April 4, 2017
to El Quinche: up and down around Quito
Our original plan was to go to the famous Casa de Ciclistas in Tumbaco and spent a couple of days there to visit the city of Quito. After having been to a couple of Ecuador larger cities we cooled a bit on that idea and decided we would not be sad to miss another large concrete jungle.
Yes, the city center would sure be nice and we would not mind a walk around its center plaza, but the process of getting there and away did not appeal to us. Then we met a French cyclist in Latacunga who just came around the east side of the city via Pifo and recommended that route. There is a very nice warmshowers address in Pifo where he stayed. We contacted the hosts, but unfortunately they were not able to host us. But our mind was made up, we are going around Quito.
After a very nice breakfast at our hotel we say goodbye to our host and head back to the Pan American. The first 15 kilometer are a very nice steady downhill, but the traffic gets increasingly busier and the shoulders are narrow sometimes. "This is rather unpleasant," Rachel says,"I can see why bike packing would be a good way to cycle in Ecuador." Indeed, the Pan American Highway, certainly in the center and north of the country are too busy to enjoy. Getting off it would entail even steeper climbs and bad roads, not a good combination when riding fully loaded road bikes. A lightly loaded mountain bike would be just the ticket.
We reach a junction where we turn eastward, headed towards the airport. The road reduces to a two-lane highway with narrow shoulders. Traffic only increases. Not much fun, but probably better than plunging into the city center. Traffic finally gets lighter when we turn again on a nice new four lane highway towards Pifo. There is a hotel in Pifo and at the junction, but we decided if we just went another twenty kilometers today we can reach Otavalo tomorrow. The last ten kilometers to El Quinche are a tough uphill climb with a couple of short steep downhills to cross rivers. We are pretty much done in for when we reach El Quinche.
The town has a couple of hotels, but we go on past the town to Hostal El Recreo where Tony and Sarah stayed. The first impression isn't so great, there is a courtyard with a swimming pool that doesn't look all that inviting. But the room is nice, it has an attached bathroom with hot shower and there even is WiFi. All this for only $10 dollars which is by half the cheapest place we've stayed in Ecuador. On top of that the lady that runs the place is very nice. She helps carry our gear up and will fix us dinner tonight. She assures us she is one of the best cooks in town.....
There is a gas station with shop just down the road and the hostal has cold beer. Dinner is soup, noodles with a chicken sauce, corn on the cob, bread, juice and coffee. We are really spoiled for very little money. We are sure there is a better hotel in town, but we are very glad we gave our business to these nice people.
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Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 29,941 km (18,593 miles)
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