April 7, 2017
to Tulcan: one more hill in Ecuador
"I've taken more photos today than the last few days all together" Patrick says. "And I was thinking we've not been chased by dogs" Rachel adds.
We load up the bikes and go to the hotel restaurant for an "American" breakfast that's included with the room. Nice ham and scrambled eggs, pineapple juice, bread rolls and coffee. Great way to start the day.
Talking things over last night, we've decided to aim for a boat from Cartagena around the Darien gap for May 17th. So we want to move along to see more of Colombia. Rachel is tired of the hills in Ecuador, even knowing that Colombia is hilly too. The original plan for today was 64km to Julio Andrade with a total 1741 meters climbing. Yikes! Seeing a theme here?
What we did was cycle out of the hotel continue the climb from yesterday for about a kilometer until we spotted the white with green striped truck. For $20, in less than an hour we are up 740 meters and about 40km down the road to San Gabriel. Now we are in position to reach Tulcan today and enter Colombia tomorrow. Still a lot of climbing to do though.
We are dropped off in San Gabriel at a bakery, so we pick up some goodies and bread for the road. The landscape changes, back to green fields on the steep hillsides. As we climb we are treated to very nice views of valleys and a patchwork of farm fields. When we reach the outskirts of Tulcan there is a long line of trucks being held back by the police. They are probably waiting to complete border formalities. You can always tell when near a border crossing by the line of trucks. We turn off the main road and make our way toward city center and Hotel Lumar. There are plenty more hotels within this area, but this one is just fine for $30. We are looking forward to less expensive accommodations in Colombia.
After cleaning up, we go just across the street to a Chifa restaurant, for a nice midday meal of chicken fried rice and a sizzling plate of shrimp and vegetables. Before heading out to explore the city, we checked our email and get confirmation for the boat. We will be on the "Quest" for a five day adventure sailing from Cartagena to the San Blas Islands and then on to Portabello in Panama. It is not cheap to get around the Darien Gap this way, but really not that much more expensive than flying. Plus you get a nice sailing trip, possibly some seasickness, and a couple of days relaxing in the San Blas Island group plus seafood.
As we walk to the cemetery with the topiaries, there is a festive street parade going on that was quite interesting to watch. The cemetery is amazing with incredible topiaries, created in 1936 by Jose Franco. He is buried here and his five sons continue the maintenance of the garden. Tulcan is both the northernmost city and highest city of 2899 meters, beating Quito by a meter.
Tomorrow, country #36
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Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 30,114 km (18,701 miles)
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