Day 121: Quito, ECU to Puerto Lopez, ECU

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A little request for you people reading the blog. I'd like to give a hand to a family member of mine.

Weronika (my cousin's daughter) and her boyfriend are participating in a contest, in which they can win a trip to Croatia.  I'd appreciate if you could take a second to open and click the ''LIKE'' button on the their facebook page. Thanks!

LINK HERE

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Long solo day in the saddle: 530 km of winding roads, some good and some terrible. A total of 10 hours on the bike, with only two quick stops for fuel (I was trying to make it to my destination before dark).

I left the hostel in Quito at 9:30 am. Navigating out of the town was not bad, as the GPS map that I am using for Ecuador (OpenStreetMaps) is fairly accurate. I drove about 80 km south on the Panamericana. Ecuador continued to impress with the quality of its roads: 2 to 3 lanes in each direction, and smooth pavement.

I then turned off west, in the direction of the pacific coast. I didn't know what to expect from that secondary road, but it turned out to be my best ride in a while. Apart from 2-3 places where there was some ongoing construction, the next 160 km were awesome: great scenery, smooth road, lots of ''curvas'' (turns), and little traffic. I had a blast. Only downside is that at above 3500 m, it got COLD. I had both my hand grips and heated vest running at their maximum, and all of my warm clothing on as well.

25 m shy of reaching 4000 m elevation. It was COLD.

This little guy was hanging out all by himself on the side of the road.

One of the few construction sites along the road.

20 000 km from home. Another 15 000 + km to ride in the next 2.5 months.

Eventually, I got passed the mountains and began descending rapidly. Within 45 minutes, I went from 3500 m to around 500 m elevation. The landscape changed drastically and it got HOT. Probably around 30 deg. C. Definitely a day of extremes, as far as temperature goes.

The scenery was nice for most of the way to the coast, but I didn't get the chance to enjoy it much. The road turned into shit. I drove 150 km over a winding road with mostly big potholes and patches of pavement. Swerving between the craters on the road required quite a bit of concentration.  On top of that, the topes (speed bumps) were back in full force: a few in each of the many villages I drove through. 

After the mountains, green hills and cacao and banana plantations.

I finally reached the coast a little after 6 pm. The last 140 km were candy again: smooth two lane highway, followed by a spectacular coast road all the way to Puerto Lopez. 

I pulled into town about 20 minutes after dark, and quickly found the hotel where the boys were staying. I was spent, but it had been one of the better days on the bike so far. The riding in Ecuador is exceeding my expectations so far.

Back on the pacific coast once again.

530 km of dirt and diesel fumes on my face.