Author: Tim

Pretty nice little surf town located on the Salt Coast.

Mountain, Highland, Forest, Grassland, and Rainforest, all in one ride!

We headed out early as possible from Machala, after a fire in a building next door, an explosion at 2am, and, of course, a power outage at 5am. Leaving was no walk in the park.

Don’t ever, ever go here. We avoided Guayaquil because of the violence and crime, but this place apparently wasn’t far enough away. Sad.

I rode out to take a hike to the Whymper cabin, the highest lodging point on the volcano. Having spent a couple weeks at between 8-10k feet in altitude, I figured it would be ok. Second camp. Took me about 45 minutes to make the short climb.

Finally, huh? We kept getting stuck in restricted zones, I’ll make sure we avoid those going forward.

Spent a couple of extra days for some rest before moving on. Strange town, used to be pretty important when the railway ran through it, not no-mo.

Got in to Quito a little late, the parking situation was the worst we’ve seen – about four blacks away, 100 ft straight up a small boulder path with a tight turn at the end.. Not fun… Ask Alex. Sugar cane is ridiculously important in this part of the world.

Had a pretty long border crossing into Ecuador even though the lines were fast, just many steps.