a self-supported bicycle tour through South America

With every intention of making our foray into the mountains as worthwhile as possible, we wanted to do as much as we could. With a recommendation from Julio and a little reading in the local guide book, we decided on making a trip to Llanganuko (glacier fed lake high up in the mountains) and the Huascaran National Park. A 6 hour round trip drive south of Huaraz would be rather unwelcome to the average bus weary traveller, but to those saddle sore amongst us, it was actually a pleasant way to see the surrounding countryside without having to bust a gut climbing hills on dirt tracks for 3 days! The climb up to the Park was spectacular. We passed through classic mountain villages with views over the countryside to rival coffee table books. Our taxi driver didn’t speak any English but was very helpful with his hand gestures and we were able to get a general idea of what he was showing us; the fields of potatoes, maize, corn and gladioli (interesting to note here that there is no Spanish equivalent) tirelessly attended to by ladies in bowler hats and brightly coloured woollen skirts. Read the rest of this entry »

26^th August - A day ride in the Cordillera Negra

Having decided to come to Huaraz, one of the activities on the agenda was mountain biking. Julio our mountain bike guide (www.chakinaniperu.com) discussed with us the possible cycle trails we could do, allowing for our concerns over the altitude had recommended a route across the Cordillera Negra.

So the morning came and we were feeling pretty good having acclimatised somewhat more easily this time compared to Quito, Ecuador. This was mainly thanks to that of Acetazolomide, a drug we bought there, but had saved for occasions like these where we’ve needed to adjust as quickly as possible.

Alturo was our guide for the day, the taxi driver was waiting outside Olazas our B&B and the bikes had been loaded. Jen and I jumped in the back and we set off. We drove through the centre of Huaraz and out the other side and began to climb the Cordillera Negra to the start of our cycle at 3800m, 800m above our B&B. Read the rest of this entry »

When one contemplates a bus ride in Northern Peru, the only image that comes to mind is of chickens and guinea pigs running around on the floor of a 1970’s bus running on bald tyres with a crazy driver swilling rum from the bottle as he takes all the corners at break neck speed. This was how we envisaged our bus trip to Huaraz. I am sure you can therefore imagine our apprehension of an overnight 8 hour journey into the mountains.

The day before we left, we had visited the Movil Tours to book our tickets and to make sure that our bikes would be allowed on. A response of “sure, no problems” was met and I was more than happy and satisfied in the knowledge that all would be ok. The Mountain Goat, on the other hand, was a little more suspect as to the certainty of our bikes actually getting on the bus. I am constantly reminding the Mountain Goat that positive thoughts are essential if the universe is to manifest what we want and bring it to us. This is often met with eye rolling.

Nevertheless, his suspicions were well grounded. When we rocked up at the station with bikes in tow we were told that because the morning bus to Huaraz had been cancelled there would be no room for our bikes and that they would have to go the following day. We politely explained to the cashier that the fact a bus was cancelled was not our problem and that perhaps they should offload some cargo to fit our bikes on! This suggestion was met with giggles and head shakes; not very promising.

We sat at the terminal for 3 hours anxiously waiting for the news that “yes” our bikes were on. Yay! My positives thoughts were working overtime. Thank you Mr Universe.

After settling into our luxury lie flat bed, yes you did read correctly. No chickens, no guinea pigs and no rum swilling crazy driver. We were ushered (very Flight Attendant like mind you) into our sleeper compartment on the lower level of the two story coach. We were also met with two very large, and very soft seats with red fleecy blankets; National Express, take notes. This is THE way to travel by coach. And this was only the beginning…..after takeoff, woops I mean after we set off (we were finding it hard to differentiate between Movil Tours and our Air New Zealand business class experience by this stage) we were served…wait for it….ham and cheese croissants, Oreo Cookies, and a glass of Inca Kola!
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21th - 24th August 07 Total: 984miles/1575km

Chiclayo > Pacasmayo (66miles/106km) > Trujillo(68miles/109km)

