Cycling with Sally

Cycling towards Ambato we passed two day cyclists.  We waved at each other and called out friendly greetings.  This happens often and we thought nothing of it.  About 20 minutes later we came across the town of Salcedo that sells delicious and unusual flavoured ice cream.  While sucking on avacado ice creams and playing a round of crib, the same two cyclists stopped by.  After some time chatting, Leonardo invited us to stay with him and his family in Ambato.  We were takenaback by this generous offer and were quick to take it up.  We cycled with them the rest of the way.  Although we were complete strangers, Leonardo and Daniela settled us in and gave us full use of the house.  We lost track of time, enjoying a meal Leonardo kindly gave us and realised we almost missed the worldcup soccer final.  We were instructed by the bus driver to go to the mall just outside of town.  We were starting to doubt his advice as the bus continued further and further away from town.  However, we reached the mall and was in time to watch the second half of the match in the supermarket along with 100 others.  It was quite a sight watching people drop their groceries to run to a TV when they heard cheers coming from the electronics section.

A day off the bike is always welcomed and we jumped at the chance for a soak in the nearby town of Baños, well known for it's thermal hot springs.  This was quite the tourist attraction, which sported more hostels and hippie cafes (complete with museli, yoghurt and fruit concoctions and lentil burgers) than we had seen in who knows how long.  Reeling at the prices and the cliche backpacker scene, we were much more content at a local joint that served full breakfasts for a buck fifty. 

This brings us to a good point.  We are having a few thoughts with where we fit in with the whole tourist thing and really if tourism is such a good thing.  We have to say, on this trip we have had far more enjoyment in the places less travelled and not on the "must see" list of things to do.  However, this is still rather hypocritical because at the end of the day we are still tourists and people need to earn a living.  Can you blame people for catering to the "gringo" market who think in "gringo" dollars and charging what they are happy to pay?  It's clever really.  But the point is, the local farmer doesn't go into town to spend $3 on a coffee, heck you can get two full meals for that price.  Also, there are times when we have craved home comforts but again it's the different cultural experiences that hold firm in our minds.  Furthermore, generally tourists only have a finite amout of time so can't always clue into the acceptable going rates and tourists visit a country for different reasons and will travel in different ways.  A concern for us is that with mass tourism, a town is prone to losing it's identity or charm.  But if a good spot is found, can you deny certain people the opportunity to experience that too?  This is just another one of our many thoughts in motion and not a criticism on how any one person chooses to travel or the local neighbourhood catering to foriegn capital. ANYWAY!

That night, Leonardo learned of our pizza making skills from sharing photos and stories the previous night.  However, the whole truth is that it was our first time making pizzas from scratch in El Salvador but Leonardo was convinced we were experts and wanted to learn how to make them.  So being true Kiwis we gave it a go!  We found a non-yeast recipe on the net (as we didn't have a lot of time) and kept our fingers crossed.  In Ecuador to buy a pizza costs about $10 which is super expensive (even though the large pizzas here aren't shrinking like other places in the world), so Leonardo hopes to make pizzas at home in the future and save some dosh.  The night was a success, with them sharing a traditional evening meal and us with our pizza (that was cooked on an upturned cake tin!).  It was a pretty good recipe so we will share it with you if you are tight for cash, time and need to make your family's tummies happy in a rush.

No yeast pizza dough
2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/4 tspn of salt
2/3 cup of water
1 tbsp. of cooking oil

Set the oven at 400 degrees F, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, knead for three to four minutes, roll thinly and bake for 15 to 25 minutes with toppings of your choice.

Roland's Dad will be very pleased to know his daughter-in-law not only had a relaxing day in a hot pool but also got pampered that night with a manicure (complete with flowers painted on her nails) by Leonardo's talented sister.  It was tough saying goodbye the next day after we had sweated and huffed and puffed our way up to the mountain pass where Leonardo left us.  We had half views (due to the cloud) of Volcano Chimborazo, which is the highest mountain in Ecuador and the furtherest point from the centre of the earth.  

Just after we had packed up our campsite and got back on the road for the day we bumped into two cyclists.  Arnold and Marieke are originally from Holland but call New Zealand home now and live in Albany, Auckland which is pretty close to home considering we are in Ecuador!  Every year they go away for four months and cycle which we thought was pretty cool.  They were heading for the coast but maybe we will see each other again in Peru somewhere?  

Right now Ecuador is supposedly in their dry season i.e. no rain but since leaving Quito we have had day after day of rain.  In fact one day we were cycling through such heavy mist we could barely see 20 metres ahead.  Maybe this was a good thing as not only did it feel very mystical but we couldn't see the ginormous climbs we were about to go up!  Being in The Andes it's pretty typical to climb up to about 3000 or more meters and then whiz down again to about 1800-2000 meters.  Belinda thought she was going to really struggle with the terrain but has actually been enjoying the cycling much more with the combination of spectacular scenery.  And well, Roland is simply in his element!  

