Ecuador 2022 - Cloudforest, Coast and Craters Tour - Prologue

Through the next few posts I hope to capture what I have said is indescribable in words.  One must experience in person what Karen and I have done to fully understand the entirety of these 9 days.  Words are inadequate and the pictures simply cannot do it justice.  None of this could have happened without the efforts of the first class people at Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental.  

The idea of this trip germinated about 10 years ago when I saw an advertisement in Rider Magazine for a tour company that offered on and off road tours in Ecuador.  "That would be interesting" I said to myself back then.  Then earlier this year Karen asked me what I wanted to do for my 60th birthday.  Without too much thought I said, "I want to go ride a motorcycle in Ecuador" and I set about to do the research.  The previous month some fellow Iron Butt Association friends had gone down to Ecuador and ridden the same self-guided tour that I had my eye on, the Cloudforest, Coast and Craters tour, aka the CCC.  This is advertised as a 60% paved, 40% unpaved tour with the options on most days for 100% paved routes.  The price was right and flights from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Quito, Ecuador (UIO) were reasonable and within our budget.  A special shout-out to Bob and Cheryl Woodsom and Minna Case for the inspiration and tips to make this trip a memorable one.

It's been a long year leading up to this.  Karen went on an incredible African Safari trip in April with her sister, Kathy.  I travelled out to Cheyanne, WY and participated in the 7-day LDX Motorcycle Rally.  In September I had plans to ride down to Texas to see my mother, then participate in the IBA Rideapalooza Ride Around Texas event, and finally ride back to Nashville, TN for a software conference.  Sadly, my plan to visit my mother turned into attending her memorial service as she passed shortly before I was to depart.  Oh how I wish she could see the pictures of this trip.  She would have loved it.

I spent most of October telling everyone in my company that I would NOT be available for system support during my trip.  I had underestimated the level of connectivity that I would have in Ecuador.  It turned out that almost every stop provided a good and reliable wi-fi service so I could keep up with emails and some chats.

Day -2 - Travel Day to Ecuador 

Our flight out to Quito would depart IAD at 9:42am so this called for a VERY early morning commute up I-95 and around the Beltway to arrive at the airport the prescribed 3 hours ahead of departure.  Ugh, that was an early drive.  Karen had figured out my surprise that we would be flying Business Class so we had plenty of baggage allowance to accommodate our motorcycle gear and street clothes.  I dropped her off at the departure doors and headed out to the economy lots where I was to use my pre-paid parking voucher (travel tip, do this if your airport allows).  When I got back the Copa Airlines ticketing desk was just starting to open up and we checked in our really, really heavy bags.  Since we were flying Business Class we were directed to the Turkish Airlines Club room where we enjoyed a light breakfast and some much needed coffee!

Copa Airlines is the flag carrier of Panama so we were set to connect in Panama City.  We had hoped to see the Panama Canal but, unfortunately, the airport was situated on the opposite side of the city and we were not able to catch a glimpse. Karen did, however, snap some good pictures of the HUGE ships that were sitting offshore waiting for their turn through the locks.  After landing we were able to relax a bit in the Copa Lounge in the air conditioning and grab a snack.

Our connecting flight from Panama to Quito was on one of Copa's newest planes, a 737-900, where they had new lay flat seats in Business Class.  Oh, the joy of having some decent leg room!  We both drifted off for a bit during the 2 hour flight into Quito.  Arrival in Ecuador was a non-event.  Immigration and Customs were very friendly and efficient.  When we exited the secure area after Customs, we walked into pure chaos as an enormous crowd was waiting for arrivals just outside the door.  I was approached by several unlicensed "cab" drivers but they were quickly shoo-d away by airport staff.

A word about Ecuador cab drivers, they are awesome!  Most do not speak very much English but they know how to use the translators on their phones.  The airport is a pretty good distance from our hotel but the cab fare was only $25.  It would have easily been triple that in the States.  The key to any cab ride is to settle on a fare BEFORE closing your door.  Traffic is what you would expect in a foreign country, pure chaos.  But....it worked and it worked fairly well.

We arrived about 6:30 pm at the Hotel Finlandia which is one block away from the tour company property.  The hotel was nice and clean, but like most hotels in Ecuador, there was no air handling equipment in the room so it was a bit stuffy for someone accustomed to sleeping with a fan on.

After settling in as best we could, we headed downstairs to the hotel restaurant for dinner and a welcome drink (the drink being part of our booking deal through Hotels.com).  This was the first of one of the biggest surprises of our trip, just how good the food would be all week long. 

Getting to sleep that night was a bit troublesome with the city noises going late into the night and the lack of any air movement.  Cars honking, dogs barking, and people shouting is just not something I'm used to.

Day -1 - Acclimation Day in Quito

The tour company recommended that you arrive a day early to Quito so that your body could get used to the 9,000 ft elevation.  This meant that our Friday would be spent doing some minor touring around the city.  Little did we know but that Friday was a nation holiday for the "Day of the Dead".  The tourist spots were going to be crowded.

Our breakfast was included in our hotel package so we headed down fairly early to enjoy the buffet and some really good Ecuadorian coffee.  Afterward, we caught a taxi out front and headed to the TeliferiQo Cable Car a few miles away (Taxi $3).

