In the afternoon I stopped by the SAEC clubhouse, where the DHL package from home was being sent, and it has arrived. It was a bit scary seeing how good a job the thieves did at forging my signature. There were charges at restaurants, jewelery stores, airline tickets, electronics stores, you name it. For the Visa card there was a form I had to sign and get notarized and mail back to the States. AmEx merely required I sign a form and fax it back. It took me the rest of the afternoon to run around getting those things taken care of and I got to the FedEx office only minutes before they closed at 6:30pm.
While at the clubhouse in the afternoon, I had run into another biker, Dave Johnson from Wisonsin. He was riding with a friend from Germany, both on Honda XL600s. They had come through Panama shortly after I had, had stopped at the Road Knights clubhouse, and seen the writeup I had left there about how I shipped my bike to Colombia. Dave said, they followed my suggestions to the letter and as if to prove the point, he produced a copy of the instructions I had left at the Road Knights clubhouse. I neveer did meet his German friend, but they had met on a previous motorcycle trip in either Europe or Asia, and had agreed to do this South America trip together in '97. We agreed to meet at 7pm for dinner at Dave's hotel.
I got there a bit late after fighting my way through Quito traffic. We had a couple beers while comparing notes of our trips so far. We had very similar routes, though they had come through Baja, and had spent time scuba diving in the Honduran Islands. They also were headed to Tierra Del Fuego, but planned to sell their bikes somewhere down south in Chile or Argentina. That's a definite advantage of taking a bike that you just bought for the trip and haven't put a lot of time and money into like I have with my G/S. The bike essentially becomes expendable. It's a different approach, and both have pros and cons. Later we walk down to a restaurant known for it's steaks.
It turns out that during winters Dave works as a truck driver in Campbell, California, which is two towns south of where I live in Sunnyvale. During the summers he works on the family dairy farm near Sheldon, Wisconsin. We exchange addresses and agree to get in touch when we're back in California. Dave and his Germain friend will be finishing their trip in March or April, so Dave can return to Wisconsin for the summer farming season. I won't be back in California until who knows, September or October.
They've done the trip without the Libreta and haven't had any problems so far. We each order a large T-bone steak, which is exquisitly (sp?) tender and very delicious. Several more beers wash it down. At the end of the evening Dave insists on buying my dinner and beers. I thank him and promise to reciprocate back in California next winter. They are leaving Quito tomorrow, while I have another day or 2 here, so we say goodbye knowing the next time we see each other will be back in California.
I take a short day trip out to Mitad del Mundo, which is situated astride the equator 25 km due north of Quito. It is a huge monument with a rectangular base on top of which is a huge globe. Inside is a small museum which describes the various cultures and ethnic groups found in the different regions of Ecuador, from the black, almost Caribe, cultures along the coast, to the Indians of the high Andes. An observation deck on top gave a view of the surrounding area and in the distance you could see the Quito suburbs. A red line was painted along the long walkway leading up to the monument, the equator, and I got a picture of me straddling it. I had hoped to get a picture of the bike in front of some such monument but it was not possible to ride the bike into that area. Surrounding the monument were numerous crafts shops but I pretty much ignored these.
Thinking about it more last night and this morning I decided it would be kind of dumb to leave Quito without seeing more of the Old City. I decided to stay at a hotel in the Old City tonight and spend the day looking at the sites in the vicinity. I find that the times during this trip when I end up staying in someones home, that it is easy to get sort of lazy, and not see as much of the area as I would if I was staying in a hotel.
Also I've spent a fair amount of time the last couple of days catching up on email. It's both a blessing and a curse. I hadn't been able to check my email since San Jose Costa Rica on Thanksgiving Day, amost exactly 2 months ago, and when I connected on Sunday had more than 50 messages awaiting me. I also finally got to sent out messages I had composed back in San Jose and along the route since, but had been unable to send. Reading and replying to those messages takes more time than I care to admit, especially when done on this small palmtop. Then dialing in again to send that batch of replies takes more time (not to mention money), and of course there are then replies to my email I sent out the last time I connected. It's actually a convergent process. After several iterations of connecting/sending/receiving the number of new messages received each iteration finally approaches 4-5. But until you get to that point it's time consuming. The curses of modern telecommunications. Ted Simon didn't have this problem on his round-the-world motorcycle trip.
