More Ecuador

From Quito Ecuador we started our trek south to the border. The entire route was in the Andes mountains, so knocking down high miles per day was impossible. It did allow us to experience rural Ecuador and the breathtaking scenery. We spent nights in Riobamba, Cuenca and the little village of Catacocha before getting to the border. Here are some photos that can help tell the story.

Our mid day stops for lunch in the little mountain villages provided an up close look at how the locals live. This stop resulted in only a coke. They market their restuarants a little different than in the States.

This one was an absolute delight. When we went by it the window was filled with customers waiting for tables. We managed to get a seat with another guy. The choice was a set fish or meat lunch plate with beverage. We chose the meat. It was great and the price was a little over$2.00 USD each.

We also had a variety of road surfaces to deal with. Most, however were new concrete or asphalt...but not all.

At one point we got lost on a mountain road with very little traffic. After about 30 minutes we found guy parked on the side of the road. He confirmed the road did go to the next city. We discovered we found the old road to the city that went over the mountain instead of around it. Below is a picture of where the old road connects to the new road. Those are cars and trucks in the road to the right...not bugs.

We arrived in Riobamba in plenty of time to get checked in and walk around the city. The city is a working city so no tourist stuff or colonial buildings. I finally figured out this is a fireman's uniforms. Not sure about this guy, maybe Airforce?

This guy was willing to make us a new saddle while we waited.

This guy was deep in to his siesta so no haircut today.

The fresh fruit was tempting and we had to buy some. Next to the guy's head are some red bananas. In Riobamba we stayed at the aptly named Oasis Hostal with a little kitchen. So for breakfast we had a yogurt fruit salad and some of Latin America's favorite coffee.

Cuenca Ecuador is a large town with a well preserved historical center.

There are a lot of towns in South America named after this guy.

So that no one gets the impression our trip has been nothing but sunny beaches and refreshing mountain air, we have had our share of cold rain. This is the village of Catacocha Ecuador. It seems to be the vegetble and fruit market village for the region. The rainy picture below was taken at 7 AM Sunday morning. The entire downtown was full of fruit and vegetable sellers.

including bananas tumbling out of their doorways.

This is either a tiny pickup truck or some big bean stacks...Actually a lady at a market broke open one for us. It has a white flesh, similar to a pear surrounding the bean. It was tasty.

...big Chris or small hotel? This is the hotel we stayed in. It was easy to find since it was the only one in the village. The hotel owner also runs a pumbing shop and let us park the motos overnight with his pipes and such. It was on to the border about 60 miles away. During the ride we came across these interesting large green trees.

We ran into a problem trying to exit Ecuador. It seems we got a 60 day visa but only a 5 day import permit for the Motos. Unfortunately for us it was day 6 when we arrived at the border. The border guy initially checked us through in record time, maybe 10 minutes. I noticed he kept counting on his fingers and then put the dreaded hand up and asked us to wait. He eventually found the sixth finger on his other hand and called his boss to resolve our transgression. His boss was the border official from hell. He showed us the back of the import permit that specifies we owed 10% of the value of our motorcycles for an infraction. Long story short the boss's boss eventually shows up. He is a man of reason and compassion and tells us we can leave. This took over and hour to resolve. At least we could enjoy the monkeys in the trees while we waited. Getting in to Peru was painless.