I spent a day or so kicking around Quito, had a look around the old town, lots of colonial architecture and some wacky churches, including probably the most amazing building I've ever been in, largely because almost every inch of the interior was covered in gold, and another with what was basically a ladder up the outside to get to the top of the tower, although the views from the top were excellent. Have had some superb, massive breakfasts here, the food is really cheap and I keep getting served fruit juice and have absolutely no idea what the fruit is, a trip to the supermarket is altogether beguiling in that respect.
I quick note on Ecuadorian driving. I was warned by the guidebooks that South American driving is a little crazy. That is largely true. Buses are what most amaze me here, there are some dedicated bus stops, but it seems to be possible to hail a bus from almost anywhere. Morever each bus has some kind of conductor who hangs out the door (the bus doors are never closed) and almost hawks for business, as well as acting as spotter for potential customers and dispensing unsolicited advice to passing motorists. In tune with the lack of formal bus stops, buses seem to have no qualms with halting in the middle of the road for people to jump on and off, and I use the word halting liberally, they may come to a complete standstill for old ladies (who are then gentle manhandled aboard by the conductor) but for everyone else they merely slow to a crawl making the progress of disembarking altogether more of a spectator sport. Not only buses, but almost anyone seems to be permitted to stop at leisure, even in fast moving traffic or on motorways, to load or unload whatever, I saw a bus stop in the middle lane of a three lane highway so that passengers had to chance the slow lane in order to make it on board. As for lanes, they seem entirely optional, along with most other conventional rules of the road, which seem to be negotiated on the basis of who honks longest and loudest. All this said, cycling in Ecuador has been fine so far, car drivers seem to treat you as something of a novelty and thus give you plently of space, and I've had plenty of encouraging honks and thumbs up, which is very much in the character of the people here. Everyone seems curious about the bike and people are amazingly helpful and pleasant.
I left Quito to cycle North about 60 km to go see some cloudforest, apparently ecuador has about 10% of the worlds bird species, and literally hundreds of species of hummingbird, orchid and butterfly. I hadn't counted on the scope of the terrain to turn what seems like a fairly short jaunt into an absolute mission of a ride. The first 10 km or so were just clearing the outskirts of Quito, then about 10 km of climbing to the crater of an extinct volcano, then the best part: 30 km of glorious, winding, well laid road passing through incredible scenery, lots of densely forested, steep sided valleys with no signs of human habitation, and best of all, all downhill. My enjoyment was somewhat tempered by the fact I knew i was going to have to cycle all the way back up it...
The last 12 km to the reserve were up a steep and rough 4wd track, climbing about 1000 m. The going was pretty hard without suspension, and very slow, the last 2 km or so took me about 20 minutes, climbing up through thick cloud and with the odd shadow of a bird passing over the track
The reserve itself was tremendously atmospheric, miles from the nearest road let alone the nearest town, and without running water or electricity, I camped with a spectacular view looking out over the valleys laid out below and across to volcan Pichincha, the view across the canopy definitely called to mind the reassuring narrative of some David Attenborough documentary. I spent the following day wandering round the trails, saw lots of bizarrely coloured birds, and plenty of hummingbirds, as well as various odd insects and some amazing orchids, pictures below hopefully. Also saw a massive tarantula, which I think I've mentioned to everyone I've spoken to since, but it was huge, I reckon about 40 cm in span.
After two nights at the reserve I retraced my steps back to Quito, suffering somewhat on the 30 km climb back up, that day came out at about 2000 m of height gained, which feels like a lot on a loaded bike. Was greatly aided in the climb by a 'breakfast' steak egg and chips though. Another night in Quito and then I headed off South, we're now up to yesterday - I covered about 190 km South down the 'avenue of volcanoes' which was somewhat less impressive than said title due to fairly low cloud obscuring most of them. That said I still got a good view of the snow-capped peak of Antisana, and on the descent into Baños some awesome views of the fairly active (and currently smoking) Tungurahua which has threatened to wipe out the town several times recently, but which does provide the hot water for the baths which give the town its name and which I'm hopefully headed off to in a bit.
Tomorrow I head down out of the Andes to the rim of the Amazon basin, I'm spending a few days much lower down (around 1000 m altitude) then have a fiendish offroad climb up to Cuenca which is currently making me nervous, it's about 60 km of winding track through what has the appearance on a relief map of a scrumpled piece of paper, so that should be fun, hopefully I'll next post from Cuenca in three or four days time.
p.s. I´m on skype at silawrenc, I'll try and be online occasionally when I have a respectable connection.
