Ecuador

We made it to the middle

All of 4 ft tall and proud of it

Grandma in traditional dress, sells her goods and looks after the little one

lunch anyone?

lunch anyone?

lots of potatoes grow around small towns

Panamerican highway, a little foggy and a little muddy

Cathedrals in Cuenca, we love this city!

more beautiful countyside

Ecuador is a country we hadn't heard alot about so we didn't know what to expect or what to look for. I think this is a good way to go, no expectations, no regrets. We liked everything about Ecuador. The people are friendly and always laughing, the countryside is beautiful and refreshing, and the cost of traveling is very economical.

In the course of one day you can go from beautiful beaches to majestic mountians, to the tropical amazon. Ecuador has many dominating churches, a fury of markets, a handful of active volcanos and if you look hard enough you can even find a new tire for your V Strom, although not without a little help from the locals. ( maybe not the exact one you were looking for, we settled for a Dunlop 140/80 instead of a 150/80). O.k. alot of help but we did it and now we should be good until the end of the trip.

We said good-bye to our travelling buddies again, Kelly and Della, they will spend a little more time here and Ken and I feel the need to get moving on our trip south to the tip.

A quick reflection of what we liked most about Ecuador:

Tulcan; for allowing us to import our bikes into the country even after the Aduana office was officially closed.

Otavalo; for its´ fantastic market with fruit, vegies, meat, hand knit sweaters and hats, alpaca rugs, jewellry and much much more.

Baños; for our cheapest room yet, $4.00 p/p. A small town sitting at the bottom of an active vocano. The last eruption was in August 2006. A friendly little tourist town with hot pools and lots of hotels and restuarants.

Puyo; for the ride down to the small town on the edge of the Amazona on a road through tunnel after tunnel. What a great ride over the river and the waterfall on the other side.

Cuenca; we love this colonial city full of huge cathedrals and cool narrow cobbelstone streets that we explored on foot. And thanks to The Faster Pastor ( the name we gave to our pastor friend because of his crazy driving as he lead us around the city looking for a tire for Suzie) we couldn´t have done it without you.