http://rumbum.com/1138-the-kindness-of-strangers

http://rumbum.com/1066-where-anything-goes

http://rumbum.com/1047-mitad-del-mundo

March 1, 2010

I’m truckin’ South on the Panamericana.

I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, but it seems the universal symbol for something in the road ahead, is something else in the road. Most often it is a tree branch, or rather some twigs plucked from the roadside. Sometimes its a stone. I’ll probably fall off the bike the next time I see an actual cone!

Stones AND twigs…high marks for creativity! (low marks for not advising you there is now one lane for two directions of traffic…who has the right of way?)

Ouchy. This was a twisty windy road and this truck had brake problems.

The entrance to Vilcabamba, last stop in Peru.

Vilcabamba is a tranquilo place where the people reportedly live to be over 100 years of age.

ha!  I spot NOT ONE old person. It’s a hippy dippy gringo kind of place, and I notice about 8 offices around the town square selling real estate…hm..gringolandia indeed!

I’m STARVED! I go to the Jardin Escondido and get sucked into the new age hippie ecuadorian  groove, and check in. Sure it’s a little on the pricey side, but it’s “chill”.

I was not overly ambitious, and for some reason I did not take a singe pic. For pics of the hotel, see their web site.

March 2, 2010

Now the fun begins.

I leave Vilcabamba and head south, no longer on the main road.  I’ve chosen the Las Balsas order crossing into Peru because Ricardo recommended it, and because the road looks GREAT on the map.

For about 5 miles. Then I hit construction, and the road is varying degrees of gravel, mud, and river fords for the next 100+ miles.  I just take it slowly and decide to enjoy the scenery.

this moo’s got the view!

This was lunch. $2.00 in Zumba. It’s 4:00 and they tel me the  border is 45 minutes. I decide to push it.

Wow. Dry roads for a change. Remarkable!

haha.

I’ve climbed to over 10,000 feet (GPS happens to be working today), and now I have been steadily dropping own to this river and the border crossing. We’re now at 3500 feet.

These guys are dressed for sport (soccer), and are in a hurry to process me. Out of Ecuador in less than 5 minutes!!!

February 28, 2009

I left Baños and headed towards Cuenca.

I really thought I had seen everything. Until this.

That poor little sheep was bleating it’s fool heart out.

Oofa.  More construction. (Note I am traveling right past all the stopped cars…MAN am I gonna have to change my habits when I return to the US!)

The rocks are meant to keep you off that portion of the pavement

(Reason # 892 why it is NOT a good idea to ride these roads in the dark.)

I finally get to Cuenca just as the sun was setting. I saw a couple of policemen and I pulled over to ask them for a hotel recommendation. What I got was a 30 minute conversation, and a personal police escort to the cheapest hotel they could think of with “safe” parking. Mr. Policeman even came inside the hotel, asked about prices, and came up to the room to preview it with me. Sometimes it’s a hoot being a girl traveling alone.

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I arrived on a  Sunday night and I walked around a bit. I hoped to bump into Bruno and Nathalie from Valle de Corcora– he policemen said they had JUST come and asked about hotels 2 minutes before I got there (how many couples are traveling two up on a 250?) No luck.

The church was having a mass, so I did not take pictures. All the internet shops were closed. I could not find a place I liked that seemed like a good place to eat, so I skipped dinner.

I went back to the hotel to take a shower and to read. Grr. The hot water I was promised wasn’t hot and  am a princess. When I asked about it, the front desk man came up to my room, ran the water for 20 minutes, and processed to tell  me it was hot. It was not. He insisted. So did I. Unfortunately I do not know the Spanish word for “tepid”, which is what the water was. Grr.

Looking back, I believe this is where I started to lose my sense of humor. I mean, I was nice, but I told them they should not lie to their customers, that I never would have paid them $15 for one night if I had known there was no hot water. (All true.)

Whatever.

In the morning I noticed that my bike’s Barkbuster hand guard was all scratched. Grrr. I rode out in an unshowered huff and unfortunately forgot my polarfleece on the back of the chair. Grrr. It was the “perfect” layer… it fit under my riding suit, soft enough that I could sleep in it, and besides, it’s traveled around the world with me. GRRR!

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Cuenca is a lovely city. I’d like to spend more time here (NOT in that hotel). But I am on a “Schedule”.

Here’s my mini your of Cuenca by day.

March 1, 2010

I’d read about the city’s famous “Flower Market” and made an effort t find it. Quite disappointing, actually.

Cuenca is hard to get into for some reason. I like that the Panamericana does not run through it like most other Cities, but it makes it hard to get into and out of downtown because of course the path is not marked.

My day got brighter when I asked a taxi driver for directions (often a general direction suffices). He insisted on taking me, and when I insisted I had no money to pay him, he insisted on taking me and wasn’t going to charge me anyway as he was going that direction.

