What happened…

Amanda writes: We were on our home stretch to Quito for two days and we were all in good spirits. As we left Ibarra the views were incredible and there was nothing but sweeping mountains and beautiful vistas. We were starting to see more of the traditional clothing of Ecuadorian women and noticed that most men had long hair pulled back in a pony tail. Shortly after leaving the bomberos after our second night we arrived at the equator; the middle of the planet. I was super excited about this and I consider it a major event. Not sure if Nici and Philip thought I was making something out of nothing, but I was stoked! I mean just over two years ago we were taking a picture at the Arctic Circle. We’ve come so far! Almost 20,000 kilometres and now we’re at the equator. I bought a bottle of champagne and was excited to celebrate our grand accomplishment. There were lots of photo opportunities at the equator and even a touristy paid monument that we gladly paid our fee and enjoyed a little history lesson on the surrounding area. We spent considerable time basking in our accomplishment and taking pictures. Andrew didn’t seem all that thrilled and I wonder if his spirit is a bit tired with travel. It’s difficult to get him to pose for a picture lately and virtually impossible to get him to smile. Fortunately Philip and Nici were there having an awesome time and being very creative with their pictures and that put a smile on his face.

After playing around at the equator we headed out for our final push to the Greater Quito area. Andrew didn’t seem overly impressed that we had taken so much time to enjoy the sights, but he just kept to himself. Then we started our adventure in trying to find the rail trails we had heard about. As we neared the city traffic picked up more so we were pretty eager for the trail head to start and maybe with our eagerness we left the road too early because the first part was pretty gnarly. Or maybe it was the shit head dog that bit Nici on the road that made us want to get the heck out of the populated area. Fortunately it didn’t really break the skin but it’s always scary when that happens. Philip was a stellar husband and made sure she was okay after giving her a big hug and a shoulder to cry on. I think it’s good for Andrew and I to hang around with a couple who are so in tune with each other and respect each other. I admire their obvious love and friendship.

So after we headed off road it was actually really fun. Even with the wrong turn I had a great time. It was nice to get away from traffic and we knew we were close because we could see the city; it’s massive! We arrived at the casa de cicistas just as the sun was setting and were welcomed with open arms. Our host was wonderful. He’s been doing this for something crazy like 20 years and he doesn’t seem tired of it. When we were there, he had over 10 cyclists! Everyone had a different story and many were from Latin American countries. It was wonderful to be part of a group of people that clearly felt like a community.

Today’s Photographs