Well at last I find my self South of the Equator. I braced myself to see if beer washes the other direction down my throat, and other such myths, but I was met with the reality that not much changes, not even the weather, and in fact the con-man with the portable sink showing gullible tourists his impression of the Coriolis effect wasn't even there to make a vain attempt to squeeze a dollar from me by showing me his swilling action.
Anyhow, nothing lost really it was a good photo call straddling some red line on a windy Ecuadorian mountain. Other than the exciting experience of crossing into the South the day also offered more good times. We met up with a fellow rider Guido, who lived in Quito. Me and Kev spent an excellent few days staying round his flat in the center of town. It was pure luxury, and a good bit of R and R time. Guido is a great guy and I had a really good time, we got to see all the parts of the city but more importantly got to drink too much local moonshine and feel rather hungover the next day.
Also Guido persuaded me to make the very good call of changing the now infamously lethal tyre I had been riding on since Panama. This tyre had almost sent me off several mountains thanks to its $38 dollar lively nature, so after finding what seems to be a pretty good tyre we have now reached tyre number 6 of the trip! Really tough riding on the road with the new one (big knobbly one) but I am seriously glad I changed it after riding the recent jungle roads.
So back to the point. Quito... So there I was after one too many shots of moonshine thinking I had a very long lasting hang over when finally it dawns on me, I am suffering the worst fate of any male on this planet, and the worst thing to happen to me so far! I have MAN FLU! Seriously though everyone I think I am out of the woods now, lots of snott and sneezing but I feel I'm through the worst of it. All that said, still feel sorry for me and donate your hard earned cash as you never know it may return with a vengeance! (lemsip doesn't come cheap these days you know!)
So I struggle on like any true Brit to see the sites of Quito. To be honest I didn't expect much, but how wrong I was, the old town was very nice indeed, some top churches to look at and to top it off loads and loads of ridiculous protests to laugh about. In the space of about 1 hour we got stuck in about 4 different protests, the best one being the local taxi drivers who were protesting at how unfair it was that legislation was about to be introduced saying that they too had to obey the rules of the road, and if they didn't they would get points on their license. I mean, honestly how unfair, the poor old cabbies in Quito may no longer be able to tare down the pavement plowing down women and children just to get to the local coffee vendor without getting points. Life is SO unfair!
At one stage we found ourself wondering around hundreds of disgruntled and of course drunk taxi drivers ranting and raving, and it occurred to me that a protest of angry cabbies may not be the best place to be hanging out. My suspicions were confirmed by the fact that there were mucho Poilicia armed with tear gas guns. (I tried to get a pic with one, but he informed me he was too busy getting ready to gas a few protesters. Shame)
So after sight seeing and protester dodging some important bike stuff needed to be done. Guido took us to various places where we could get some stuff done, which led me to my new tyre.
So finally after 3 days we left Guidos place to head for a road, well actually track the headed towards a very rarely used border with Peru. The first days riding we went down into the Amazon basin to have a look at a bit of primary rain forest. The road was really bumpy, and in fact bad enough to make the exhaust of the KLR totally fall off! Lucky for me, I am one of many wise KLR owners, who of course rarely need any spare nuts and bolts, however choose to carry some just in case! So with a bit of bashing and some new bolts I was back on the move in no time.
The Rain forest... Well, it did exactly what it says on the tin. It was very foresty and yes you have guessed it, it rained a lot! We ended up riding some dirt roads into the jungle and ended up camping under some locals hut on stilts. He was cool about having us there but that was where it ended, he was seriously hard work to talk to. He just sat there staring at us till it got too dark to see. He then decided it a good idea to play the local Ecuadorian equivalent of Chris Moyals on the radio loud at about 3am. This ended a very wet and bad nights sleep, but began what has been a very funny, and very very tough few days.
The KLR is able to go faster on dirt due to it being lighter and of course far superior to a BMW! So Kev being out of sight behind me was normal. At one stage I pulled over and waited...and waited, and waited. This is when I though òh dear´and turned around. 1 mile back I found him riding towards me slowly. After stopping I discovered he had come off on a corner, but thankfully was OK. A few bumps and bruises and a slightly damaged bike lacking indicator and slightly re-styled panniers, but apart from that all was ok. On a lighter note however on the way back I noticed the hairiest pig I have ever seen. So much so I thought it was a sheep. Quite incredible.
