I stopped at the Colombia border town of Ipiales to have my pipe looked at. Ended up being there for almost 2 hours by the time I found a motorbike mechanic and then pipe didn’t go on nearly as easily as I thought. Anyway, I met some good people and the kid at the shop was a big help. I got to the border just after noon, a few hours later then I had hoped.
The crossing was much easier then I expected, especially given my dodgy paperwork. I had to do some walking back and forth between the Colombian and Ecuadorian sides, in and out of a few different offices but my bogus paperwork seemed to work and within the hour I was in Ecuador heading for Quito.
The first hour or so was really pretty, green hills full of farms, It looked like hobbit country. I’ll refrain from any references to Ecuadorian people looking a bit like hobbits. They kinda do, though. The scenery wasn’t nearly as stunning as Colombia. Although as I got closer to Quito, the mountains got significantly bigger and more beautiful. Saw my first bit of South America snow, on Mt Cayambe (I believe). It’s a 5800 meter active volcano that sits almost right on the equator. I crossed into the southern hemisphere sometime before getting to Quito. You think there would be some kind of sign. Nope.
The ride into Quito was pretty easy, although, I stopped for gas about 80 km from the city. A few minutes after leaving the gas station my bike started sputtering and almost stalling out. Whenever I’d give it gas it would almost die. I had not clue what was going on. It was also starting to run a bit hot. I pulled over and start looking around, trying to figure out what the problem was. I ended up disconnecting the radiator hose, twice. Both times boiling hot coolant sprays me, scorching my hands through my gloves. I finally decided to just press on. I later, after the bike and I limped into town, that Ecuadorian gas is notoriously bad and very low in octane. It’s premium from now on in Ecuador.
I pull into the city, I’m exhausted, at this point still have no idea what’s going on with the bike. I just want to get off and settle into a hotel. I ride around a bit, having no clue how the city is oriented or what part of town the hostels are located. A problem riding the bike is that it’s not that easy to just roll into town, give a cabbie an address and start knocking on hostel doors. I never want to leave my bike with my gear strapped it and also need to find a place that has some kind of parking, whether it’s a driveway, garage, courtyard or inside the lobby. Just finding the part of town with the hostel/ hotels is hard enough, then finding a place with parking, and rooms, usually takes some riding around.
Anyway, I was tired and didn’t feel like the wild goose chase that always ensues. I pulled into the first big hotel I saw, the Sheraton Quito. They had a room and a garage and it was close to the airport. Perfect. My friend Shannon was getting in late so I wanted something easy. Although it was about 5 times more then any room so far on the trip, it was still relatively cheap. And it felt like I was in the 4 Seasons. Roof top hot tub, sauna, steam room, nice towels, bell man. True luxury. With the KFC, Papa John’s and Chili’s around the corner and the mega mall across the street, it felt like I was back in the states. Not an entirely bad feeling. Just a bit surreal.
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