I was surprised to find that Alex had breakfast waiting for me when I got downstairs. After breakfast and some photos of Alex and his bicycles, I left at around 9:15. There were supposed to be protest marches to Plaza Independencia which is where the Presedencial Palace is located, so I wasn't sure if my planned route was open or not. But at this hour of the morning the protesters must have been sleeping yet and I had no problem finding my targetted hotel, Hotel Plaza del Teatro Internacional, on Guayaquil near Esmeraldas. The room, with private bath (hot water) and TV was S35000 (US$10) and it had a parking garage for the bike. It was 5 blocks from Plaza Independencia, and by 10:30 I was checked in and heading out to explore the Old City.
I first walked north to Parque La Alameda which has a large monument to Simon Bolivar, and the oldest astronomical observatory in South America, opened in 1864. There are statues of the members of the French Academie des Sciences 1736-1744 expedition, who surveyed Ecuador and made the equatorial measurements which gave rise to the metric system of weights and measures. Normally the observatory is only open to the public on Saturdays but there was a man outside the front door and I asked if it was open and he said he would give me a tour. Senor Marco Alvaro had worked for 40 years at the observatory as a Meteorologist and the site was still an active meterological station, taking readings 3 times a day. Marco took me up to the top of the tower and showed me the old telescope, French made in 1864. The structural steel for the observatory was German made. Marco spoke in broken English (about as good as my Spanish) in order to practice and I spoke in Spanish. We each corrected each other when needed and helped the other out with words we couldn't remember or didn't know. He showed how the huge telescope (for that time) was perfectly balanced and was easily rotated into position for observations. I took a photo of him standing out front of the observatory.
As I walked back south towards Plaza Independencia, a large group of students marched by on Avenida 10 de Augosto towards the plaza, carrying large banners and placards, and chanting slogans which I couldn't understand. At the plaza there were already crowds gathered listening to speeches made by speakers standing around the central statue. Others were gathered on the steps of the Cathedral on the south side of the plaza and large banners were hung from it's walls. The police presence was overwelming with Nacional Policia, decked out in grey and black camaflage uniforms and wearing riot helmets and carrying riot shielda and battons. stationed at the corners of the plaza. But everything was peaceful, and throughout the entire day I didn't see one case of violence.
I sat down on a bench to watch the goings on and read my guidebook. Two older ladies, who I later found out were sisters, sat down beside me and warned me to watch my camara. One spoke better English than my Spanish; she had lived in the States for almost 20 years and was a Spanish teacher both in the States and here in Quito which is where she was born. She had travelled extensively throughout Europe and Australia and so admired ny spirit of travel and adventure, but said she would never travel alone in Latin America - too dangerous. She also pointed out that when she first left Quito for the States, "Quito was almost entirely white", but now she said, motioning around the plaza there were Indians, blacks, and mestizos. There was a bit of superiority in her voice as she made this observation.