We awoke to that awful feeling of just wanting to stay in bed fast asleep and all warm, but we had to go. The traffic was starting to get busy, the sounds of horns tooting needlessly reminding me that one day, come the revolution, they’ll be another thing on the banned list.
Shortly after having left the hotel, Jen discovered that her bike computer wasn’t working. We stopped on the roadside and I took a look at the sensor, fiddled around a little, press a few buttons and voila, it did the trick. We moved on and not 10 seconds later Jen shouted, “It’s stopped again!” So we stopped on the roadside again and repeated the same exercise. After 3 or 4 times of this we were getting very frustrated, we couldn’t work out what was wrong with the damn thing, but at least we had mine, or so we thought! It was at this point that we discovered both were now not working. This was really weird; two completely independent bike computers had stopped for the same reason, nevertheless, we just had to push on.
As we started to get to the outskirts of Chiclayo, miraculously we managed to get mine to work, having done nothing different to the damn things that we hadn’t tried earlier. Happier that at least one of them was now working we put our heads down and tried to find that illusive groove.
It wasn’t long before the scenery turned from built-up urban sprawl, then to little small holdings with more greenery and colour, eventually culminating with the dreaded barren desert landscape with nothing to stop the strong southerly prevailing wind. In fact, nothing was great about this morning; we had both been ill for the last two days in Chiclayo hence why we stayed additional nights there. My gut was like a milk churn with the griping almost crippling at times, and it was cold, very cold.
The weather has increasingly turned cooler with every morning and the usual sun that breaks through around lunchtime to clear the grey claggy overcast skies has also got later and later. That said, when the sun does make its appearance we have mixed feelings about it. For we know that with sun, comes wind and the wind is also from the south and cripples our progress into the afternoon. Because of this, we both have tried to focus on getting as many kilometres as possible done in the morning before lunch which isn’t that easy for me as I seem to work better in the afternoons and Jen in the mornings.
As we continued our push into the day we came across a police checkpoint where the young officer was keen to find out more about us. He introduced himself and asked where we were going, what we did for jobs etc. His admiring possy gathered round and he produced a camera, with which he got one of his entourage to take a photo of us and him. He took great pleasure in shaking our hands and kissing Jen and wished us luck (I think).

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14th - 20th August 07 Total: 780miles/1248km

Piura > Naupe (65miles/104km) > Chiclayo (104miles/166km)

Jen: From Piura we anticipated a long flat deserted road smack bang through the middle of the Sechura Desert. After asking for directions as to how to get out of the city from the owner of the hotel, we found ourselves adding an extra 60km to our 2 day trip to Chiclayo by taking the alternate route that bypassed the desert road which apparently is full of thieves and very dangerous for women travellers (that’s me!).
Reluctant as we were to add more distance to our journey, we anticipated this route to be more cyclist friendly due to the many more apparent water stops along the way. With the added burden of an extra 60km, our (ok my) start was very slow. I find it hard to get going in the mornings. Motivation is very lacking especially after a dodgy croissant breakfast (no lasting energy in a croissant!) Slow starts are usually followed by words of irritation from the Mountain Goat, which are then followed by words of defence from the Slow Coach, and then what do you know? Full blown “you’re dumped, I’m going home” argument followed by more cycling but this time in opposite directions!
Needless to say, we kissed, made up and then started cycling in the same direction again. We had been expecting these types of “discussions”, and are pleasantly surprised to note that this is the first. Even after all the hills of Ecuador.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we are indeed completely fine following the recent earthquake that occurred in southern Peru.

To be honest we never even knew that it had happened and we’ve only just made it in from the Sechura Desert last night. Luckily we aren’t that fast on our heavily laden bikes and haven’t reached the southern parts where the earthquake was just yet!

We’ll be updating the blog again today or tomorrow with more updates as we’re on a rest day at the mo in Chiclayo.

