What happened…

Amanda writes: On August 5 we had a full travel day. We walked to the bus station, took a bus to the ferry and then another bus to the airport. Then we were off to Quito not before a stopover in Guayaquil. Then after arriving at the airport in Quito it was back on a bus to our casa de cyclistas. Our host was amazing and was able to keep our bicycles and our gear so that was wonderful. Then we thought we might try and hop on a bus that night and get to Quito right away but we learned you actually need to make a reservation. We didn’t want to unpack our tent again so we paid to stay in a room at the casa and it was nice to have the option. The next day Andrew had to take a bus into town to book our ticket for the overnight bus. Later that day we took a taxi to the bus station.

The bus station in Quito is crazy busy! People jam so much shit on the buses and their bags are huge! They make our bags look like nothing. In spite of the big bags we still got gringoed for pricing for our bags and bikes. It was such a piss off because of the price. We’ve become accustomed to being asked to pay even though again we asked if there would be a charge when we bought the tickets, but the price for the bikes/bags was the same as the price for the bus ticket. This time it infuriated us both, Andrew more than me. When we arrived in Quito the next day the bus driver and his team wouldn’t give us our bikes or bags until we paid it. It was a tough pill to swallow and I actually wrote to the bus company and the department of tourism for Ecuador (never heard anything) about it. Don’t get me wrong – I know that we should expect to pay something but when all the other local passengers are cramming bags larger than ours with no fee; what’s the deal?! At least in Mexico there is a list of possible charges with a limit. If the government or bus company could put in some regulation about how much one could charge that would make it easier. It’s days like these I must remember, we have our health and we should be happy with that.

So after our fight with the bus company and begrudgingly paying someone to get our shit back, we put out bikes together and set out in the rain to try and find some breakfast. We told our hosts in Vilcabamba that we had planned to arrive in the afternoon sometime so we had plenty of time. We found a nice cafe for breakfast and then picked up some groceries from a super market knowing that we would be in a small town. As we were leaving town we saw a bike path and started riding on that. We asked a local woman who confirmed the path does go all the way to Vilcabamba however she said it can be steep at times. Maybe if we had a better nights sleep we would have tried it, but on this day we went back to the road. We saw a bike race along the trail as we rode beside it on the highway. It looked like people on mountain bikes and they would wave occasionally. We ended up missing our turn to Vilcabamba and back tracked for about a kilometre and then rolled into town. It looked like a pretty cool place and it was where the mountain bike race ended. We got cheers from race spectators and decided to have fun with it and roll across the finish line on our fully loaded bikes. The commentator cheered us on and we had big smiles for everyone. It was great to have the symbolic finish line after cycling continuously for so many months and now to arrive at our resting place.

We called our hosts and told them we were in town. After a few phone calls back and forth we decided to ride up to their place rather than taking a taxi up. Holy shit! It’s a big hard climb to their house. Not at all what I was expecting and in hindsight I wish we had not done it. It’s only a couple of kilometres from town to their house, but they live at the top of the mountain; literally. Their house is amazing and looks like a castle and they greeted us with open arms. It was so great to meet them. We chatted for a little bit and then grabbed a few essential items and went to the Bed & Breakfast they had arranged for us. Tomorrow we’ll get the details of the animals, house and expectations. We made it and three days of travel.

Today’s Photographs