Already feeling pretty stoked to have just bumped into some fellow cycling tourists, the very next day we met Sean, Ingrid and Kate (who is an amazing 10 years old!).  They are a family from Scotland who also started in Alaska and are slowly making their way to Argentina.  Sean and Kate are on a tandem bike and so we had much to talk about and compare notes.  It was hard to say goodbye to this family as it seemed like we could have talked for hours but Ingrid was recovering from one of those nasty tummy bugs and we found our cycling schedule to be a little different.  We truly hope our paths cross again as we believe they too are card fanatics and to have some playmates would be nice for a change!   After treating ourselves to a night in a hostel and some cable TV (as we needed to dry out a little bit) we checked out our first Inca ruins, Ingapirca.  Unfortunately, the museum had all the explanations in Spanish or maybe more rightly, unfortunately our Spanish wasn't up to scratch and so we didn't get much out of it.  Then we walked around the ruins but the combination of the rain, cold, being ripped off in the cafe close by and our comparisions to the grand Mayan ruins we saw in Mexico and Central America, left us feeling a tad underwhelmed.  The good thing of seeing the ruins in the morning, it that the rained peatered out and meant our afternoon of cycling to Cuenca was pretty much a dry affair.

To find out more about our volunteer work in Guamote and Roland's birthday, click here.

Five things more.......
 
What is an "Almuerzo"?
a) A fried pastry typical in Ecuador.
b) A shoe cleaner that you commonly see in the main plazas of towns ready for business.
c) A set lunch menu that comprizes of soup, rice, meat (usually chicken or beef), salad and fresh juice for $1.50  to $2.50.  

* No matter how busy a business might be, you'll always be hard pressed to get change for a bil greater than $5 unless you go to a bank or a big supermarket (which you'll only find in the big cities).  At times it will make absolutely no sense because you'll be in a restaurant full of people and many people before you pay and yet still no change?  Where does it go?  This is a phenomenon that has happened through all the spanish speaking countries we have passed through to date.  

* Did you know Panama hats are actually hand made in Ecuador?  

* Toffee is a speciality in Ambato and Baños and you can watch people making it from their doorways!  

* And no, we are not champion cyclists that have won medals but we know someone who has and that's Leonardo.  As a parting gift he wanted to give us something to remember him by and that was the medals.  We felt very priviledged to receive these from him as they are some of his most prized posessions and winning competitions are his livelihood.            





* What is an "Almuerzo"? Answer: c)

By the time we arrived into Quito, Ecuador and met Luis (aka monkey), we felt like we were meeting a long lost friend. We had already swapped a bunch of emails with him updating our progress, co-ordinating some volunteer work and suggesting attractions to take in Quito and the surrounding area. We were made to feel right at home with him and his beautiful family, Gabriel, Martin and Margarita who are just as wild about cycling as Luis.

Our time in Quito was divided up by volunteer work, taking in some of the beautiful colonial buildings of the old town with fellow cyclist Byron (www.byrongoessouth.com), getting firmly acquainted with the bus system, Belinda getting over the flu, resting, watching soccer on t.v. in every shop, utilizing a fully equipped kitchen to prepare a few meals and a prison visit.

Roland was a bit undecided and uneasy with the idea of a prison visit in Quito, when our host Luis first suggested it. After reading several blogs on the internet, he found myself wondering whom the visit was meant to benefit. It came across as either an exhilarating experience like that of sky diving or bungy jumping, or as a compassionate gesture that might break from the routine of prison life. As you can imagine, this prison are not an inviting place and once inside your free to roam around with all the inmates. The only thing that disguishes you from the prisoners are a series of stamps issued at various security check points. Lugging around a few grocery bags of food and toiletry items Roland went about searching for a Canadian inmate. Without going into too much detail, a scared Roland was impressed at the courage and mental toughness it takes to survive in a place like this, particularly when your a foreigner. Everything and anything is possible if the price is right. Roland still has mixed feelings on the experience.

When it finally came time to leave Quito, we thoroughly enjoyed our ride out of the city with Luis and the Ciclopolis crew (a cycling organization that promotes cycling and organizes a weekly ride through the city with roads cordoned off from traffic) escorting us to the city limits and beyond.

This precious drawing was done by Sofia in Tuluá.  We met her and her mum, Elizabeth while staying with them through Couchsurfing.  We spent an afternoon tubing down a river in a local park.  Apparently on her return to school, when asked about her holidays she talked about this time with us.  It was a very memorable afternoon for us too!