She said the whole country was in turmoil, boiling over the political situation with President Abdala Buscaram, in office for only 5 months. She said he was loco (crazy), which is the sentiment I've heard from numerous Ecuadorians, and that there was talk Congress was going to remove him from office on grounds of mental incapacity. She said he had been elected by the uneducated illiterates, to whom he had made wild promises of reform and economic assistence. This too I had heard from other Ecuadorians. Now, five months later, with nothing forthcoming from the new administration, the people were getting angry. This was compounded by the idiosyncracies of the new presedent; who refused to live in the Presedential Palace because he supposedly thought it was haunted by the dead sister of the previous president; who had recently been named president of an Ecuadorian soccer team and which he claimed was his duty to serve as; he had been quoted as saying that Ecuadorian beaches were better than the French Riviara, and now the French press referred to him as "The Clown. Other scandals plagued his administration: his Education Minister resigned yesterday after it was discovered her PhD disertation was plagerized from someone elses disertation 4 years earlier. And the Predident blamed everyone from the current members of Congress to the ex-Presidents of the country for conspiring against him and keeping him from carrying out his programs. Two days before, Alex's brother-in-law, who was a lawyer in some government agency, said there were rumors that Buscaram was going to declare emergency powers and disolve Congress, much as Fujimora had done in Peru several years ago. Another thing Buscaram had done which really angered the majority of the population was he had visited Peru shortly after taking office. Now Ecuador and Peru have been in a state of conflict since 1942 when a large chunk of Ecuador's Amazonian Basin lands were granted to Peru in a settlement forced on Ecuador by Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the US, as settlement of a border dispute with Peru the previous year. At any rate, Buscaram was the first Ecuadorian President since then to visit Peru and during that visit, he used the term "perdon" (which means apology) in a anner which made it look like Ecuador was apologizing to Peru, something which outrages most of the Ecuadorian population, which still support Ecuador's claim to the disputed lands. Ecuadorian maps still show the disputed lands as being part of Ecuador.
We talked for a while longer, and then they left, both wishing me "felize viajes" and "bueno suerte".
An apparent unfortunate side effect of the protests were that the Presedential Palace and the Cathedral were closed to the public so I could not see the inside of either. Riot Police barracaded the entrance to the Palace.
Quito has 86 churches and I walked around the Old City visiting a handful of the more ornate and well-known churches. Most had large plazas in front which were crowded with people enjoying the good weather. I strolled along Calle La Ronda in the La Ronda disatrict, one of the oldest streets in Quito and lined with balconied houses. High up on a hill along Calle Venezuela was the huge, "new", gothic Basilica, still being worked on, 71 years after work began in 1926. It has many gargoyles, stained glass windows and huge bas relief bronze doors.
Late in the afternoon as I was returning to my hotel, more marchers paraded by on their way to the Plaza. I saw more than 20 groups march by, each carrying banners and placards, many denouncing President Bucaram. These groups were not just students, but included workers, womens groups, campesinos from outlying villages, and social organizations.
A country-wide general strike is being called for next Wednesday February 5, and while the organizers are stressing and calling for nonviolent protests, there are warnings that violence could break out in places. I'm planning to be out of the country by then, hopefully crossing the border into Peru a day or two before then.
Ecuadorians seem to love water balloons. Many young boys are seen walking around the streets and plazas carrying them, and their favorite targets seem to be young women or girls. Surprisingly, when someone gets pelted, there's rarely an angry reaction, but rather, following the initial shriek at the unexpected bath, a laugh or shrug, accompanied by the laughter of nearby friends. But it's not just young boys doing the throwing, as During the parade of marchers, I saw older men also tossing balloons. A favorite ploy is to toss the balloons down on passerbys from second floor balconies and windows. Only once did I see an angry reaction and that was in Plaza San Francisco where a young shoeshine boy had pelted a young Indian girl and the girls mother, dressed in her native outfit, gave chase to the young boy with a stick. Of course the boy was too fast for the old lady abd escaped. Fortunately I avoided any direct water balloon hits but did get splashed a couple of times.
On the way out of Quito I rode up to Cerro Panecillo, a hill which closes off the valley at the south end of Quito. It rises 183m above the city and has a huge statue of the Virgen of Quito at it's summit. Stairs take you part way up the inside of the statue and from the observation deck you get a great view of Quito stretching away to the north. On a clear day you'd get a good view of the encircling cones of the volcanoes and other mountains but, while it was clear over Quito, the surrounding mountains were cloaked in clouds.
