the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows

so we admit, bringing our bicycles along on this trip might not have been the best idea we´ve ever had, but thank goodness for what some might refer to as our stubbornness. we prefer to think of it as persistence. yesterday, we decided to hit the road after spending enough time in the busy, capital city of quito. our bikes, loaded up with all that we brought along on this trip (suddenly weighing a LOT more), as our main mode of transportation. following the vague, squiggly lines that looked like roads on our tourist map of quito would be our method of navigation.

it took forever to finally escape the city and the road we found after that didn´t seem much better. it was a six lane highway (thank GOD it had a shoulder) that might have very well been the panamerican highway. at home, honking is a rare gesture used when someone does you wrong on the road. here, a honk can mean anything from ¨hey look at those gringos!¨ to ¨if you don´t get over now, i WILL run you over¨ to ¨keep up the good work¨ or at least that´s what we took all those honks to mean. after a ton of uphill riding (Oregon coast is nothing compared to this), we decided we better ask for directions.

asking an older gentleman on the side of the street how we get to papallacta, he replied, always take your right turn. when you get to a pavement road, then and only then, take a left... sounds easy enough, right? however, not even a block down the road, we came to a Y intersection. asking the lady sitting right (just for confirmation), she assured us that we should take a LEFT. so, we did. and we ended up in a small little town called La Merced. a town that probably doesn´t see many visitors. after enjoying our 35 cent ice cream cones, we decided we better figure out our plan of attack. asking some street vendors, they assured us the only way for us to get to papallacta was to take a truck taxi. we consented as we were exhausted and tired of following directions that were surely leading us in a circle. they called up one of their friends and we were told to wait 15 minutes.

the truck finally arrives and who should be the driver, but our old man friend we had originally asked for directions. he just laughed at us and told his vendor friends about how we obviously didn´t listen to his directions. silvio and his grandson graciously drove us up, up and up even more to the small town (not even really a town) of papallacta. the big attraction here is the thermal hot springs. there are mountains on all sides of us, lush, green ones that are dotted with cows and other grazing livestock. it is one of the most magestic things i´ve ever seen. and to enjoy the view from a hot soaking pool, there are no words. lets just say that all the frustration and exhaustion of yesterday melted away as the moon and stars appeared in this rugged, mountainous place. we are in paradise.


the thermal hot spring pools at the resort.


what we found when we finally made it to the mountain town of papallacta at 10,800ft.

sidenote: every sunday in quito, several main streets are closed off and open only to bicycles and foot traffic. hoards of people take to the streets to enjoy the day, get outside, and be with friends and family. since our bikes were just recently put together, we decided to do as the locals do. we found all sorts of bikes and just as many different kinds of riders. we cruised through quito´s parks and stopped to listen to music, watch people doing aerobics in the parks, skateboard and art demonstrations... probably the most entertaining way we could have spent a sunday morning. for all you portlanders: just think sunday parkways.


ciclopaseo in quito: basically the equivalent of sunday parkways in portland


luke riding the streets of quito for ciclopaseo.