 

Why do it in two when you can do it in one?  We originally planned to camp between Cali and Popayán (approximately 130 ‘stairmaster’ kilometers).  However, late in the afternoon and 40kms away a friendly motorcyclist stopped for a chat and to invite us to stay with him in Popayán.  This sounded all too wonderful to wait a day and so we put ‘the pedal to the metal’ and made it to the ‘City of White’ just before dark.  Feeling a little tender we had a walking tour of this historical colonial city, with its abundance of churches, museums, pretty courtyards and cobblestone streets.  Fabio was a real sweetie and wanted to ensure our time in Popayán was memorable and we had our own personal guide the following day, thanks to his young friend Miller.  We visited Museo Arguidiocesano de Arte Religioso which holds statues that are used in Holy Week (Easter), which Popayán has the most elaborate celebrations and processions in all of Colombia.   You know you are in pretty special company when the person you are staying with apologies for not having more money to provide more living comforts.  We were so humbled by staying with Fabio and his family and will remember our time with them fondly.

It seems like touring cyclists have a special radar always on alert for the potential to see other fellow cyclists.  We were happily strolling down the street in Popayán contemplating the day’s activities when an Argentinean guy (Ramiro) asked us if we were ‘the tandem cyclists’.  It’s not like we were still in our spandex or anything!  Ramiro and his cycling buddy (Jeremy) have a cool story.  Jeremy flew to Colombia from France to embark on his cycling adventure through South American to have his bike stolen early on in the piece.  He happened to bump into Ramiro and his girlfriend who had started their travels in Cuba.  Ramiro’s girlfriend (who may be the smartest of all) wanted to take a break from cycling and escape some of the mountain climbs in the Andes.  By a stroke of luck Ramiro had a free bike and Jeremy needed a bike so now they are happily pedaling together.  We have enjoyed seeing them on the road from time to time and hope to see them again in Ecuador.

We were totally wowed by the scenery between Popayán and Pasto.  We spent these three cycling days ducking and diving, up and down and around mountains, farmland, and desert.  At the end of our first day, it seemed as if simultaneously as we were asking for permission to pitch our tent on a farmer’s property, we were being warmly greeted and ushered in the gate.  Alberto didn’t only give us a place to pop our tent, but the use of his kitchen, a cooking class on how make fried plantano (which Belinda adores), showers and a covered area for our tent and even a table, chairs and a fan!  This is what luxury camping is all about baby!  Our next night, proved to be more challenging to find a camp spot (maybe it had something to do with the sheer cliff face that hugged the roadside for kilometer after kilometer ).  This was our first true night of cowboy camping as we didn’t use our tent but rather used caribenas and a harness hammock  and clung to the rugged mountain outcrop until first light*.

In Pasto we were further treated to some amazing Colombian generosity and hospitality. We rolled up to an internet café to contact our couchsurfing host Alfredo and soon found ourselves on the receiving end of some free internet use thanks to the owner of Full Net.  We spent two tranquil nights with Alfredo in his quiet home and visited Laguna de la Cocha 12kms from the town.  The lake is one of Colombian’s largest and is surrounded by wooden houses with colourful flowerpots decorating the facades.  It was a lovely way to spend a lazy afternoon and get another taste of the plentiful Mora (blackberry) that grows abundantly in these parts.  Thank you Alfredo for giving us full range of your home and giving Roland a run for his money at chess.

Onward to Ipiales, the border town of Colombia and Ecuador…… the middle of the earth!

 

*Okay, okay for those of you that were on the edge of your seats hearing about our adrenaline camping rush…. we don’t actually carry climbing gear and slept (without our tent) under a rocky outcrop, out of view from traffic but man those engine retarders make a racket!  Also, you’ll be pleased to know Belinda didn’t get eaten by snakes , spiders or the goblin that lived beneath the bridge.



Tid bits about Colombia:

·         Every day at 6am and 6pm every radio station (by law) must play the Colombian National Anthem. 

·         Almost every second shop you go by in Colombia sells ‘minutos’.  Meaning they have a cell phone you can use for between 5 and 10 cents a minute.  This works out to be very economical for locals so if they need to make a call they pop into a shop and make the call (even though everyone carries their own cell phones too).

·         In the big cities of Colombia they have driving restrictions to reduce traffic congestion.  It is organised by the last digit of your license plate.  One day of the week you are not allowed to drive between peak hour traffic in both the morning and afternoon.  This concept is very well supported by the locals as it has noticeably freed up traffic.

Thanks to a techno savy fellow touring cyclist (Matt Kelly) we have learnt about what the RSS Feed does.  If you scroll down on this page on the right hand side you will see "RSS Feed" (Below Archives).  Click on the link and you will go into another page where you can choose to subscribe to pages on our website.  This way you will be notified of when we have updated our blog via email.  Thought this would be handy for our most avid viewers (our parents!).