Thanks by the way to all of you following our journey it’s really exciting and encouraging to know that so many of you are enjoying the updates…

10th - 14th August 07 Total: 611miles/978km

Tumbes > Acapulco (25miles/40km) > Talara (78miles/125km) > Sullana (56miles/90km) > Piura (24miles/38km)

Our alarm usually gets set for 0540hrs, but increasingly we are finding it more difficult to get out of bed. As the days go by, and we clock up more and more kilometres, our muscles are getting more and more tired. Hence our reluctance to get out of bed in the mornings.
Simon is in charge of all the gadgets, including the alarm clock, or the Timepiece (a very daggy looking, but nonetheless useful, watch that hangs off a carabineer and is usually attached to Simon’s belt cleat ala “German tourist wearing socks with his sandals style”. When the timepiece goes off in the morning, I lay very still pretending that I am asleep in the vain hope that Simon will fall back to sleep himself and allow us a little more of a lie in. Sometimes this works, but it also means fighting with mid morning traffic. Catch twenty-two. I don’t think, however, that I have ever required so much sleep or wanted so much sleep in my life! Who wants shift work coupled with constant jet lag and sleep aids when you can have 7 hours cycling a day to make you sleep?
After we drag ourselves out of bed, Simon starts on the porridge and I pack away all the sleeping gear. We eat, then get packed..this whole process usually takes us a good 2 hours. We are, needless to say, aiming to get this time down.
After our stint at Oro Verde, we started off to a rather damp morning with overcast skies and a fine, soaking drizzle. Not much motivation to get the get the legs moving let me tell you. The first part of the day is always so hard to get going. The muscle just above your knee is the first to ache (I think it is the lactic acid getting moving) and it takes a good 7 km before you get into your groove. It is at the 4 km mark though that you have to take your jacket off, and then the 6 km mark for a drink….as I said a very slow start for non-morning people.
We hit the coast for the first time at a place called Zorritos, another dodgy shanty town. We had hoped to make Mancora on this day, but got hungry at about 1130 and as Simon had been dreaming of a fabulous restaurant with and English speaker and a good steak, the Universe worked its magic … and VOILA! Playa Florida appeared. One never knows what you are going to get when you pull onto a dirt track but the palm trees looked promising. We had lunch – prawns – and decided to give ourselves a rest afternoon and then stay the night. All based on the best prawns we have ever tasted, with servings to rival any American chain restaurant.
The setting was idyllic, beach bungalows, white sand, cold beers, and even local ladies selling handmade bling. Simon added to his South American bling collection by buying a new set of beads for his neck. I rather fancied the fresh water pearls but thought they might attract too much attention from passing thieves. I am waiting for the markets in Cusco.
We had an afternoon siesta, got up and ate some more prawns washed down with a Magnum. This day was heaven. We have now been spoiled rotten. Yvette, the Peruvian lady who ran Playa Florida, had lived in Colorado and spoke great English. She was incredibly helpful with our onward journey the next day, and even arranged for her brother (who was on his way to visit her from Chiclayo) to stop on the road when he saw us to deliver some water and the yummiest Melting Moment type biscuits ever – energy!
After our unscheduled stop, we had a big day ahead of us. The headwind was quite strong, and the sun hot. The major obstacle for the day was the mountain we tackled before we reached El Alto. We have realised though that these coastal mountains always have a more immediate downhill (unlike the Andes) so we were rather chipper about climbing it. Simon, my little mountain goat, is a genius at these hills. He loves them and steams ahead of me…carrying twice as much kit, very impressive. I sometimes suspect though that he likes to be first so he gets a longer break waiting for me at the top!
As the sun started to get lower and we realised that we still had another 20 km to travel before Talara, we decided to camp on the side of the road. The conditions were close to perfect with flat terrain, and low lying shrubs to cover us from the road and traffic. We set up camp, cooked dinner and were in bed asleep by 2000hrs all after cycling 110 km! This truly is living.
With another century to cover the following day, we pushed off relatively early (bearing in mind the morning Timepiece ritual … don’t tell Simon about this one) and had a very slow start due to a very strong headwind. This lasted for most of the morning, and as we knew there were very few stops for water along the way, the day of cycling ahead just seemed like such a daunting and unwanted prospect. Our Road Angel was on our side though as the wind changed direction in the early afternoon and we pretty much coasted, wind assisted, into Sullana for the night. The prawns in Sullana are nothing to write home about….as I said spoiled for life now.
The following day, with only 39 km to cover (in preparation for two days of 100km each or more to cross the Sechura Desert) we find ourselves in Piura. It has been a treat having such a short day of cycling. The afternoon spent cleaning the bikes and doing some food shopping, with the locals from the restaurant wondering over to give Simon advice on thieves and travelling with a woman. All in Spanish mind you!
Not looking forward to the next two days, but the road will at least be flat. Headwinds can be crippling though. A day off perhaps for Chiclayo as we need to get some money changed. [Jen]

