Newsletter: Ecuador Part II, Tue, 23 Feb 1999
Velomad
1st happy belated Valentines & a mega big slobbery snog from both of
us!
We looooove you
Yeah Yeah Yeah!
Sorry now we've finished deafening you with our catlike howls, we can
give you a little update on our travels!
At the mo. we're in Cuenca. It's Equator's 3rd largest town
(population 250 000) & probably the most pretty. Lots of towns in
Equator have lost much of their colonial architecture due to their
proximity to an active volcano but Cuenca seems to have sited itself
pretty well. It has the right balance of being a large town but small
enough not to feel alienated. It also has lots of museums, markets, 4
rivers (one particularly picturesque) & enough gringo bars to keep us
happy.
We decided a hot bath was in order this morning & headed off in the
rain to the nearby town of Baños. But it consisted of 3 very small &
grotty looking swimming pools (though admittedly the water WAS hot) and
as they cost between 10,000 & 20,000 sucres (that's a massive 90
pence to £1.80) we thought fuck that for a laugh - we'd rather buy 4
amaretto coffees or 3.5 litres of beer for that price! So smelly we
returned.
But we did get a whole bag of plantains & bananas for free (apparently
there are 23 different varieties here - we haven't quite mastered the
art of distinguishing them yet) - Richard did his normal act of cycling
up & asking for a ´regalo´ (present in Spanish. Can you believe it -
there's no verb in Spanish ´to cycle´ but there is a verb for
asking for a present! We heard it's usage a lot over Xmas & the New
Year, when all the kids & poor people hang by the roadside & ask for
presents & money) We only expected a couple of bananas but the guy
seemed willing to give us about a 100 - only we couldn't carry them
all.
Actually, we spray hosed ourselves down yesterday so we're pretty
clean for us! Also, as we were in Riobamba for carnival we figured
we'd had enough showers recently. During carnival the locals practise
the art of waterbomb throwing. They'd started a week prior to
carnival - presumably for the practise as they certainly needed it,
only targeting their aim perhaps 15% of the time. This was still
sufficient for us to forget the necessity of showering - although it
was pretty hazardous as we spent all our time on the lookout for kids
lurking around corners waiting to take aim - instead of watching the
cars which were constantly nearly driving into us. Equator has got to
have the worst drivers anywhere - yes worse than Mexico & believe it or
not even worse than the bloody Frogs. Richard miffed one day at being
sprayed from above, demanded that the kid come downstairs - 'just to
talk'. The kid wisely refused but Richard was willing to hang around. A
few minutes later his parents drove up - very smartly dressed. The dad
wanted to know what Richard wanted & Richard explained he wanted to
talk to his son as he's sprayed him with water. "But it's
carnival!" the dad dismissively stated. So Richard responded by getting
his waterbottle & spraying both the mum & dad in all their splendid
attire! The dad didn't know what to say & stood there muttering
"It's carnival" through gritted teeth. Oh the sweet pleasures of
revenge!
Oh yes -nearly forgot. I know you guys all think we're travelling at
a snails pace but we can go fast when we want to. Well Richard can
anyway. Last week there was a race in Riobamba - a cross country.
Richard was offered a Cannondale bike with which to enter & after a
couple of days of serious training (snoozing in the tent!) he came in
with the bronze. This was despite after 35 km his chain breaking &
having to run the final km. So he lost the silver but despite his
nonchalance, I think he was secretly pleased. Of course I did one
better because when they gave out the medals, they gave me a medal just
for being his girlfriend & cycling from Alaska. And I didn't even
have to enter!
We've done 2 fabo. rides in Equator. One was on the Quilota circuit -
1st to Pujilì, then a torturous 28km uphill over a 4200 metre pass.
There we met some indigenous Indians who demanded to know where we'd
come from on bikes. We don't think they even believed us when we said
we'd cycled up the hill never mind from Alaska (probably didn't
know where Alaska was anyway) & asked us if we wanted to swop our bikes
for their donkeys! Then plunging down into the valley & back up again.
Unfortunately the paved road had pettered out by this stage & it was
tough dirt. We camped in the volcanic crater that contained a gorgeous
emerald lake at 4000m. We made it just in time before the rain pelted
down - and it continued all the next day. This wasn't too bad as
we'd drunk some fresh cow's milk the previous evening & we don't
think we boiled it for long enough, as we both felt pretty grotty &
we're doing these incredibly foul farts! Whenever we left the tent
we'd nearly pass out on re-entering for the smell! We hadn't much
money with us & Richard felt guilt ridden when we refused to buy a
painting of the lake the next morning. About 6:30 he heard some noises
outside the tent (over the roar of the pounding rain) & peeked out.
There was a small Indian girl - about 6 years old - shivering & shaking
as she soggily displayed the painting for purchase. Richard apologized
& offered bread in return but she wanted hard cash! Afterwards we
progressed on an increasingly bad road but with increasingly stunning
scenery. We passed lots of indigenous villages where llamas freely
wandered around & the locals stared in open mouthed amazement -
obviously not used to seeing mad foreigners on bikes in the area. The
final village before returning to Latacunga was Saqasili - a small
village that has a weekly market.
On Thursdays all the local Indians come from the surrounding highlands
& the place is a mass of colour (each village has it's own
distinctive costume & hat). It's considered the most important Indian
market in the country by the Ecuadorian economists. It's certainly
mad - cows, sheep, llamas, goats, ducks, chickens & the national dish
here - guinea pigs being pulled out of sacks for barter! Another
couple we met - French/Spanish cyclists (though they admit they do
mainly busing now since they got robbed in El Salvador) said they went
to the abattoir behind the market & watched the animals being killed -
I won't go into the gory details - we're just glad we missed that
particular aspect!
The other ride was up to Chimborazo - Equator's highest volcano
(6310m). We camped at 4800m & awoke to one of the most glorious sights
ever. Although we could clearly see Chimborazo (a rare occurrence as
it's normally shrouded in self made clouds), we could also see about
5 other snow-capped volcanoes & as we were above the cloud level we
could see the soft fluffy clouds gently drifting in & out of the
valleys. The best thing was, as we topped the pass the road suddenly
turned to beautiful smooth asphalt & we managed to glide smoothly down
2800m - not the bone rattling ride we had expected!
Richard has been interviewed twice by the radio in Equator - once in
Ambato (oh yes - Richard just pointed out that I was on the radio too -
but all I got was to say my name!) and once in Baños - not the local
town of today but one further up north. A real tourist town - only
20,000 inhabitants but 105 hotels - excluding all the pensions &
private residences that rent out their homes! We had a laugh there as
it's got loads of places that rent out bikes. But obviously the
tourists don't bother checking their gears before renting them by the
number of cyclists we passed on the uphills having dismounted & manly
shifting their gears.
Lots of love, hugs & kisses
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Stani & Richard