Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Closing out Colombia and Onward to Ecuador

Our moods and temperaments have rolled up and down with the hills of the Andes. A few bicycle challenges have taken their toll on my (Eric's) patience. A long period of downtime, waiting for parts has turned into an opportunity to rest and re-energize ourselves. We look forward to the challenges of heading further south and rolling in the Andes mountains....though we're still looking for the hidden stash of the little green mints!
Another way to handle the Andes climbs. While we never attempted this skill, it sure would have come in handy.
Yes...we are on the right road..."Colombia via Panam"...we've been on the Panamerican Hwy most of our way in South America.
The scale of the terrain is beyond pictures, but this one is close to doing it justice. We were rewarded on this curvy, steep road with a magnificent waterfall that crashed even further down, below the road.
Our last town in Colombia, I became street entertainment while Eric made a quick stop into a bike shop. While we were stopped, Alvaro, a Colombian who has traveled all over the world and now runs an English school, asked us if we'd like to help him practice his conversational English and stay in a spare room at his school....
Alvaro and his family has us over for lunch and wonderful conversation. We learned of a young man from Oregon, who Alvaro met 1 week ago, who worked in Mexico on a farm, was given a donkey for his time, which he proceeded to ride through Central America and is heading south! Unfortunately, we never crossed paths on the road.
We welcomed in the Ecuadorian mountains by breaking the two lowest gears on our rear cog. This turned many of our steep climbs into walks. Currently waiting for the new parts to clear customs in Ecuador.
We dropped elevation into a desert area of Ecuador where the population is mostly of African descent. We met these ladies on the road gathering mangoes and they showed us to a hostel. They celebrate 4 days of Carnival which coinsides with Mardi Gras in Brazil. In Ecuador the celebration is not about beads and parades, but done by dousing any passerby with water (squirt gun or bucket) and shaving cream, loud music plays, hundreds of people play in rivers, and dance in the streets.
A little Carnival fun...
Not understanding the idea of Carnival, the first time we got a face full of foam, we were left confused and frustrated, as the bus zoomed by and a little boy smirked with his hit. After the festivities were explained, the second time it happened, Eric went chasing after the culprit, this time to steal his bucket and return the favor. We were glad when Carnival was over and we could stop looking up towards the roof tops, anticipating having to dodge the next bucket of water crashing down...looking left, right, forward and back is enough to worry about!
A Warmshower stay in Ibarra, Ecuador. Here with our host family in front of their house. We had a wonderful time. I got to help the ladies cook in the kitchen and we got a tour of their huge backyard garden. They are a family of teachers and students and have a thirst for learning, so we had some English and Spanish tutoring.
One of their friends, 78 year old Jesus, came over one morning to collect sugarcane (pictured) and avocados from their garden. She had the most warm and caring spirit and a beautiful smile...and a hard worker! I'd love to know all those eyes have seen and arthritic joints endured.
Our host father, cutting the skin off the sugarcane for a sweet treat to gnaw on. Don't ask about the Panda bear in the background....I don't know....
I dragged Eric to one of the most well known markets in South America, in Otavalo, Ecuador. It was a playground for me...hand woven goods of all kinds, beautiful colors, and friendly merchants. I bought a few scarves, hammock, and blanket made of alpaca wool....
...and this picture painted with fruit juice extracts. Such a talented artist...it was hard to choose!
Eric noticed a loaded bike parked at a restaurant, so we turned around to meet......Anders, from Norway, started in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been moving north, on a similar path we will take south. So, we swapped stories and information for about an hour, then pedaled our separate ways.
We have reached equatorial equilibrium...the center of the world. Crossing the equator seems like a milestone. Nearly half way on our route. Presumably at this point we are travelling faster while standing on land than we've ever travelled before.....25,000 mile circumference, 24 hrs over 1,000 mph, where as Mankato we are travelling at maybe 600 mph. Ah, too much time on the bike to think!
Some myths and facts:
- We do weigh less than at the poles, .3% due to the centripital (centrifugal) force...again another point of discussion.
- The toilet water does not swirl in the opposite direction,
- There is less wind in the doldrums, the intensity of the sun heating the earth causes the warm air to rise instead of blow.
