RTW North to South: Happy New Year Ecuador style

MS – Sunday, December 31^st – Happy New Year! We said our good byes to our fellow travelers and wished them well on their eight hour hike to the Crater Lake. We enjoyed a pleasant 30-minute ride on the nice new curvy road to the same location. The sun was out and the riding was fairly warm. The elevation going through the volcano peaks varies of course but you can tell by how much the bike backfires when you let off the throttle if you are gaining altitude. I can also tell by my breathing. Even in Quito, which sits at around 9500 feet, I was struggling.

We paid $1 per bike to visit the area of the Quilotoa Lake. The views were spectacular – breath-taking in two ways! There is a very well maintained trail that you can hike to the bottom edge of the lake going from 11K to 7K in elevation. It said it takes 30 min to hike down and 1.5 hours to hike back up. You do have the option to hire a donkey to ride back up. We opted for neither and to have a coffee instead. If your heart is already pounding out of your chest with no oxygen, why not amp it up with some caffeine?

We met three other people who were from Boston and had rented bikes from Freedom in Quito. They parked beside us and we chatted for a few. One of them had purchased a paper mache doll and lashed it to the front of his bike. We had seen many of these attached to car roofs and truck grills in the past few days. Some are life size, or bigger and are outside of businesses. He explained that it is supposed to represent your 2017 and you burn it at midnight on NYE and it starts your 2018 fresh.

When we picked up my bike in Quito on Friday, the owner asked if we were ready for NYE in Ecuador? He said it gets crazy and all the guys dress in drag. I told Chip and Ken I only brought one dress so they were going to have to fight over it. We all laughed…then.

We left the crater and headed towards Banos. The riding was awesome! Sunny, dry, good road, and spectacular views. The valleys are filled with agriculture on super steep areas. Very interesting to see. Most of the fields must be hand planted. All the livestock have ropes and halters on them: Cows, horses, donkeys, pigs, llamas, alpacas. Sometimes the other end of the rope is tied to something, sometimes they are just dragging it behind them. Around 1:30 we decided to stop for lunch as we were in a city changing roads, it had begun to rain, and we needed to fuel up. We walked into a restaurant with five tables and took up two of them with us and our gear. We had “the special” which is the only thing available. We got a plate of sliced strawberries, an orange cream soda, a bowl of chicken foot and rice soup, and a plate of rice, potato, piece of chicken, one slice of tomato, one piece of lettuce, and a generous serving of “sauce”. It reminded me of a warm 1000 island. Total was $7.50 for all of us.

There was dance music blaring from a huge speaker at the side of the road. We got back on the bikes in the rain and realized that we were going to have to head right into a group of guys dressed as girls who were stopping traffic and asking for money. We managed to get through them and pull a U turn to get headed back to where we wanted to go. Now picture this scene playing out over 70 or 80 more times in the next few hours. These groups of guys in drag ranged from children age 5 or so up to maybe 30 years old? They dance and yell and wave and stop traffic. Some people give them $ and some don’t. Some groups have ropes which they raise across the road. Others actually had long poles on a swivel that they would bring down and raise up. They were standing in front of huge tour busses and stopping traffic but the busses wouldn’t let them on or give them $. We used these large vehicles to help us avoid having to stop. We passed on the left, on the right, in between lanes, in the gutter. We charged the raised ropes and they would drop them at the last minute. I did graze somebody with a mirror/handlebar but they had their back to me and stepped into my path in their high heel shoes they weren’t used to wearing.

This style of riding continued and then we came up on a volleyball game in the middle of the road, where the police were either watching or participating, it was hard to tell. Chip rode into the middle of the game, I followed. Chip turned around. Ken followed me. Then within a block, the helmet coms quit and that was it. We were separated. Ken and I were together and Chip was by himself. Ken and I followed his GPS and continued towards Banos. I was worried about Chip but Ken said Chip’s GPS would lead him in the same direction and they had been separated before. We all continued the 40k to Banos and then connected on What’sApp.

We stayed in different hotels and met up for dinner. The town was crazy with people in drag, kids in costumes, lots of people with masks. Everyone begging for $. It was pouring rain but that didn’t seem to dampen any spirits. Fireworks were exploding constantly and in very public and crowded areas. Roman candles going off being shot towards windows in buildings. People were carrying around their dolls now. Chaotic looking to an outsider and we had a prime spot at a pizza place on a corner which faced a park where a lot of the activity seemed to be taking place. We threw in the towel by 9. Ken and I walked back to our hostel, about ½ mile, in the rain. Chip was only 2 blocks away.

We heard a lot of fireworks and explosions at 11:45 but then that was it. We didn’t see any fires or hear any shenanigans. Slept great and are ready to head out again. Only today it is raining from the very beginning. Headed to Tena.