We arrived about 9:15 am and a good number of visitors were already at the site.  The ticketing line moved fairly quickly and we got in line for the ride up the mountain.  We started at just under 10,000 ft and the 18 minute ride dropped us off at the top at 13,000 ft.  Fortunately, the morning fog was lifting and we were greeted with sunshine up top but we still had to deal with some clouds obscuring the views.

Out of breath at this altitude

It's hard to believe how large the city of Quito when viewed from 3000 ft up.  From the cable car station we ventured up the trail a few hundred feet but at that altitude, every step was exhausting.  Of course, Karen ran across a lady resting at a table who had on an Alabama sweatshirt so Karen had to engage in some smack talk about the game a few weeks prior.

After a short time enjoying the views, we headed back down to the loading area for the trip back down the mountain.  As we descended below the cloud layer, the views opened up to show the enormity of Quito.  I even saw a giant condor sitting on a power pole near the tram line.  Magnificent!

When we reached the bottom and departed the tram, we congratulated ourselves for arriving early as the line now extended out to the parking lot.  One warning that we had heard before our trip was to only use yellow painted cabs.  Unfortunately, none we are the taxi station.  We chatted up a fellow in his broken English and my broken Spanish to use his non-yellow painted cab.  It was actually a fairly late model SUV that was clean and clearly had cab features and signage so we took a chance.  He was a joy to ride with to our next destination in the old downtown Quito area.  

We were dropped off just outside the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a giant neo-Gothic church constructed mostly from large cinder blocks.  The church charged a small fee to tour the structure but it was so worth it.  We entered in the middle of a Mass but were ensured that it was OK to walk around.

I don't have space to place enough pictures here to do the building justice.  It was beautiful.

As we made our way around the main sanctuary, we stumbled across a secondary sanctuary that was even more ornate.  It must take an incredible amount of dedication to maintain such a magnificent structure.

Our next destination was about 10 blocks away so we decided to walk instead of a taxi.  Note: Quito is a large city with a LOT of people in it. At no time did we ever feel threatened as we wondered the streets standing out as obvious tourists.  Karen's blond hair was of interest to a few kids but otherwise we felt very comfortable.

Now for the most amazing occurrence of the entire trip. Bear with me as it takes a bit of explaining.  Here we are walking down a street in a city of over 2 million people on a national holiday meaning that the streets were packed.  Karen tells me that she needs to find a bathroom.  At that moment we were walking by a sign that read Centro Comercial and it looked like it was large enough to have a public bathroom so we turned it.  It turns out that it was, indeed, a small "mall" if you could liken it to something familiar.  We walked past a beautiful beer garden and made a turn left and a turn right where we entered a moderate sized courtyard with a fountain and tables.  On the other side of the courtyard was the public restroom (banos).  I plopped at a table as Karen made her way over to get in line (15 cents to use the bathroom, 25 cents with a few squares of toilet paper).  Just as Karen is returning to me at my table, I point across the courtyard and say, "Is that..." and Karen says, "Yes, it is."  

Just as this man is about to sit in a chair I yelled, "James Owen! Are you lost?!"  I thought he was going to jump out of his skin.  Here we are, in a city of 2 million+, in a small market with a public restroom, and I run into my friend and someone that I idolize in the long-distance motorcycle community.  For those that don't know, this is the Micheal Jordon, the Peyton Manning, the Hank Aaron, ... of the long distance motorcycle rally world.  James is the only 2-time winner of the famous Iron Butt Rally and is an absolute beast on his bike.  After a few minutes, the lovely Janet Owen returned to join us for some chat and photos before their tour group was departing.  James and Janet had just arrived the day before from Peru and were on their way to the Galapagos Islands the next day.  The saying "It's a small world" just doesn't hold a candle to how incredible of a chance meeting it was.

After we parted Karen and I continued our walkabout and made our way to the Iglesia del la Compania de Jesus (Church of the Society of Jesus), an elaborately gilded baroque church where, sadly, they did not allow pictures to be taken.  I've never seen anything like it.  The ENTIRE interior was covered in gold leaf.  Truly a sight to see with your own eyes.

Photo Credit: http://www.fundacioniglesiadelacompania.org.ec/

We ended our tour with another entertaining cab ride back to our hotel where we spent most of the time using the driver's cell phone to translate our instructions.  One tip that I wish we had listened to was to purchase a readily available SIM card for our phones so that we could have a data plan to use while out and around.  It would have come in handy.

With our city tour complete, it was now time to head down the street to our tour company's office to check in and complete much of the necessary paperwork.  All was in order and the tour company gave us our 35 liter soft saddlebags that we would attempt to stuff a week's worth of gear into.  They took us outside to size up the motorcycle that we would be renting for our trip.  Karen and I hopped on and all parties sort of bought off that it would indeed carry the two of us plus our gear for the week.  More details to follow in tomorrow's story.

To complete the day, we returned up the street to our hotel and transferred our gear and clothes for the week to the saddlebags and put our other items into our suitcases for storage at the tour company the next day.  Running out of energy from the day, we decided to just eat dinner in the hotel restaurant and I'm glad we did.  The name of the establishment is Senso Cinco (Five Senses) and it hit all of them.  Karen has a risotto dish that was to die for.

Like the previous night we didn't have a real comfortable sleep with all of the city noises.  It may have been the anticipation of starting our trip the next day as well.

Thanks for staying with me through this long prologue.  Tomorrow, WE RIDE!!!