South of Quito, the PanAm highway goes through spectacular mountain scenery, and a series of volcanic peaks go by on each side. First on the right is Volcan Illiniza, then Cotopaxi (5897m) on the left, and then Chimborazo (6310m) on the right. Unfortunately all are completely cloaked in clouds and only with Cotopaxi am I able to see any snow on the lower extremes of the mountain, poking out from below the clouds. The road proceeds south, for the most part at elevations of more than 10000 ft, twice rising to more than 11500 ft and several times dropping below 9000 ft. The surrounding mountainsides are heavily cultivated, and there are also areas of pinr forest and apple orchards and onion fields. At one point I skirt some rain clouds and get a few sprinkles but the road turns and the skies ahead are clear and I decide not to stop to put on my Aerostich pants. While going around a traffic circle in Ambato, a town known for it's February flower festival, my peripheral vision picks up a rather large projectile coming towards my head from the right side. I instinctively duck and successfully avoid a large water balloon hurled by some boys at the side of the road. As I approach Riobamba the surrounding hills become a bit drier and not so lush.
I arrive in Riobambo (2750m) at about 3:45 and decide to stop for the day. It is a relatively small city (95000 people) and has a lot of old stone buildings situated on broad streets of cobblestone and paving stones. I get a room at Residencia Nuca Huasi on Avenida 10 de Agosto for S12 (US$3.50) with private bath. I grab a hamburger at a small restaurant across the street and then walk around the city. The city itself is situated on a flat plateau, but at the north end the Park 21 de Abril is located on top a small hill and offers a nice view of the city and the surrounding mountains. In the distance to the east are some jagged snow covered peaks. Cotopaxi, to the north is still shrouded in clouds. Dark storm clouds threaten to the south, east and west, but Riobambi is bathed in sunlight. There are 4 other nice parks or plazas in the downtoen area, with central fountains or statues and many palm trees. Stately old buildings and churches face the plazas. A nice city to stroll around in, unlike the hustle and bustle of Quito.
In my involvement with trying to figure out how to get out of town I almost failed to notice Volcan Chimborazo (6310m) rising majestically in all it's glory to the northwest. completely free of it's usual cloaking clouds. I rode back to the Parque 21 de Abril, on the small hill, where I had walked yesterday afternoon and captured it on film. Volcan Tungurahua (5023m) to the northeast, with the church in the foreground, was also in full view. Spectacular sites.
Last night reading my guide book and map, I discovered that two very spectacular roads were within a days ride, though it meant having to loop back north to Ambato, which I had passed through yesterday. However the potential of these roads was such that the decision to do them was an easy one. For me riding a good road through spectacular scenery is as much or more a highlight of the trip as is going through museums, looking at old churches, and seeing local Indiginous costumes and customs.
The first road headed west off the Pan-American Highway about 6 miles west of Riobamba (9022 ft) where the PanAmerican turned south again. The first 10 miles to the village of San Juan were paved, but I knew the remaining 20 miles to Guaranda were dirt and I stopped at two gas stations to ask about the condition of the road. I need not have worried as it was dirt/gravel road in excellant condition allowing me to spend more time enjoying the spectacular scenery and mountain vistas. Mountainsides were patchwork quilts of fields and pastures with the occasional rich black earth of a freshly tilled field visable here and there. From San Juan the road climbed to a 13200 ft pass where native Indian women were tending their flocks of sheep along the roadside, and small yellow, blue, and red wildflowers grew in the grassy fields. From the pass, the road dropped down to the town of Guarandi (8900 ft) where it intersected a paved road running from Ambato to the northeast to the lowland city of Babahoyo to the southwest. The 56 mile stretch from Guaranda northeast to Ambato is Ecuador's highest paved road. I turned right, heading northeast.