After riding out of the jungle we headed to Banos, a town with of course baths in it. These baths are supposed to be heated by sulphurous springs thus offering a relaxing treat to a weary biker, however I soon became suspicious. We arrived at the baths where there was a distinct lack of eggy sulphur smells, the norm one would think for this kind of place. Instead I was met with a yellowy tinged water full of hordes of screaming children. Now this is the theory, if you mix a large swimming pool with hundreds of kids, well we all know what children do in swimming pools don't we! The fact the water was yellowish and luke warm supported my theory strongly. After a long a thorough shower to wash off the large quantities of child urine, eeer I mean sulphurous water, I came to the conclusion that Banos was certainly not the place to be having a Banos!
The next main town we headed to was Loja. This is the last town to speak of for a long old way towards the Peruvian border. Kev finally got his tyres changed so there was no excuse anymore for falling off in mud, and off we went.
The road started well but soon turned to dirt. The first hundred mile or so was great riding, the dirt wasn't too loose nor too wet so I was having a great time. It also pains me to be emotional but the scenery was great, really picturesque, huge mountains, lots of tasteful greenery and other crowd pleasers such as waterfalls etc. This part of Ecuador really is amazing, and well worth a visit.
After riding though several small villages I had a hunger for more food, the diet out here is terrible to say the least. There is dry tasteless rice with everything, normally complimented by the standard udder soup and claw of chicken. It really does beg the question what the hell happens to the rest of the chicken! Not once have I actually found enough meat on the oil saturated hunk of foul to offer enough sustenance for even the smallest of creatures, let alone enough to feed an overly lardy Westerner such as myself.
So there I was with my strength waining and the road getting steadily worse (thats the excuse anyhow)and I managed to miss a corner in the dirt and end up stuck in a mud bank at the edge of the road. I must point out now I didn't fall off and of course I managed to direct the bike into the soft mud to prevent damage when I knew all was going wrong (yeah right!) After 5 mins or so of a local laughing at me whilst going past in his car, Kev and I finally pulled the bike out. Eventually we reached the Ecuadorian side of the Peru/Ecuador Frontier.
Dehydrated and with the energy from the chicken claw and cow gland fast running out we arrived at the Aduana for the Ecuadorian side of the border. This is required to export the bikes out of the country. This is where things started to get quite funny... This border is tiny with almost no one there, we showed up and was met by the customs officer, this guy was a legend, to start off with he was blind drunk, which made things very humorous indeed. He insisted we get photocopies of our import docs even though he didn't need them, and then wouldn't sign me out until I drunk not 1 or 2 or in fact 3, but 4 pints of beer with him, continuously saluting Ecuador and insulting Peru. By this stage he was like a small child filled with too much red food colouring, but in his case it was too much Ecuadorian Pilsner. He was charging all over the place giggling like a small girl.The next step for him was the photo shoot with him and friends (see pics) and after he rushed off to get more beer I though it time to go or we would be stuck in no-mans land between the borders, so a few more glasses of beer and off we went with the obvious tear welling up in the booze filled custom mans eye.(I'm not really too surprised as he probably sees 1 person every year!)
Finally we crossed a bridge into Peru, we left the bikes by the barrier and went to do the standard paperwork. This side of the border was slightly busier, by this I mean there were around 4 drunks sitting there clearly more interested in watching a pack of horney dogs trying to hump each other than going home to see their families. After a nod of appreciation at what good stamina the fat brown dog had, and how the skinny white one was clearly getting nothing on that occasion I think they decided I was no threat to their evenings entertainment and carried on their biology lesson unfased.
I got the passport (which means I but not the bike was in) stamped without trouble. When the woman accused Kev of having a fake passport I knew this wasn't going to go too smoothly. Finally we persuaded her that a country called Ireland did actually exist and she stamped him in as well. Then off we head to the Aduana to get the bikes imported.
