Ecuador 2022 - Cloudforest, Coast and Craters Tour - Day 1 - Quito to Mindo

Finally!!! The day had arrived for us to start our adventure.  The stress of having to pack and re-pack, do I take this? Do I leave this behind? Will they have this? etc.  It was a crazy morning at the hotel.  We took a break from our preparations and headed down to get our included breakfast. Oh man, what a good way to start the day.  Great breakfast!

Our instructions were to be at Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental at 9am.  Amazingly, we were able to gather all of our gear (helmets, jackets, etc.) and our luggage and make the short walk down the street to the tour company offices by 8:45.  

The big beautiful Suzuki Vstrom 1000 was rolled out front and we quickly attached the saddlebags and loaded a few light items into the top case.  A pair of Canadians, Anthony and Adrian, were departing on our same route that morning so we stood by while they took care of their paperwork before we sat down for the pre-ride briefing.  First the packet of daily route sheets and vouchers were distributed before Court started his briefing.  And what a briefing it was.  Super detailed as I was scratching away notes on our route sheets.  We all kind of looked at each other as Court described how all Ecuadorian 2 lane roads have an invisible 3rd lane down the middle.  Believe it or not, the traffic system, as chaotic as it may seem, works.  We wrapped up just before 11 am and we headed out to the bikes for last minute pre-adventure pictures.

The first challenge of the day was exiting Quito to the north which involved paying attention to the provided Garmin Zumo XT GPS units on each bike.  Gabriel N. led us a short way down to the large traffic circle where we had to quickly transition to the inside lane to catch the tunnel out of the Carolina section of town.  After Gabriel peeled off we followed the Canadians out through the tunnel where they promptly missed the first turn-off and ended up God knows where.  Karen and I proceed on the correct route and found ourselves breathing a little easier as traffic began to open up as we headed north.

Wrong Equator (circled)

Our first stop was the Intinan Museum where we paid our $5 each to enter.  Court, during his briefing, suggested that we ask for the 20 minute abbreviated tour and the guides were happy to oblige. Interestingly, the French had surveyed the area to lay out the Equatorial Line and build a large plaza and monument to celebrate their achievement.  Unfortunately, they got it wrong and declared the equator to be about 400 yards south of the actual equator.  

As our guide led us down to the REAL equator line, she showed us a series of 

demonstrations highlighting the oddities that occur on the equator.  For instance, ancient sundials were mounted vertically and were read on one side for half a year and the other side for the other half of the year.

Of course they had a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect that makes water swirl in different directions.  First she placed a sink directly over the equator and dropped some leaves into the water.  When she pulled the drain plug, the water didn't swirl and emptied straight out the bottom of the sink.  She picked up the sink and moved it about 5 feet to the south and repeated the experiment.  As expected, the water swirled clockwise as it drained.  The same experiment performed 5 feet north of the equator had the water draining in a counter clockwise direction.

The last demonstration had each of us attempting to balance and egg on the head of a nail that was placed on the equator.  Supposedly it is very, very difficult to do this either side of the equator but due to the balanced forces there, it makes it possible.  I wasn't able to do it but Karen was able to do it right away and received a certificate to prove it.

As our time was getting tight we continued on our tour where the guide wrapped up showing us some exhibits of early tribal life including a real human shrunken head, a practice that didn't end until early in the 20th century.

A kiss from half a world away

Leaving the museum we turned east and after a few miles we turned off the highway and began to climb up to the edge of the Pululahua Volcano Caldera.  The story is that this is the only volcanic crater in the world where people actually live inside the Caldera.  We couldn't really tell as the cloud layer that day obscured any attempt to see the crater floor.

After leaving the volcano, we continued east on a beautiful winding highway as we descended down through the Cloudforest.  Traffic was light and we really enjoyed the relaxed ride and the views.  The tour operator had recommended the Los Armadillos Cafe for a lunch break.  As we closed in on the waypoint on the GPS, a small cinder block home/cafe? appeared on the edge of the dropoff.  This is where we were to have lunch.  Capital OMG. How impressed we were.  Once inside the open air seating, we had spectacular views across the valley and were immediately surrounded by dozens and dozens of hummingbirds of all shapes, sizes and species imaginable.  And the food!! It got a second OMG!  This meal set the bar for the rest of the trip as most everyplace that we went was just as good.

Wrapping up the short ride for the day, we continued down the road for our turn-off to Mindo where our lodge was for the night. We had the option of an off-road route but we were getting tired and stayed on the highway.  Talking to the Canadians later that night proved to be the right choice as they said the gravel road was quite rough.  The El Septimo Paraiso Eco Cloudforest Lodge was short ways off the road in the middle of the Cloudforest.  It was nice to get to our room and get out of the riding gear and relax before heading down to happy hour and dinner.  We enjoyed several beers and laughed with the Canadians while enjoying an awesome pair of pizzas. I think the dinner and drinks set us back all of about $25.  We were so happy that the staff found us a fan for our room as it was a little stuffy in there.  It didn't take long for us to drift off to sleep.

Welcome to the Jungle

Oh, what a great start to this adventure.  We had an early start the next day as it would be our longest day on the bike in terms of miles.  The route sheet showed it to be 187 miles but it would be all paved.  What we would normally cover in about 3-4 hours was expected to take almost 10.

Until the next day...enjoy!