Guaranda is built on 7 hills and the road initially snaked it's way up one of these hillsides before regaining the countryside. The first 20 miles or so were newly paved and a delight to ride as the road climbed and twisted upwards through the mountains. I again faced the dilemna of whether to treat the road as a motorcycle road and pick up the pace, or back off and enjoy the views. For the most part I did the latter with an occasional blast through a particularly twisty section. As the road neared the pass the new paving ended and their were several stretches of dirt and a couple areas under construction with heavy equipment. The road climbed to more than 13800 ft and the pass was intermittantly obscurred by heavy clouds blowing up one side and across the road. It was a bleak environment and the surrounding terrain was short grass, small scrubby shrubs, and a lichen-like gtound covering. The temperature at noon was 52F. During breaks in the clouds I could see a flock of sheep down the hillside tended by a man in traditional clothing. The road meandered along a ridge and once away from the pass proper the clouds cleared a bit and offered great views of snowcovered Volcans Chimborazo, closest though the summit was still obscurred by clouds, and Carihuairazo (5020m), further in the distance but unobscurred. A little further on, along a small roadside stream a small herd of about 10 llamas was grazing. They watched me curiously as I got off the bike and got a photo with Chimborazo as a backdrop. Getting back on the bike, the sun was out but I had a couple minutes of pea-size hail as I continued to the northeast. At this altitude it was mostly grass-covered hills, used presumably for grazing, and I saw the occasional herds of sheep, llamas, and some cattle. There were no villages to speak of, and only an occasional straw-roofed hut with some cultivated fields in the vicinity.
As the road continued northeast, dropping in elevation, I passed more small villages, and the number of dwellings in the surrounding countryside increased as well, and the hillsides became once again heavily cultivated with a patchwork of fields - yellows, dark greens, light greens, and dark black earth.
I stopped for lunch in Ambato at a restaurant and had a typical "almuerzo del dia" which starts with a bowl of soup, in this case a broth with rice, potatoes, and pork, and then a large plate with rice, salad, papas fritas, and a large piece of beef. Papaya juice was included in the S3500 (US$1) price.
In the restaurant was another example of a site which you commonly see throughout most of the Latin-American countries I've been through so far. On the wall was a large picture of Jesus with some words proclaiming him as guide and savior. Next to it on the wall was a large poster with a buxom nude woman in a seductive pose. Such posters and pictures are common in restaurants and establishments throughout Latin-America, even those seemingly owned and/or run by women, often accompanied by religous plaques or pictures. Maybe it's to cater to the machismo of the male clientele, I don't know. But in the US you don't generally find the two themes, religion and the human body and sexuality, interposed to the same degree you do in Latin-America, probably due to the Puritanical influence on religion in the US. In addition, in the US, such posters would probably result in a slew of suits for sexual harrasment in the workplace.
From Ambato I headed southeast towards Banos, a small town of about 13000 people known for its hot baths. The road offered great views of snow-capped Volcan tungurahua (5023m) and the surrounding valleys and hillsides. Banos lies at "only" 5900 feet and as the road dropped it became noticably warmer and entering Banos, which is situated along the Rio Pastaza, between the towering mountains on both sides of the river, a warm wind was blowing up the river valley. Because of it's agreeable year-round climate and the hot baths of which there are 3 in town and another 2 km out of town, Banos is sort of a resort town, both for Ecuadorians and foreigners alike.
I got a room at the Residencia Santa Clara for S15000 (US$4.25) with bath and nice hot water. My room was in a new addition of cabanas and was very nice. I could have had a room with shared bath in the original house for S8000 but I decided to splurge; plus, with the cabana, my bike was parked right outside my door. By the time I got my stuff off the bike and my riding gear off it was 4:15 so I heades for the Piscina de la Virgin hot baths two blocks away for a quick soak before they closed at 5pm. These baths are situated at the foot of a towering cliff with a waterfall plunging down the side. It has a large swimming-pool-size hot pool, several smaller hot pools, and some cold pools as well. The water was a brownish tint from the mineral content, but is changed daily. In fact, when I arrived they were already in the process of draining the pools for the day, and I had to tell them I didn't mind paying for a half-hour soak in a draining hot pool. There were only two small boys and two couples in the pool when I arrived. Sitting there soaking in the hot water you looked up at the waterfall plunging down the cliffside, and the towering mountains on both sides. Because of the large size of the pool the water drained out very slowly. I noticed dark storm clouds moving in over the mountains. About 5pm, just as the water was dropping below shoulder-level while sitting, there was a loud flash and thunderclap very closeby and we all decided it was probably best to get out of the water.