9th - 10th August 07 Total: 428 miles / 685km

Machala > Tumbes (68miles/109km)

Having spent yesterday lazing around the hotel, on another rest day, we contemplated what lay ahead of us again. It seems that we are constantly aware of the nightmare situation of trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. Although we have done ok so far, the thought just never seems to subside and is starting to overcome the sense of excitement especially when it’s late in the day and we’re tired. That said, today was somewhat different. Having left the hotel in Machala, we headed southeast to join back up with the main road south towards the Peruvian border. As usual the traffic was busy around 0900hrs and as always the drivers of whatever type of vehicle they are driving just cannot help but toot their horns at every given opportunity, at least this makes us more aware of their presence when coming up the rear We don’t mind this so much, but some of them seem to enjoy hitting the horn right alongside which can make you leap out the saddle at times.
The damn banana plantations slowly gave way to increasingly drier terrain which was a very welcome sight as it meant that the landscape was opening up giving me the chance to spot more than one place where a potential campsite could be made for the night. As the day went on the landscape got drier and drier, eventually resembling the arid regions of Colorado that I enjoyed so much.
Somewhere a few clicks to the south outside of Santa Rosa, we were cycling along one of the red roads on the map that paralleled the main blue one, this should’ve have meant that it was a pretty safe bet. However, true to form, the road was obviously in need of desperate repairs long ago, and now the decision had been made to build another road alongside. Unfortunately the road-works meant that we had to endure some horrible bumpy sections that really shook our bones.
Before long, Jen who was behind me was startled to find a car pull alongside, the man in the back seat wound down the window only to lean out with something in his hand. It didn’t take long to realise that it was only a camera and he was grinning from ear to ear whilst merrily clicking away like a Japanese tourist. They then shot forward in front of me and took some more snaps, I smiled and worked it as hard as I dared, I could hear him saying “work it baby, work it baby, the camera loves you” (but then I think this all the time) . They then pulled over to the side of the road beckoning us to stop; they jumped out and started rambling in Spanish to us. We kind of pieced together that they were working for some tourist type board agency and were so pleased to see us, interested in where we has come from, where we were going to and what nationality we were; oh, and how long we’d been married. It crossed my mind that instead of camels I might be in for some easy trekking through the Andes ahead if I could get perhaps two or three mules as a trade for Jen, but the discussion never ventured down that ally, come to think of it, it wasn’t really a discussion at all. We gave him a bigskylife business card, our names and email address so hopefully somewhere we’ll end up in a tourist magazine for Ecuador as an advert for eco-friendly tourism.
We continued on our way, the landscape getting drier all the time, my thoughts of finding a camping spot getting rosier and rosier all the time. We finally got to Arenillas which was shown to be a place where four roads crossed and turned out to be exactly that, just a roundabout with eight arms (this reminded us that you just cannot tell with the maps out here how busy or well equipped a town may be ).
We continued on to Huaquillas the border town between Ecuador and Peru. We still had to change some money from US dollars into Sol and really had no idea of the process or procedure we’d have to follow to get across the border. We were assured by the receptionist in Machala that we’d be able to change money there and so were reasonably happy.