Definitely a let-down after the fanciful Chivas of Colombia.

http://www.examiner.com/x-378-Motorcycle-Examiner~y2010m3d23-MotoAdventureGal-update-Hard-decision-not-to-go-to-Ushuaia?cid=edition-rss-National

February 27, 2010

OK, I plan to leave Baños today.

At breakfast I am talking with fellow travelers, and one of them mentions the monkey preserve.

MONKEYS?!?!?

I quickly weigh monkeys vs. being THREE days behind the plan, and the Monkeys win.

To days ago I was int he Andes. Today I ride into the Amazon. Incredible!

I rode out of Banos to the town of Shell. That’s right, folks, Shell had such a big operation here exploiting the Amazon building their business here that the town got named after them.

Translation: Airplanes crossing.

I didn’t know how to find the monkey place, but a lady where I bought a water told me to keep going the way I was going, and to turn left at the cows.

Cows?

I got it when I saw this.

Further clarification.
Translation: The Monkeys

So I park the bike, lock my riding gear into it, and enter the gate.

First thing I see is a monkey running at me…from overhead. I have no experience with monkeys and I am scared. I see people farther away…surely they would not let these monkeys loose around people if the hurt / bit / etc.

ACK! He is so happy to greet me he jumps off the overhead line…and onto my head.

I try not to panic.

I love animals, but have ZERO experience with monkeys.

help?

(By the end of the day I am totally inured to pretty much everything the monkeys do to me…)

I took 300 pictures..
I’ll only bore you with 100.

There were 4-5 dmogs that live here. They are marvelously enduring of everything the monkeys dish out–the coatimundis, too. This juvenile is trying to hump the dog.

yeah, that’s monkey pee on my shirt.

I had to get  used to them trying to chew on me.  never got bitten, but I was wondering a few times if I should have gotten those rabies shots the CDC recommended…

I have to tell Karina I got a new hairdresser…

This guy decided to take a nap on me.

This was the highlight of my afternoon. A walk in the jungle with the dogs…and monkeys…and coatimundis…

Lazy Monkey. I’m the transportation. I loved it.

Well, I have no more fleas.

Ok, I could not help it. o comment, but I had to take a picture…

This one decided that I was suckable. Literally. I had a monkey hickey. Finally the handlers got him interested in something else other than me.

I spent the whole afternoon there. what a treat! It’s a trip highlight for sure.

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LUNCH!

At the hostal one of the lady travelers said she didn’t know she needed a Yellow Fever vaccination for Brazil. I paid $150 for mine in the states, she got hers for free from the Ecuadorian public hospital.

Now I’ve had this rash / blistering / general yuck on my hands for a month. It itches a little and the skin is peeling off. Kinda gross to mention, so I haven’t before. I decide to try my luck at the Shell hospital on the way back.

The Hospital:

I walk in, a nurse-looking person greets me in the hall, I explain what I am there for, she writes me a prescription  for a cortizone cream, tells me to get a different pair of gloves, and I walk out. 5 minutes tops. No fee, either.

NEVER in the States…

I stop to take a picture of this. How often do you see a pig bein sliced up and served roadside? The lady is super nice even though i already told her I ate chicken 20 minutes ago, and shows off her pig.

Great Day.

One afternoon in Baños I violated the A#1 rule of traveling in Central – South America with your bike: I left the bike for someone to work on while I went off and did something else.

The bike needed it!!!

This Bike needs a BATH!

Being the consummate multi-tasker, I had this brilliant idea to drop my bike off for a wash while I got some lunch. Hey, it’s not service, right? It’s just a bike wash. I told him to be very careful with the Twisted Throttle graphics, and off I went.

!

I had a very nice lunch, and when I walked back to the bike, he was just finishing up. he was attaching something to the spray hose and was approaching my bike. “What’s That”? I asked.

I was pretty sure he said “diesel”.

“DIESEL!?!?!?!”

“Yes, diesel”.

“No. No diesel!”

He could not explain to me *why* they put diesel on the bikes — dry, washed bikes, mind you — but they did it out of habit and he was going to do it to mine!

Thanks goodness I got there in time.

This ought a make the sponsors happy:

Clean Bike! Happy Bike!

Bike Wash with or without diesel: $3.00

February 26, 2010

Breakfast at la Casa Verde. The owners are super eco conscious, and have made most of their own food. Yummy fresh fruit grows on the property, they make their own yogurt and fresh bread. The hosts are former world travelers, settled in Banos. They know what travelers need and want.

I rode out to do a quick view of the “Waterfalls Loop” before continuing south.

On the way back up the mountain back to the bike it started to pour. I was soaked. Even this sheep was unhappy about being out in this much rain.

well, Dang. Sopping wet, I returned to the hostal to dry out. I was not looking forward to riding wet for the rest of the afternoon.

But Dang! Day two, and I was two days behind my plan.