Los Andes!

We made the really smart decision to take the bus out of Quito and avoid the crazy buses and traffic. Getting dropped off on the side of the road in Cayambe in the the middle of a hail storm with our bike boxes was rather exciting. Luckily we were right in front of a hostal. Later we would find out our luck went only so far and we got to rock out with some terrible kareokee until 1 AM. We put the bikes together for the first time and made the necessary adjustements to kick off on our first day riding. We planned a nice first day with just 30 KM and 1,000 elevation gain to the beautiful Lago de Mojanda.

We left the hostal early in a slight rain. After abour an hour the rain had let up and we decided to stop for some cafe and empanadas. Then another half hour on pavement before we turned off the main road onto our dirt road to the lake. It gradually got steeper and steeper and we began to realize what we were in for. Oh, 1,000 meters of elevation gain, slightly different than 1,000 feet!!! Being the first day and in poor shape my legs were burning by lunch time and we were just slogging up this hill. We stopped every couple hundred feet for a breather and even pushed the bike at times. Did I mention we started the day at 10,000 feet and would end at the lake at round 13,000 feet. After a nice lunch break I felt like I could continue. And as I looked ahead I saw what might be the pass, could there be downhill around that bend???

No such luck! As I turned the corner I saw the triple switch back in the picture above. The mental challenge had begun. Could I really continue and could I make it to the pass?? Well, I really had no choice. Tina had already pushed ahead and was probably half way up the switchbacks. So I slogged on.

Luckily the road was not as steep as some of the previous terrain and I was able to make it up in decent time. What a relief to be looking back down the valley from the top. One final climb into the clouds would find us the pass. Phew!!!!!!

And than it was nothing but easy downhill cruising to the lake. Beautiful, eh?

After a sleepness night from the altitude and pouring rain, we awoke in a cloud, of mist. After a short breakfast we began what luckily was a mostly downhill ride. A long 1,500 meter decent 20 Km to the city of Otavalo, along a cobblestone road that made it and extremely bummmmmppppyyy ride!

Otavalo is a really cool city with a majority indegienous population. We arrived on Friday and had time to get settled before the huge Saturday market. On saturday the streets were flooded with vendors for multiple blocks spilling out from the main market square.