Huaquillas actually turned out to be another busy market town resembling the chaotic street market stalls, shanty town outskirts with substantial town centre that typifies a place here. We found a lovely bakery, however they seem to only really deal in sweet pastries and a limited choice of bread. That said, the apple-like and caramel filled turnovers were pretty good although Jen found them sickly (can you believe!) I toyed with the idea of getting a custard tart for Nomad back home, however I thought the language too close to the female variety and could see the trouble I could end up in. God only knows, it’s difficult enough getting them to be animated about a possible transaction by pointing to what you want, let alone trying order something that they don’t have out on display (as Jen discovered last night trying to substitute the Tripe for Chicken in a dish on the dinner menu!)
We felt uneasy again in the town centre, which is often the case when it all gets a bit hectic going through these busy towns, I’m kind of getting fed up with the guy’s wolf-whistling at me all the time, surely it should be Jen getting all the grief, but I guess it’s understandable. (Might have something to do with his lycra shorts! – J)
We hurried though to the other side and onward a few clicks to the border. As we approached the border patrol, like many other police checkpoints we’d come across, we zoomed up the inside, I told Jen who was in front to keep a steady pace look ‘em in the eye and if they caused any trouble to gun-it, not spare any horses and take no prisoners, but alas it was all too easy. We cycled through slowly and no one said anything, the guards were busy with the line of people and cars at the control booths, to be honest it was a bit of a letdown, but a relief all the same.
Endless kilometre came and went with the scenery resembling again parts of the US or Australia in desert regions, but now with the added bonus of complete bogun type yute (pike-mofo utlity/SUV for those in the UK) vehicles resembling something out of a mad-max movie that I just had to laugh at . Also the added abundance of Took-tooks was a stark change too.
We were getting tired as we road into Tumbes late on in the day, Jen’s backside was starting to feel the 100km century (although not a true Brit century 100miles/160km) that she achieved again today for the second time. This was somewhat overshadowed by the realisation that we were once again back into the damn banana plantations and paddy fields again with few prospects of finding campsites having left Tumbles extremely hectic main street markets behind as fast we could.
I could sense that Jen was starting to envisage another late evening endurance sprint to the next hopeful place of camping, a lighthouse on the coast indicated on the map close to the main road; surely we’d find a beach or somewhere to stay there?
Luckily, Jen spotted “Campo Verde” on the outskirts of Tumbles, which as it turns out should be had up under the trade descriptions act, as it is anything but green and there isn’t much in the way of camping either. There were two women on the gate when we arrived and they obviously understood that we were after a campground. They basically gave us the option of either camping in a dust bowl type car-park for $15 for the night, or having one of the motel style rooms for the same amount. The rooms as it happens weren’t that awful all things considered (at least it was one price for the night and not sold by the hour) and the dust is pretty dusty out here in the desert, so we of course opted to stay in the motel room, negating the need to setup/pack down the tent, but on closer inspection we thought it necessary (as before) to sleep in our sleeping bags on top of the beds. This whole scenario was kind of confusing as one can imagine, camp or motel room – same price…..perhaps they need to be taught a little more business sense….
Still we’re safe and secure for another night, who knows what the future holds, I’m still very concerned about the bottom brackets of both bikes, as they seem to be on their way out. Jen’s was the one that started going first, I only hope that they make Lima where we can have spares flown in, as I don’t think we’ll be able to get any spares that come anywhere close to resembling a bottom bracket out here and we have a desert to cross first! Plus my saddle that low and behold started to wobble ever so slightly two days before we left the UK, can turn through 90 degrees now on its own. Only the second complaint I have after the bottom bracket, about the otherwise brilliant Koga bikes, not to mention the saddle sores!

