keeps getting better

Ecuador is a playground in a lost world…especially on motorcycle. terrain goes from edges of amazon jungle and high misty mountains to canyonland all in one day. astounding different lanscapes in a small country.

overlooking amazon

amazon road old and new

amazon kidsamazon restaurant and of course...found tarzan in the amazon
Also astounding was my night and day contrast…
Slept in a hotel that seemed great. About 2am I woke up itching? Last time that happened was in belize but I stayed in bed thinking I was dreaming it and woke up with a couple hundred bug bites…..not again….yes again. this time I got up and jumped into the shower hoping not to get as many bites. After, I went to my duffle bag for some new briefs. Put them on…hmmm they seem damp, did I not dry off enough? No. im dry. Must have got rain in the bag. Grabbed another pair and they were drenched….whats the deal? Reached in to find all my clothes soaked and some broken glass. remembered I bought a bottle of this colombian fermented alcohol fruit drink that i was saving for my bday.…it tastes great but smells like rotten apple. bottle smashed in the bag from the rough ride. Everything coverd in glass and reeks
Dirty underwear back to bed. I fell asleep hoping it will all fix itself.
...it didn’t but day made up for it ….. failed ecuador engineering..its one thing to cross a river on backroads in the water alone.....entirely different with traffic going both ways

lots of pitch black tiny tunnels in the mountains

From banos we decided to take an off the beaten track trail to Cuenca. Off the beaten translated to a riding on a road that was in the process of being built, several stream/river crossings, collapsed bridges, brand new tarmack, cut out road slicing thru Amazonian villiages where the natives speak cachua and sinuos mountain roads thru the andes….high low over and across. riding a road as it was being built was a first

On the way ate nasty roadside fried pig-foot/grissle lunch. Never again

ended the day in colonial town, Cuenca... Peru border tommorrow...dont want to leave

nov. 9th 2008 (blog not posting right)

Banos, Ecuador… outdoor andventure dreamland. everything from whitewater rafting, waterfall canyoning, jungle tours, 4x4, bungee, volcano hikes, bridge swinging, hot springs, spas etc. etc and cheap beer. nestled in the andes, banos is a town at the bottom of a very active volcano that blew about 5 years ago wiping out alot and evacuating half the population. now turned into vacationland.

perfect day to live over and over again for the first time. Started out by jumping of a huge bridge. Finished with a couple beers on the side of volcano with clouds drifting by at eye level. In between... amazing offroad riding in picture book like scenery.

never had the desire to bungee jump but they have whats called a ¨bridge swing¨ here. essentially it is a free fall without the springback. Sounded fun. Ok lets do it. go to enormous bridge over a canyon river. Super windy. Scared shiteless. no way. Watched jeff go and then two german girls tandem. My turn…..no way. Ok. No way. Ok. Put on the harness. Cant do it. Climb over the bridge rail. I cant do it. Shite. Look down, don’t look down dumbass. Sit on bridge rail, cant do it, no. head and instincts are throwing a crazy party. Cant do it, sorry. Starting to climb back over rail. stopped sat on rail for a second. “don’t think just do it” never mind the thinking part, its going against every instinct….closed my eyes for a second opened them and darted into a dive……. Holy shite. Felt like I blacked out for a second or something. Holy shite. Total freefall.. river below quickly approaching… slight yank feeling into a quick swing motion. Senses back, Im alive. Are my pants stained? Im alive. That was awesome. Lowered down….. blood bursting with adrenaline…. Let me touch the earth. Wow, holy shite, what an amazing feeling! Ear to ear.
Glowing alive experience but not rushing out to do it again....

Quito

Was in quito for a few days, modern city about 3million population. Noticeable difference about all the cities in latin america are that the population really means 'in the city'. Unlike the states where its 3million city including surrounding suburbs etc. here the cities are much more crowded with the same population as such they feel bigger.

Even in the capital city the prices in Ecuador are the lowest of trip so far. Hung out mostly in one are of town that reminded me of uptown, Minneapolis. Found finn mccools, great irish bar and seemingly spent most of my time there.

lots of travellers in quito, mostly europas and aussies, few from the states which was nice to talk regular speed/ slang with. First since the two guys I rode with in belize. Met a rider there from Canada also on a ktm, jeff, there are three of us for the time being.

tree just outside of hotel....looked like a giant pineapple

The Equator

went to the equator and "the middle of the world". apparently this location is the exact middle of the world because where the equator crosses other contintents their relation to the sun is skewed or something like that. so hung out there for a bit and listened to a info guide there talk understanding very little. next time i come herre, make sure i am fluent in spanish first......
i brought 2 compasses with me on this trip. curious i took them both out and put them on the equater one was spot on. the other blew up and flew to the moon! no, but it did freeze up and now points exact opposite direction. if i knew anything about magnetic physics i'd know why, but i dont.

split cahones..left one in the northern hemisphere, right one in the southern hemisphere..........on the line...a monument

nothern highlands of ecuador

Feels like proper Andes now and can feel the altitiude difference…. though acclumating quickly…..short breath, thin clean air, cold, sweaters, llamas, indigenous people, volcanoes, dust blown towns, etc….
Hung out in Otavalo for a day on the way to Quito. Cool little culturally uncompromised town filled with indideous people…made me feel like an even more foreingner. center square area was great for people watching and trying as much as possible to do incognito photo taking. The approach was to pretend to take pictures of monuments, each other (am riding with simon right now) or bikes as to not offend anyone…… hilarious effort as we may as well had neon lit billboards strapped to our shoulders saying “gringo taking pictures of traditionally dressed people here… again”….got a few good shots but missed a million. Most of the men have long ponytails and wear ponchos, dark felt hats and rope sandals…women in long dresses, shawls and often carrying huge santa clause like bags or babies in a shawl like back pack. All of the people are extremely friendly…proud and distinctly humble…

settle down monument dude.....

otavala is a huge market town apparently one of the largest in SA

in cenntral america i was a foot taller than everyone, here im 2