well built, paved and have a hard shoulder.
Chunchi, smaller than Alausí, immediately seems much better kept and friendlier to us. At the Hotel Chunchi we find comfortable, clean accommodation for 20 USD, including breakfast. Gradually the landscape and the climate of the Sierra change. The "Avenue of the Volcanoes" ends, and the fertile valley of Cañar begins. The extreme mountains and valleys become more and more even. The Pan-American Highway now runs into the geologically calmer part of Ecuador's Sierra.
It's supposed to get drier and warmer? Not for us today! On the extremely exhausting way from Chunchi to Zhud (45 kilometres, 960 metres of climbing), from 2,800 m we are surprised by fog and drizzle. Our photo "above the clouds" didn't last long; the fog line rose steadily with us to 3,000 metres.
There was nowhere to stay in Zhud. It was cold and wet, and everything was grey on grey. In situations like this we are usually lucky! A pickup driver advises us to load the bikes onto his truck and come along with him to Cañar. Besides, he says, the road on the next stretch is partly unpaved and full of potholes. We don't miss the chance to reach Cañar, just 27 kilometres away, the "easy" way.
We cover the remaining 70 kilometres of downhill to Cuenca easily the next day. At the Hotel El Dorado we spend 3 nights recovering and strolling through the "Ciudad Histórica". The next daily stages, a total of 8,000 metres of climbing over 400 kilometres to Macará, through partly remote mountains with nowhere to stay, now have to be carefully planned.
Cuenca lies at 2,530 m in a high mountain basin and, with 300,000 inhabitants, is Ecuador's third-largest city. Cuenca, also called the "Athens of Ecuador", is shaped by republican-era houses, small shops and cobbled streets from colonial times. To learn more about the cultural and historical background of this interesting city (the Inca of the 15th century and the Spanish occupation in 1557), it's worth taking a look at www.ecuadorexplorer.com/html/cuenca.html
Cuenca to Macará
We liked Cuenca extraordinarily well. Nice, obliging and helpful people. The city has a high standard of living, is well kept and clean, and is really worth a visit.
We have to move on! Ahead of us lie about 4,000 more metres of climbing and over 300 kilometres. From Cuenca there is first a pass of 3,500 metres to conquer, the Altiplano de Tinajillas. There is nowhere to stay, so we look for an outdoor "campsite" out of sight of the road. It's going to be cold; a starry sky gives it away. Our newly bought sleeping bags are great and live up to their promise. In the morning, with everything packed up again, one of the longest descents begins! For 40 kilometres we "wipe out" 1,600 metres of altitude, with a few short climbs in between. Because of the terrain, there is "almost" a rule of thumb: 10 kilometres of climbing followed by 20 kilometres of descent. Nothing comes for free. Just when you think "that's it up there", you are surprised by another 400 metres of climbing to Oña. At the Hotel Buenos Aires (photo with the crystal chandelier on the veranda), the only "hotel" in the village, we find a bed, a room door with a padlock, light, a cold-water shower and somewhere to cook. Otherwise there is no reason to stay here any longer. Still a bit worn out from the previous day's efforts, it's straight back to work. Out of the hotel door, and immediately there is a climb to 3,100 metres.
In Saraguro we meet Peter from Aargau, who is travelling on his off-road BMW. Months ago he had shipped himself and his motorbike to Buenos Aires on a freighter (a 5-week crossing for 4,000 CHF). He tells us about the hardships he too had to cope with on his motorbike. Patagonia in particular had taken its toll on him. Now he is on his way through Central America and Mexico to Canada. From somewhere he will fly back to Switzerland. The village of Saraguro lies 140 kilometres south of Cuenca and is home to the Saraguro people. The Saraguros originally came from Lake Titicaca and were brought here from there to work the land.
Most Saraguros wear their traditional dress even on working days. Men and women wear a black poncho; the women in particular also wear a white straw hat and a black skirt. The men wear a black hat, with their long plaited braid showing beneath it, and knee-length black or dark trousers. Between Saraguro and Loja we are surprised by rain for the first time, and so get the "pleasure" of testing whether our rain gear is really waterproof. The rain has hardly stopped before the sun is beating mercilessly down on the asphalt again, and the annoying "sandflies" start to keep us busy. Disgusting creatures! You only notice their bite when it's already too late, and at night you soon scratch yourself bloody because of the unbearable itching. Every village, however small, even one above 3,000 metres, has its own village square with a statue on a pedestal in the middle, and of course a church. Without a square, a statue and a church, a group of houses cannot call itself a "village". Loja is one of the oldest cities in Ecuador; it lies at an altitude of 2,100 metres and has 130,000 inhabitants. Even Alexander von Humboldt was impressed by the wealth of plants in this area and called Loja the "Garden of Ecuador". It is worth mentioning that Loja won an international prize for urban ecology. Here too, the townscape is dominated by colonial-style houses, cathedrals and statues. By the way, we ate exceptionally well in Loja and spent the night at the 4-star hotel "Libertador".
