The Southern Highlands

Since my last post I have travelled some 600 km and I am now in  the southern Highlands of Ecuador. This section has been far more enjoyable than the northern roads as the wide angry roads have devolved into nice peaceful winding routes where I am passed a handful of times an hour rather than sucking in nothing but the fumes of lazy road users all day long. The only upside to such heavy traffic is that now and then a really slow heavily loaded old truck will pass me slow enough that I can grab on and cheat my way up for a km or 2 before my arm dies. Once a police motorbike stopped for a chat and then offered to pull me a ways up a hill. 

Nariz de diablo

A few hundred kilometres south of Latacunga I stopped in a beautiful town nestled on one the side of a deep valley named Alausi.  The 50km before arriving in this town was beautiful riding, the landscape changed as I entered high mountain pastures and rolling hills leading to about 20km of gentle downhill cruising through a valley until reaching a final 10km of thrilling descent where I beat my speed record and hit 83.7km an hour. Alausi is home to a section of train track named the Nariz de diablo (nose of the devil) It claims to be one of the most difficult sections of railway engineering ever constructed, claiming the most lives in its creation. The route switchbacks down the side of a mountain to the valley floor and is quite an impressive feat.

After taking this short train ride in the morning I set out for an afternoons riding to see how far I could get. The whole afternoon I was almost entirely engulfed in cloud, it gave a mysterious eerie feeling to the day as I would have no clue what I was in for, would I be climbing for another 10km or am I about to reach a summit. Small villages would appear out of nowhere 10 feet in front of me, the weather made everything seem strange. at one point I heard some voices and out of nowhere in seemingly in the middle of nowhere I passed a group of men stood stoically around the scene of a cockfight. I somehow enjoyed this eeriness as it heightened the sense that I was on an adventure. A motorcycle tourist passed me, in my field of vision for no more than 20 metres, he waved and then he was gone, at the top of the hill he appeared again waiting with a cup of hot coffee,  a guy from London travelling around the world on his motorbike, a strange encounter meeting someone so close to home in the middle of a cloud in the Andes. I rode another few hours and unable to find any flat land to camp on I asked at a house I passed if I could camp in their garden, an old man obliged and though a man of few words I think he was happy to host me.

Sergio my stoic host

The next day started without a cloud in the sky and I finally could see where I had been cycling the previous day, it was quite beautiful but the clouds soon rolled in again and I was once more engulfed in nothingness. It seemed I was climbing all morning and was exhausted when I finally arrived at a town I set in the small central park and watched the awkward flirting of a group of boys and a group of girls sat on opposite sides of the park, it was quite entertaining and brought me back to memories of being a young teenager and the naïve awkwardness of everything which continued to entertain me once back on the road. Going down a steep hill I hit a huge earthquake default goint at quite a pace by some miracle I stayed on the bike as my back wheel and all my baggage was flung into the air. I heard a crack and my rack had snapped in two places, I walked to a suitable place and attempted to hitch a ride to Cuenca. Before long a truck stopped for me heading to Cuenca, a young family going to visit grandparents in the city, I spend the next hour answering a torrent of questions about my trip and receiving kicks in the back from kids fighting pretty much on top of me but saying that I was incredibly grateful for the ride and they were lovely people.

Snap

I stayed several days in Cuenca in order to fix the rack and to make some other adjustments to my bike adding some more bottle cages on the front forks in preparation for the desert in Peru, I arrived Saturday evening and nothing would be open until Monday so I used the opportunity to take a few Spanish lessons and chill out a few days. I found a cheap room in a cheap hotel with an average of only 2 police call outs per day, they came to sort out domestic disturbances or to deal with guests sniffing glue and stumbling around making a mess or similar incidents, it was an amusing place to stay I could practice my Spanish in the mornings by trying to decipher the angry screams of a heated argument occurring in the next room. I found a microbrewery in town and enjoyed the first real beer I have encountered in Ecuador, meeting with some locals I enjoyed the night life and made some new friends.

From Cuenca to Loja it was a 3 day trip The road changed to a concrete narrow 2 lane affair with very little traffic, I enjoyed the ride immensely though going from valley floor to mountain pass several times each day it was exhausting and I could only hack 5 or 6 hours riding per day before seeking out a place to camp, which was not too hard a task as the landscape was less dramatic and I had my pick of fields and little sections of forest to sneak off the road into and get some rest. 

camp in the woods

 From Loja to Vilcabamba which is where I am writing from was a short day only 40km so I made the most of my room and stayed until 11 enjoying a lay in and a decent breakfast. It was a beautiful ride with some very short steep climbs and some very long winding descents on empty roads in a lush green valley with stunning views. Vilcabamba is a stop on the gringo trail and is well known for being the valley of longevity, with cases of people living up to 140 years old. Nowadays it just seems like another popular tourist town with lots of swanky resorts and vegan restaurants. There is a large population of American and European expats and retirees living here presumably in the hope of discovering the secret to a longer life. I have found a spot to pitch my tent and will stay here for a few days exploring the valley before attempting the isolated road to the Peruvian border which is mainly a dirt track its quite possible I will be pushing my bike through thick mud for a while but I am told the views are well worth the risk.