Goodbye Ecuador, hello Peru and proper mountains!
Hola blogistas. Yep we’re still alive: some of you were worried at the lack of updates so here you go.
As you might have guessed from the title, we’re now in the land of marmalade eating bears and real mountains. Apparently, so said an Ecuadorian, Peru has proper mountains which implies that Ecuador and Colombia don’t, that we just imagined pedalling glacially up all those bloody huge hills and well, we probably don’t want to think about what’s to come.
In our last instalment we were just about to set off to circumnavigate Volcan Chimborazo, an inactive strato-volcano; the highest mountain in Ecuador (6263m) and also the highest in the world! Really! it’s true! According to the Ecuadorians, and probably a geologist or two, Chimborazo sits on the equatorial bulge which makes its summit the furtherest point on the Earth’s surface from the Earth’s centre and therefore, the highest mountain in the world. So there!
After leaving Latacunga, we made it 40km down the road to Ambato where we had to abandon the cycling due to us both feeling a bit off. After a day slothing in an hotel room (we call it recovering), the road from Ambato at 2500m, wound gently up through a gorge to 4000m into more landscape reminiscent of the Scottish highlands where we ran out of steam and semi-wild camped in a field after asking the farmer and giving him a $2 donation.
The next morning saw Chimborazo revealed through the clouds as we cycled onwards and upwards towards it and its Vicuna peppered national park.
Eventually we reached the official park entrance at 4350m. Whilst we were recovering and debating whether or not to try and cycle up the 8km dirt road to the Refugio and its campsite at 4880m, a local offered to take us and the bikes up ( for a small fee of course ) in the back of his truck. Feeling a bit apprehensive about the idea of camping at almost 5000m ( hey, what’s the worst that can happen? Death by hypothermia!?), we accepted his offer.
The following morning we cycled ( freewheeled 🙂 ) 50km downhill to Riobamba where we caught a bus to Loja in the South of Ecuador in order to save time and press on to Peru as our time left is dwindling.
From Loja we cycled to Vilcabamba, a weird little town colloquially known as Gringocabamba due to its population of white, 40 to 60 something Americans. Fortunately, just outside the town is Rumi Wilco ( https://www.rumiwilco.com ) a private 40ha eco-lodge and nature reserve that forms a part of the buffer zone of one of the world’s most biodiverse areas (Podocarpus National Park).
We spent a couple of days here camped in the forest by the river; walking the trails and generally enjoying its peace and tranquility.
The plan was to cycle the 150km from Vilcabamba to the quiet, non-tout, non-scammer occupied Peruvian border at La Balza however, after 20km and 850m of climbing, Steve ran out of steam so we decided to take a bus to Zumba, 117km up the road. We were glad we did. The road was extremely lumpy as in climbs of 800m+ followed by drops of the same and repeated many, many times! It might have taken us 4 days or more to do it as it’s unpaved for a large section.
After a night spent at the insect infested Hotel Emperador, we invested $20 in a private taxi to the remote border crossing shacks at La Balza rather than wait until mid afternoon for the $2.50 “Ranchero” bus/truck Ranchero bus.
On a roll with non cycling transport we then took a taxi the 47km to San Ignacio where we’re ensconced in the best hotel in town ($20 a night for a very nice double room! ) prior to heading off on the bikes tomorrow to Chachapoyas region and the monumental ruins of Kuelap, a C6th walled city that is apparently almost as good as Machu Picchu but without the hordes of tourists due to its location well off the beaten track.
Ecuador has been interesting and fascinating but our 4 weeks there didn’t seem long enough to give us a proper feel for the country or its peoples but such are the constraints of travelling with time limits.
We only have a similar amount of time here in Peru so we may come away from here feeling a bit dissatisfied too! We’ll have to see.
Our first impressions of Peru have been good. Friendly, laid back people. It definitely appears to be much cheaper than Ecuador. We had a successful introduction to Peruvian beer but our first Peruvian meal was a bit of a failure! We thought the explanation of the meal might have been “Carne seco” dry meat, and what we got was literally dry meat – strips of meat, tougher than biltong served with a pile of fried banana strips – probably more akin to old boot leather. Notes taken to avoid in future!
Hasta luego for now!
