On the road again....

We left Puerto Lopez about three weeks ago, returning to our bikes and to the Andes. We biked for about 10 days with stops in the cool colonial city of Cuenca and now we are in Vilcabamba, a small pueblo surrounded by huge green mountains.


Some reflections on a day in the life on the bikes:

The Andes- They are big. I mean real big. And green. And not so flat. We have had screaming downhills, Steven´s trailer catches air on the bumbs. We climb a lot, usually going over more than one pass a day. The views are spectacular and always keep us going! Its just awesome to be out in it all.


The people- In the mountains they are mostly indegenous and maintain their culture of farming and hearding. Their farms dot the mountainsides, even on very steep slopes. We will think we are in the middle of nowwhere only to round a corner and run into a kid with his sheep or to encounter a guy with a machete coming out of the forrest. The women wear vibrant skirts and shawls, even while they are working the fields, and both sexes wear hats. The style of hat changes with the region. They are reserved but friendly folks, not the first to say hello but respond with a smile and sometimes a welcome.


Dogs- Dogs chase us every day. As some of you know I am somewhat afraid of dogs, especially the ones that want to bite me which is most all of them. Most of the ones down here like to make a lot of scary noise and run along the bikes, Steven says they aren´t trying to get me. Just to make sure I use Steven as a human shield between me and the doggies on the climbs. Sometimes dogs let us go by and then mount a sneak attack, one boxer actually bit Stevens trailer after he passed!

Trucks and busses- There isn´t much traffic where we are, but when their is they all honk at us. Some just to let us know they are coming, many offer a thumbs up or a ¨vamos!¨¨, and a few honk to say ¨get out of my way¨. They usually give us plenty of room, to the point of going in the other lane of oncoming traffic to give us space.

Camping- We haven´t camped to much as people are encountered in the most surprising places (see above). We have had some awesome campsights up near passes where we can tuck in and get out of sight. Hostals here are cheap and can be found even in the small mountain towns. The towns are often also in unlikely places, they are not on the valley floor but are sometims perched on a smaller mountain somewhere between the peaks and the bottom.

It feels good to be traveling again! Villcabamba has been a great place to get some R and R, its the ¨valley of longevity¨where locals are rumored to live over 100, the water is drinkable, and the scene is tranquillo. We are staying at this incredible nature reserve with trails and a river in a cool little cabin.

We should be heading out tomorrow or the next day on our bikes, we should make the border crossing near Zumba in a couple of days and move on into Peru!