We love hostel roof tops. This one had views over the church square, Quito and the surrounding mountains.
A patch of grass in the shade near a supermarket......don't know if it gets any better!
Quito warmshower hosts Adrian and Aisling. We were overwhelmed by this English couple's hospitality. They allowed us to stay while waiting for parts to ship from the states and took us around Quito. We were peckish and fancied a nibble as we sat down to eat!
This Skype's for you. Our long rest in Quito was a great time to reconnect with family.
Eric getting a lesson in re-lacing a wheel from our host Adrian. Hopefully this addresses our broken spoke issues.
We hope to continue rolling south in the next few days, and continue to be excited about what is around the next curve in the road!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Biking crazed Colombia

On top of the world! Our climbs have felt like the stairway to heaven!
A rest in the middle of a long climb. Lots of gorges and rivers cutting through the steep hills. Amazing that here we´re only at 4,000 feet. We will finish our 2.5 day climb at 10,000 feet.
Grand Canyon-esque in its steepness. Just taking it all in. Luckily there was a rail to lean on after the long climb!
A time of Change
The change of pedaling in a new continent has affected us several different ways. The planning, preparation and research to get across the Darien gap took a fair amount of our time as we finished Central America. As the crow flies, we are 3000 miles from Mankato, MN and 4000 miles from Tierra Del Fuego. In actuality, we have pedaled almost 7,000 miles and have approximately 8,000 to go. The challenge of cycling in the mountains again (bigger than we have ever seen), another shift in language (still Spanish, but words used differently) and the miles yet to travel have left us a little homesick.
In amazing feats of kindness we have had some of our best personal interactions which have helped counter the lulls. Colombia is a cycling country. Every day on the road we have seen (been passed by) groups of road bikers out on training runs. People from their teens to 70´s all seem to get a thrill of pumping up a mountain and racing down the other side. When we pull in to a town we are approached and engaged by several people asking about the trip.
Much like Mexico, we heard horror stories of what Colombia would be like. We feel extremely safe. The roads are the best we´ve ridden (people even sweep the shoulders) and our interactions have been overwhelmingly good.
Our stay with Mauricio and Doris was wonderful in Medellin! Thank you again for hosting us, sharing your kindness, culture, and city with us.
My first South American foundry. It was great to smell the foundry again. We were able to go through a captive foundry making cookware and grinding mills. The complete assembly line was next door with aluminum disks to a pressure cooker in a box happening in the span of 30 meters.
We´ve been resting a lot in Colombia. Great views and always ready for a break.
I think we can bike the edge, but Christie keeps vetoing the idea. All aboard. This was our second option. Looks a little tight so we´ll stick to the bike.
Still looking for Juan Valdez. He´s around here somewhere.
Thought we found the perfect spot. Along the highway, near a house and 3 people in the community said it was okay. We got a knock on the tent door at 11 pm by the police. Apparently this area is a little hot with guerrilla activity at night and we were encouraged to move closer to the police station..... They helped us move to this lady´s backyard and get set up. She woke up, saw us in her yard and prepared breakfast for her surprise guests. Absolutely amazing hospitality. Had to make a new stove...couldn´t fly or buy fuel for the old one, so it went home. Two aluminum cans and some denatured alcohol and we are in business. Still learning the finer techniques.....like get the alcohol boiling before placing the pan on top. We´ll get there.
One of many mountaintop villages we´ve stayed in. Yep....we still like each other. Enjoying a day off listening to the church choir. Simple beauty in nature in people. We are in awe. Here we are on the back deck of a hotel where the owner asked us to stay there....for free. Outstanding!
Our flag delivery. This guy saw we didn´t have a Colombian flag yet, made a phone call and within a few minutes one was delivered.....only 4 more to go!
Guess I spoke too soon. This bus driver thought we needed a soccer flag.....so we´ve added that to our collection.
I´ve never seen a bicycling sign with a full suspension mountain bike depicted. Colombians love their cycling.
They need a trailer! Several days in a row we saw groups of cyclists out riding. Fun to cheer each other on.
We cycled with this group for a short distance. Fun to talk to and share our cycling stories.
Another blog is in the books....this one with pictures.
Have a happy Valentine´s Day!