The Americas 2013

We knew that we had a 450km run to Quito and although the GPS said 5 hours because of twisty mountainous roads, locals were talking about anything from 8 to 16 hours so we left by 7h30 unsure of what to expect other than that rain was probably something of a certainty…and it was!!

The ride drops and climbs in altitude as one winds there way through the mountains. Everything above 2400m was in thick pea soup like fog and rain on twisty mountain roads meaning 60km/h was the order of much of the day. Everything below that was dry and fast although constituted only about 200km of the 450km we had to do so all in it turned into an 8 hour day including fuel, rest and a lunch stop at a quaint little place with “interesting” choices on its menu!!

Although the countryside is beautiful, this is some of the ominous weather we were riding into on the day..

The temperature was also very cold and the last 100km into Quito was a torrential downpour, (the kind where the cars on the highway all have their hazards going because its pelting down so hard) so our arrival into Quito was another soaked and frustrating affair particularly because the GPS software for inner cities in Ecuador is sketchy at best!

The menu at the place we stopped for lunch had some unique typical Ecuadorial dishes!! We didn’t have the ceviche!

We are spending the night at an awesome hotel called Plaza Grande right on the main square in the UNESCO registered historic centre of Quito which is super beautiful and is some reprieve after today’s ride! Dinner was in the hotel restaurant and we were both fast asleep by 10pm as we fly to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow morning for 3 nights.