We were met by some old chap who clearly had trouble writing, and in fact reading as well. This I knew would create problems. (In fact now thinking about it, I'm not sure he even knew where he was, or in fact who he was for that matter.) Finally with the help of his younger assistant and around two and a half hours he had completed about 10 mins worth of paperwork. It was now dark and really really heavy rain was on the way. It was then that Kev and I noticed the numbers assigned to our import docs. It turns out that Kev was number 23, and I was number 24. This is the number of vehicles that have passed though this border since the start of January 2007! No wonder it took him so, so dam long. Finally, we thought the end was close, he was just searching for somewhere to put our photocopied docs he had written out, when lowe and behold he found the right documents he should have used... Back to the beginning.
After a few more hours finally we were there. The confused customs man actually turned out to be quite nice and after a show of quivering lips and worried looking faces he took pity on us and let us stay in the customs office overnight. A great relief as the road ahead was as bad as the one behind us if not worse and the rain was now torrential. So we settled in to his customs office in a spare pair of bunk beds he had. All would have been great but I had to put up with a tarantula in the bathroom and worse still a pair of his skidded Y-fronts hanging in front of my bed. Most off-putting when you have that image in your head before you go to sleep.
The next day we set off after more chickens foot but with the addition of an egg this time too (I still wonder where the rest of the chicken is, I cant imagine just a pair of legs walking around laying eggs, there must be more too it, surely!)
So we ride the worst road yet, and in fact I think it took the prize for the worst I have ridden the whole trip. The rain had turned the road into deep mud, with the addition of fresh landslides and large holes. It really was awful, and not fun when your tired and have had nightmares of old Y-fronts all night. After about 60 miles of this, and just maybe going too fast for my own good I managed yet another crash. This time it rather hurt as I thought it a good idea not to move my leg out of the way as a big heavy motorbike comes crashing down. After a fair bit of pain from the pannier now squashing my leg, a hefty kick shifted the bike enough to get my leg out. No damage to the bike, and of course we all know thats the important thing don't we! I on the other hand was chafing somewhat, and have a rather sore leg. To top if off I now have a suspicious limp like I am supporting a wooden leg! A few days and Ill be good as new though.
Finally after reaching some decent enough tarmac we were in Civilization and proper Peru. We have just ridden a road feeling very tired to the next town, a big waterfall, in fact the 3rd biggest in the world. I have just got back from walking to it. It was most impressive and to top it off we were the only people there. After I clambered under the fall (738 meters or so) and Kev almost stepped on two very angry snakes who were having it off on the path (note I saved him from certain snake death!) I concluded that it was defo worth the long walk there. Tomorrow we head off to do the 400 plus miles of back tracks and mountain passes to Cuzco. All being well I should get there in a week.
Due to this momentous of trips in the past week I have really struggled to choose which photo to add as amusing picture of the week. Should it be the exhaust falling off the bike, or should it be the rotting carcass of old pig they tried to feed us one lunch time, or maybe it should be the insanely hairy pig/sheep thing I saw? Well they are all amusing in my eyes, and worthy of being loaded up, which of course I have done, however, I know what will amuse most of my friends and I'm sure everyone else, and because of this I feel the amusing picture of the week by popular demand should be me and the bike stuck in a wall of mud after missing a corner. So there you go. Enjoy!
Note: Connection SO SLOW I can only load up 5 pics. Please wait for a week or maybe less until I find a place where I can load the rest. See pics in new album.
Stats
chain number 3! only 3000 miles on last one, how crap. you buy cheap, you buy twice!
tyre number 6 put on in Quito.
Road kill count, same as before, but I tried my best to get a monkey. (quick buggers dont you know)
EPIC RIDE!!!! Unreal and can't wait to see more pictures!!! Don't forget to see the Nazca lines before climbing to Cuzco. There is a tower where you can see three of them before you reach the city of Nazca.
Next week I'm buying two brand new Yamaha DT 175 cc to rent out here in Nicaragua and start my rental/tour motorcycle biz :)
Ride safe and keep up the amazing ride!!!
SalCar
PS say hi to Kev!!
Posted by: salcar | November 14, 2007 at 04:37 AM