Better photos are coming tonight from the last two days…[Simon]

7th - 9th August 07 Total: 360 miles / 576km

Guayaquil > Machala (95miles/152km)

We set off early from Guayaquil to avoid traffic, and to make the most of the incredibly flat route and lovely road conditions. Very muggy and humid, but loving the fact that we aren’t out of breath after 2 minutes of mountains! Hooray, decision well made.
This day was my first real enjoyable day of cycling and I can now see where Simon gets his buzz for it from. Making your way from place to place under your own steam is such an empowering thing to do, and I have so thoroughly loved watching the kilometers tick over, and the speed pick up. In the mountains we were averaging about 3km/h and only making 25km in four hours. Very disheartening.
But today the average was 22km/h, and after four hours of cycling we had done 70kms! Such a pleasure. We stopped for lunch at a bizarre roadside yoghurt stand that sold the most delicious smoothies you could imagine. We were literally in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by banana plantations and poverty rife shanty towns, and …. a yoghurt oasis smack bang in the middle! When the Pilsner truck pulled up delivering supplies, the driver took pity and gave us two beers “..for strength..” he said as he flexed his muscles at us. Nice. The locals we have met though have just been so incredibly friendly. All of the trucks and buses beep their horns as they wizz passed and give us the thumbs up. I am getting a little tired of this though as they are now seeming to beep their horns just on going passed, which nearly throws me off my bike!
We had only planned to make it a short days’ cycling but as our surroundings proved (once again) not to be camper friendly (note dead rats and 4 meter snake road kill! – and no, we weren’t collecting for dinner) we pushed onto the next town, and then the next, and then the next.
We both get a little nervous when the day reaches near end as we have been told on a number of occasions to watch out for thieves. It is better to already be settled in camp by this time of the day, but the vegetation just hasn’t allowed us to do so. So, we push on to the next dodgy shanty town. By this stage, most of the workers from the plantations are on their way home, either by bike or foot, carrying giant machetes swishing them over the grass as they go (just for fun we suspect). Not much fun for the oncoming cyclist doing 26km/h!
So we pushed onto the next town (again too dodgy) and then decided to push for Machala. After a full day totaling 152km (I repeat that - 152km – and am told, by you know who, that I haven’t reached my century [he in miles], but I retort that I was brought up in kilometer so milestones will be more often and he can’t take it away from me!) we arrived in Machala at about 1800hrs in search of suitable accommodation for the night with incredibly weary limbs and tired eyes. Exhausted and only after one full day of cycling!
I have not experienced much “saddle” time before this, and for those that are interested, it can be quite … uncomfortable shall I say? One has to adjust one’s self every few minutes which requires less pedaling, and when you have someone cycling right on your back wheel (to assist with headwind and drag etc) can prove to be incredibly precarious!
Sore bum aside, the stress at the moment for us stems from the fact that we don’t have any idea if there will be a suitable place to pitch a tent at the end of the day. And because of that, we have to push onto towns to find accommodation (that are proving less safe than the dodgy banana plantations!) We are hoping that this will change. This aspect hasn’t been much fun so far. But we are hopeful that this will change as we move further down the coast into Peru.
We were hoping , and were fairly confident through our research, that we would be able to avoid these major roads and hence the dodgy shanty towns (the poverty really is saddening) but the condition of the back roads is appalling and not really doable by bike, especially carrying the amount of gear we are. Ah the trauma of adventure travelling!
Thank you all for the great text messages and the comments on the blogs and in the guestbook. It means so much to us that you are following our journey with us. Although we do suspect that it is a good way to waste time at work…Gary J?????

Sorry for the boring pickies…x

4th - 7th August 07 Total: 487 miles / 779km

Quito > Tambopaxi (42miles/67km) > Ambato (90miles/144km) > Guayaquil (265miles/424km)

We set off from the Marriot a little nervous and apprehensive about the day ahead. I am prone to fall off my bike (due mostly to my lack of experience with clip pedals) and was more nervous about falling off in front of the Marriot than anything else really!

We had read the cycle out of Quito was pretty horrible. Mostly uphill and full of big trucks with lots of pollution. Reality set in. The pollution was suffocating, the traffic heavy, and the inlcine endless. I could feel the pollution in the back of my throat and then I developed a chesty cough. We hit a downhill stretch (joy) and the whole idea of cycling through South America seemed like a wonderful idea….until the next hill. The ascent contintued throughout the next few hours, and yes there were tears. Day one and already tears….from me that is. Simon was too busy telling me to cycle faster and to put my bike in a higher gear. I was not very happy, especially considering that it had been 7 and a half hours since breakfast. I am not good when I am hungry.

Lunchtime was spent outside the Military Academy. Cheese and tomato rolls. We thought the 12 volt sandwhich maker was a bit of a luxury and had decided against it. Seriously.

We were hoping to make Lasso the first night but as we were only doing about 7 miles an hour this looked very unlikely. So, we decided to take a detour to Cotapaxi National Park knowing that we would get a great campsite and would be relatively safe. The city seemed to go on forever and the towns joined in with eachother. Not good for camping. And as we were getting later in the day, a 20 km detour seemed very doable and rather appealing compared to the trucks and pollution of the Pan American Highway (Panam).

