When we cycled into Ecuador coming from Colombia we were a bit in a hurry because Maud would arrive in Quito within a week. We had still some kilometers to ride and some hills to challenge. The week was enough for us to explore the emptiness of the northern mountains with some 4000m plus passes.
From Quito Maud joined us backpacking around Ecuador for three weeks.
Stories and pics about this part of our Ecuador experience here
After Maud left we cruised east into the Amazon region, the part of Ecuador we didn’t see when Maud was here. Coming from Quito, after a misty and rainy mountain pass we drove down into the warm and humid Amazon and cruised south.
The last part to the border with Peru was the hardest part. We often pushed our bikes up the steep hills instead of cycling.
Have fun reading again:

After in line for 5 hours we finaly got our passports stamped. In the meanwhile we made new friends.

At Arie's place. A Dutch camping owner close to Quito. Here we can leave our bikes for the time Maud is with us. At this picture we figger out what we need for our 3 week backpacking holiday with Maud.
Wanne read the stories and see the pictures what happened in the meanwhile, follow this >link<

On the bikes again coming from Quito after our break with Maud for a few weeks.
"Nature is our home, don't destroy it!"

But soon it goes up and gets cooler and the headwinds stronger.
From 2500m climbing to 4100m in 30km.

Free water from the buildings roof at the top of the Quacanayos mountain pass to make some hot tea and coffee from.

At the end of the day we find a nice and dry spot for camping.
This is close to the Cotopaxi mountain range which we hiked with Maud a few weeks ago.

...but most of the time we pick nice spots with good views.
This iOverlander spot was at the back of a gasstation looking over the Amazon at 1600m. Not that high but the Amazon is close to zero.
At the gas station we can take a shower after five days seeing none.

Down to the jungle. Here we are close to Puyo and the road becomes even more empty. We hardly see any soul.

Up and up we go... In the afternoon we have loads of rain. We cycle from small village to small village. Clearly you can see the people over here didn't see any school in their younger years and live very simple.

That night we found an empty house along the road. There was no one there so we squat the place for one night 😀

Culture along the road. This is an indigenous man with a cooked mans head in his hand. They did this to their enemies in the old days.

We made it a short cycling day today when we saw this beautiful spot along a river. Also a good sunny afternoon for giving our clammy stuff some fresh air.

A hot day of cycling... one of the very few. In the Amazon region we had loads of rain since the rainy season didn't end yet. Now it's 35+ again. Since the highway bend off to Cuenca the road became even more empty as it was already. The road goes steep up and down al the time. Very exhausting.

By the end of the day we pass a village where the cook pigs meat + sugarcane + potatoes in a big bowl.

The next morning we wake up in the blistering rain. We pack up our wet tent and wait a while for better weather.

More mud slides.
It's Sunday today and every little shop we pass is closed. We can't find any food till we find one which is open but only sells chips and cookies. Guess what we ate?

Next day in Limon; Happy birthday to me 🙂
In the evening we find the only restaurant in town which is open. It has a lot on the menu but today they only have Pizza. And we don't have any choice, they only have one flavour of Pizza. Luckily it's a good one.

Fixing day: Insects ate small holes in our tent floor over the last year. We patched them with duck tape.
Also Arjan's iPhone was broken and we found a shop in town who could fix it.
And... we had our clothes washed in a laundry, the first time since four months ago in Mexico. We smell like flowers again. But for how long? 😀

After a few nights in Loja going south and after climbing from 1600m to 2500m going down to Vilcabamba. The town with the oldest people in the world.

Walking down fast we nearly walked into this fellows huge web. At the last moment we saw the big spider, just 10cm in front of our face.

Time to leave again. We planned to stay two nights at the Ecolodge but we ended up staying four nights in this little paradise.

Village centre of Vilcabamba. Some people drive Alaska to Ushuaia by van, some cycle it. Some are more lazy then others 😉

The roads in Ecuador are the steepest so far on our trip. The last few kilometers we pushed our bikes up instead of cycling. We just made 36km in a full day of cycling today.

On iOverlander we found a spot to camp with the description:
Plateau with amazing Views | Wild Camping;
Big plateau gravel lot, probably an old road works site. A 4x4 might make it up the little bank from the road, easy access with bicycle or motorbike. Further back is a nice bay surrounded by trees on three sides for shelter if the wind blows and it is well hidden from the road the further back you go.
Amazing 360 degree view!

Packing up the tent the next morning.
The wind was hard so Kim lay on the tent and Arjan rolled it up in the meantime.

Actually the road should go straight here, but a shortcut to the right has been made because of the huge landslide beside the waterfall.

In a far far distance you can see the small village we had our lunch two hours ago. In between an 1000m deep gap.

Filling up gasoline for our MSR petrol stove. The workers always look confused when we cycle into a gas station and ask for gasoline.

Fortunately we are not the only crazy cyclists up here. Colleagues have added 19k to the border with Peru.

Road signs in the f***ing middle of nowhere. La Balsa is the border town so just 11KM to go to Peru.

At this border crossing there was also a small restaurant where we had a cold drink. No one passed the border during the hour we were there.
This was just all for now. Thanks for reading again.
We're cycling Peru at the moment, an 3500km long, high Andes route. It will probably take a while before we enter Bolivia and post again on our website but we will update our Instagram account as much as possible.
Leave a Reply