Because of the extremely bad weather forecast, with constant heavy rain for the next 3 days, we decide to take a transfer to Macará. At 13:00 our bikes are loaded into the rear luggage hold of an international coach. At 13:30, in sunshine, our adventurous 5½-hour journey to Macará begins; we are supposed to arrive at 19:00. The fare for this 175-kilometre stretch is 6 USD per person, and the bicycles travel free. At first everything went as you would imagine. Gradually, the higher we "climb" towards the mountain pass at 2,800 metres, the foggier it gets; the rain starts and becomes heavier and heavier. Visibility is only a few metres, the coach drives slower and slower, and you can see how carefully the driver is steering. A sudden stop! Several people are standing in the road, waving and pointing at the road buried under rubble. Nothing is moving! All the passengers have to get out. A second coach has been sent to wait beyond the landslide. It is pouring with rain, and the 20-metre-wide landslide is still moving. Chunks of rock keep rolling onto the road. Two men are posted as lookouts, and by shouting they tell the passengers one by one when to cross the rubble. While we take our bikes out of the luggage hold and load them up, it is raining "cats and dogs". In our cycling clothes (by now the thermometer has dropped by 20 degrees) we push and carry our belongings to the waiting bus on the other side. With everything loaded again and wrapped in woollen blankets, we continue the coach journey. After another 10 kilometres, in Sozoranga, once again nothing is moving: the road to Macará is buried by big boulders and mud. We are trapped! There is no going back to Loja, no going forward to Macará, and apart from a bar there are no hotels in Sozoranga! We soon realised that a night on the coach was on the cards. We leave it to your imagination how you can squeeze yourself "comfortably" into a seat until dawn. "Where there's a bike, there's a way"! With this motto we head downhill the next morning towards the buried road. Wow, not bad! What a landslide! For over 80 metres there is no way through. Boulders up to 4 metres across block the way. The slope has been washed out, and more stones keep rolling onto the road. We have to get through here! A local watches the movements, and we carry the bags and the bikes piece by piece to the other side. Made it! On we go downhill. We'll soon reach Macará. Only 10 kilometres to go. This stretch became the most exhausting of all Ecuador for us. There followed a second landslide just as big, and 2 mud tracks where we had to trudge ankle-deep through a sticky brew. In no time the temperature rose from 15 to 38 degrees. There was no sign of "todo plano" (all flat); instead there were several climbs that really wore us out in this heat. Completely exhausted, after 6 hours for just 25 kilometres of descent and 10 kilometres "straight on", we reach the border town of Macará.
Macará lies at 450 metres; the mercury often reaches the 40-degree mark here, which makes it the hottest town in Ecuador. After a well-earned rest day spent writing our travel report, we will cross the border into Peru on 25 March 2009. While we are writing this text, we are served broccoli soup with popcorn in it. Really tasty! It makes a change from "pollo con arroz" (chicken with rice).
After 700 kilometres we leave Ecuador with these memories:
Clean, well kept, and extremely good roads, some with concrete surfaces.
A good quality of life. "Supposedly nobody has ever starved in Ecuador."
The Ecuadorians of the "Sierra" are cheerful, friendly and helpful.
The Sierra route is extremely exhausting, but worth it (the views).
Thin air, passes of 3,650 metres: acclimatisation is a "must".
The capital, Quito, with 13 million inhabitants. Very few tall buildings. Wide, sprawling residential areas, with the airport in the middle of the city.
Handicrafts, wool spinning, knitting, and the hats of the Saraguro people.
Good accommodation, hotels and restaurants in the towns geared to tourism.
We were pleasantly surprised and recommend a trip through Ecuador to everyone.
Biker info for the mountain route (Sierra route)
| - | Active (13 days of riding) | 700 kilometres |
| - | Transfer (bus, car) | 260 kilometres |
| - | Total climbing | 10,300 m |
| - | Average speed | 11.6 km/h |
| - | Riding time in motion | 60 hours |