The warm fuzzy feeling we had about a lovely campsite in a National Park quickly faded when we discovered the condition of the road. The map showed it as a B road, but it transpired that this road was no more than a cobble stone track…all uphill at a 1 in 4 gradient! The hill was so steep, and the road so bumpy that we had to get off and walk our bikes. Not very easy when you are carrying 40 kilos of kit. Oddly enough a Mr Whippy van went up past us only to come back a while later laughing when we had only moved about 100 yards. Crazy Gringos!

We had run into a couple of cyclists coming down the hill who were a part of a tour group, who told us that the park entrance closed at 1730, and that we had about 2 hours worth of cycling to get to the gate. It was now about 1600, we had already done 55 km and it was getting late. We were concerned that we wouldn’t make the gate in time so decided to hitch a ride with a passing truck, and then for the last 50 minute stretch of road, an army vehicle offered us our last ride for the day. 2 hours to go. Yeah, if you are going downhill on an unloaded mountain bike! Tourists!

Once we reached the gate, having given the army guys some di nero for beers at the mess, we set off for the last 3 km of the day. A relatively flat track to the Tambopaxi campground took almost an hour. The conditions were rocky and sandy and very hard to cycle on. I was scared of falling off, and threw my toys out of the pram. It had been a long day and this was ridiculous. The road conditions were just unbearable, and the altitude kicked in. We would be out of breath in seconds. We thought this would be a breeze. But no.

Nevertheless, we pushed on to the campsite, which appeared deserted, and found a lovely Hacienda serving hot food and best of all…..hot showers! On leaving the Marriot that morning, I had convinced myself that I wouldn’t see a hot shower for at least a week. This made me very happy and warm. We couldn’t believe how the temperature had dropped and how the altitude was effecting us (couldn’t believe that I was already using Katherine’s beanie - hand knitted out of baby Alpaca).

The following day, we packed up having arranged a lift across the other side of the Park toward Lasso, taking in inspiring scenery. Here we picked up the Panam and made swift progress to the outskirts of Ambato for the night. The last hill of the day was a bitter taste of what was to come.

Monday was an early start (after a terrible nights’ sleep) with an aim for Riobamba that night just 60 km down the road (yeah right, whatever!) 25 km into the day and 4 hours later, we had done nothing but climb insanely steep mountains. The altitude was really taking its toll and we had an 11,500 ft anticipated total ascent to make that day, we started to question if we would make Riobamba at all.

Shortly after a lunch, we reached a major interchange and contemplated the crazy Ecuadorian buses near the petrol station. We stood and watched from the forecourt for an hour or so, and decided that we would be unable to run (literally) to catch the bus with bikes in tow (local style) whilst it was still moving! It was at the this point we met a lovely man and his brother on their way to Guayaquil who offered to drop us in Riobamba. A decision well made as we continued our ascent along the Panam. We could never have imagined cycling this, and were so greatful to our nameless friend.

On our way to Riobamba, our friend spoke of the beauty of the coast and the flatlands, which seemed so appealing. We promptly decided to change our route and head to Guayaquil with our friend and his brother, seeing it was so easy and they were so friendly (although, it did cross our minds that we would get pulled over by the rest of the family somewhere along the way and be stripped of all our kit!). Mum’s, don’t worry….

Our friend was incredibly generous (even buying us cokes) and true to his word. The scenery (all uphill - 12,000 ft!) was epic. How on earth people farm on a vertical mountain face we have no idea! The lower down we got, the warmer it became with the vegetation appearing more tropical. Bananas everywhere!

We were dropped off at a hotel in the city and decided to take a day out to replan our route south along the coast to build up our cylcing fitness without the affects of altitude sickness in preparation for Macchu Picchu and Bolivia.

Neither of us anticipated just how great the effect of altitude sickness would have on our ability to tackle the mountains and make the distance we need to make to get to Argentina in time.

Now, we are looking forward to more sunshine (haven’t had that much recently as we have been literally in the clouds) flat roads and starry nights.