Ecuador has Everything

Luc and Humberto

Returning to Ecuador feels like returning to a place where you lived happily when you were much younger. We are reuniting with old friends, rediscovering the things we loved about this place and remembering what it felt like to be so wide-eyed and uninitiated into this type of travel.  I hope we are still wide-eyed, but we are more seasoned and hopefully a little wiser.

So much water everywhere

Rain in the rainforest

Without having planned to, we have traveled about the same route coming home as we did driving south, with a detour through a bit more of the southern selva. This time, the distances seem shorter, the green hills more striking after the open emptiness of the desert.  Each place seems to greet us and to remind us why we love it here.

Natural Sculpture

Ecuador has everything:  the Galapagos, of course (which we will have to save for another visit), beaches, mountains, jungle and a tiny bit of the desert.  People are friendly, but not overwhelmingly outgoing.  They are happy to talk with us if we initiate conversation, but generally don't do so uninvited.  Like us, they love this country, and are happy to talk about it with others who love it too.

Banana farming

Little ones

In Cuenca, we stayed again with our friends Humberto and Maria, who run a lovely campground full of (100+) chickens and gardens.  It is a farmyard oasis in the middle of the city.  We had a lovely dinner with them and friend Mauricio and his family.  Back in October, Mauricio and Humberto helped Luc modify the flatbed on the back of the van that holds the trailer (and now a number of other sundry things like tires, gas cans, hoses, etc).  Now they call Luc Soldier man, because the project involved lots of soldering... and somehow we got to soldier from there.

Humberto with his mother - 100 years old

Mauricio and Shanti practice martial arts

On Humberto's suggestion, we continued north on the innermost of the three N-S roads - along the mountain corridor that runs parallel to the Amazon basin.  The southern part of this corridor is not at all developed for tourism.  The roads are beautiful and wild, though you need to watch out for rockslides, especially in rainy weather (which, of course, is what we had). And sadly, for dead animals, including cows, in the road.  If you travel the back roads, a guide is recommended, as many of the villages do not welcome spectators.

In Archidona, we parked again in the courtyard of the Hotel Regina, where Rodrigo and Margarita, who we had met last time, were luckily visiting. They run an jungle Eco-lodge called PlayaSelva (www.playselva.net)  on the Luchan river, just 8k outside of Archidona.  We paid a visit at the lodge and spent a lovely afternoon with them.  If you are ever in Ecuador, Archidona is just 3 hours from Quito.  Their lodge is simple and beautiful.  You hike in from the upper road, along a lovely path paved with mossy paving stones and carved steps.  An area along the river has been cleared and is open to the cabanas and the outdoor areas.  I could have spent a week there!  Almost every afternoon, kayakers with the River People (we did a rafting trip with them the last time we came through) come by on their way to their pull out.  (And when we were there, not a single mosquito!)

First view of the lodge

PlayaSelva

PlayaSelva

PlayaSelva

PlayaSelva

PlayaSelva

With Margarita and Rodrigo

We spent a night outside of Quito, at Arie's cabins.  Arie, a Dutchman, who also has a bicycle touring business, took us into Tumbaco where we had dinner at his wife's restaurant and a walk around its beautiful plaza.  We also had several visits from his cat.

with Arie's son and wife at El Charro

We are now at a beautiful campground outside of Ibarra, called Sommerwind, run by a German couple.  It is on a beautiful lake, and has cabanas as well as camping for tents and overlanders.  There are other bikers here too.  As we had heard from friends who spent Christmas here, it is a great place to meet other overlanders and relax.  Tonight:  group barbecue!!

Sommerwind

As we have been traveling in Ecuador, our minds have been partly elsewhere.  We have been trying to work out how, and when, we would be coming home.  After we arrived in Colombia last August, a long-promised ferry between Panama and Colombia (around the Darien gap, which is impassable overland) finally started running.  It was a huge cruise ship, with 3 dining rooms, room for 100+ cars and many people.  We had planned to take it across the gap on our way home.  We talked to people who rode the first one, as well as several who were, it seems, on the second to last.  Apparently it was usually close to empty, and there was some sort of docking issue that meant that when a vehicle disembarked, it drove first onto a floating dock, then onto the land.  Big trucks and large campers didn't like this so much. The website now says that it has "closed for the season", though there are not seasons in this part of the world.  The ferry itself, with its Italian crew, has returned to Italy.

So we will have to ship the vehicles again, either around the gap or directly back to the US.  This has given me the opportunity to admit out loud how much I would like to have some time at home before the busy school year starts up again.  I am ready to stay in one place for a while, spend time in the garden, the kitchen, reconnect with friends and family, ride my bike and spend 5 minutes a day, (rather than 5 hours) behind the wheel of a car.

Luc, on the other hand, plans to continue.  He is committed to seeing the family and friends on the west coast we had planned to visit.  At some point he will decide whether to continue on to Alaska before coming home.  Even without having ridden Central America, it would be quite an adventure to have been on his motorcycle through so much of the road between Ushuaia and Alaska.  Hopefully he will find other motards to ride with, if not, he will certainly meet some on the way.

So, it seems like the most likely will be to return from Colombia to Florida - where the cost is most reasonable and the airfare from Cartagena is cheap.

Before we go, we are looking forward to another visit with Ana Maria Casasfranca, my exchange sister, and her family in Cali, as well as out friends in Cartagena.

Like the Galapagos, we will save Central America for another trip.  Luc already has the perfect bike picked out...