Within minutes it was pouring down rain. I dried off while waiting out the rain and one of thw women asked if they could use my towell since they had forgot theirs. Kimberly was a college student from Arizona and doing sort of a work-study program in Ecuador. She had come down originally with some friends to climb some of the volcanoes, and when they had left had come to Banos to study Spanish and do some research on womens issues for a course back in Arizona. She had been here in Banos for almost a month. Her boyfriend, Ivan, was from Italy, and spoke very little English so we conversed for the most part in Spanish, lapsing into English when we were stumped in Spanish. We hung out for about a half an hour until the rain let up enough to walk back to my hotel.
It rained off and on during the evening, and during one break I left my room to go for dinner. A half a block away I remembered I had left my passport in my room. Now normally I leave it in my room, but the guidebooks and several people I had talked with said it was not uncommon for the police to make passport checks in the local bars, and that if you didn't have your passport with you you would spend the night in jail. So I returned to my room for my passport and just as I was leaving it began pouring again, so I donned my rain jacket and headed out for dinner.
Each country has slightly different terms and vocabulary for meals. Here in Ecuador the fixed menu evening meal is called "merienda". It usually includes a large bowl of soup, a drink of some sort, usually juice, and a large plate of rice, salad, vegetables, and meat. Price is usually S3000 to S5000 (US$0.75 - 1.50).
I found a small restaurant crowded with Ecuadoeians and ordered the merienda. It was good and filling as usual, but the S6000 price reflected the touristy nature of the town. After dinner I walked down to the plaza and market area and checked out a couple of bars, but nothing much was happening, and not being one to drink by myself I walked back to the hotel.
I decided last night to spend another night here in Banos, and do a day trip to Puyo, a city of about 15000 situated 30 miles southeast of Banos on the edge of the Amazonian Basin jungle. The road from Banos to Puyo, dirt for most of the distance, passes numerous waterfalls as it follows the Rio Pastaza river valley, and offers views of the Amazon Basin stretching away in front of you to the horizon. I wasn't planning to spend any more time than this brief day trip in the Amazonian part of Ecuador, since I planned to come back north through Brazil on my way home.
After sleeping in I spent the rest of the morning looking around Banos which was now crowded with Ecuadorian tourists. Yhe plaza in front of the church was lined with stalls selling food, crafts, and other junk targetted at the tourists. The main street between the two town plazas had wide sidewalks geared for pedestrians and was lined with restaurants and stores selling handicrafts, and other things for tourists. A local speciality is taffy and one could watch it being made in the doorways of shops. Long ropes of taffy would be flung over a hook on the door frame and then stretched out 4-6 feet, then flung back over the hook and the process repeated until the right consistency was reached. Several places were making multi-colored taffy by twisting several ropes together. Along the street several bands were setting up their equipment for street performances.
I left on the bike around 11:30 and got a couple of miles out of town when I remembered I had left my passport in my room. There was a military checkpoint just prior to arriving in Puyo where travellers to the jungle area had to register their passports. So I turned around and went back for it. Once on my way again, I got only a couple of miles past the point I had turned around, just after passing through a tunnel, when the road was blocked by a gate manned by military personnel. The road was closed because of roadwork to repair damage from a slide the previous week. Tne soldier informed me that it was closed 6 days of the week for road work and then opened the seventh for traffic. It would be open Monday.
Here the river was far below and the valley walls very steep and rocky. Away in the distance you could see the road hugging the valley walls and the area of road construction. I had a coke at a small roadside stand. I was going to order lunch until I noticed that their water source was a small stream plunging down the cliff behind the stand. It probably was OK since the military personnel and passing truck drivers were eating there, but I decided to pass.
Once again there was evidence of Ecuadorians fondness for water. The road in front of the stand was dirt and a boy was constantly watering it down with a hose to keep the dust from passing traffic down. Pickup trucks full of passengers would pass and they would get sprayed with the hose and everyone would just laugh and wring the water from their hair and clothes.
On my way back just after passing back through the tunnel I stopped at the Agoyan falls. While they were spectacular, from what I read they were only a fraction of their former glory, thanks to a large hydroelectric dam on the Pastaza River upstream between here and Banos.
A mile or so outside of Banos I turned off onto a small road leading to the small village of Runtun situated high on the mountain towering over Banos. The road was cobblestoned much of the way interspersed with stretched of dirt. Just shy of the village itself was a resort hotel, Hosteria Luna Runtun, and I turned off the road there. There was a spectacular view from the roadside down to Banos stretched out far below. As I was putting my camera away, a car drives by, stops, and backs up till it is even with the bike. The guy driving, leans out the window and asks if I know David Morillo. Well I didn't sctually know David, but I knew of him. David was the brother of Alex Morillo, whose house I had stayed at in Quito. The guy in the car worked with David for American Airlines in Quito, and David had mentioned that an Americn on a large motorcycle had been in Quito and was heading south. The guy in the car said when he saw my bike, he figured I had to be that guy. Small world.
Beyond the resort, the main road continued to climb, passing through the village, which though it had a concrete school building and church, had no other streets and only a few other small buildings. I continued on for a ways, at one point having to fend off two Dobermans and a German Shepherd which ran out from a house I was passing. It was an uphill stretch so I could just gas it and pretty much left them behind. I knew they'd be waiting for me when I returned.
As I approached a man tending four cows by the side of the road he motioned for me to stop. He was carrying a 3 foot machette. I stopped and Manuel introduced himself and we talked for 10-15 minutes. I can almost guarantee that one of the questions I'll be asked in such situations is how much the bike costs. Now I actually don't know how much money I put into this bike to get it ready for the trip. I purposely didn't add everything up. But I can safely say it's more than US$8000. However, in such situations I usually give the price I paid for it used about 3 years ago, wbich was about US$3500. Sometimes, depending on the situation, I'll even give a lower price than that. I also always add that the bike is 15 years old, which is true, just so that the figure doesn't seem too ridiculous. The theory is that if you give too high a price, and you happen to be in the area for a couple days, someone might get an idea. On the other hand, if the price is too low, they may offer to buy it from you. I've had that happen several times. I just reply that I need the bike to finish my trip. As I prepare to leave, Manuel and I shake hands, and he says he will remember me. I say likewise, wave goodbye and leave. I decide to head back down since the clouds have moved in, obscuring any view of Volcan Tungurahua which I had hoped to see.
Back at Banos, I try the other hot baths next door to the one I went to last night, but am disappointed. They are not nearly as warm as yesterday. Back at my hotel I find that a German couple, Paul and Natalie, on a Suzuki DLR 650 had arrived. Actually they only met in Quito where she has been working for some months, and he has been staying for about a month. This trip to Banos is just a weekend trip for both of them. He has been travelling for about 10 months, after buying the bike in Los Angeles. He brought Darr cases with him from Germany. He is repairing a flat rear tire which he got just as he arrived in Banos. We compare notes and he mentions the road from Manaus, Brazil, north to Venezuela is closed, the first I had heard that. I plan to take that route after going up the Amazon by boat from Belem to Manaus, although that is some time in the future. I'll have to keep grilling fellow travellers to try to get more information.
For dinner I had an Ecuadorian speciality, cuy, which is guinnea pig. It was grilled over coals and tasted a bit like rabbit or pheasant. Quite tasty. I didn't buy a whole one which was about a foot long and still had the feet and head, with the little eyes scrunched shut, still attached. But the leg which I was served still had the foot, with its little claws clenched, and it made a nice handle to hold the leg with.