Ecuador 2022 - Cloudforest, Coast and Craters Tour - Day 3 - Canoa to Quevedo

The route sheet for today indicated the route would be about 117 miles to Quevedo and suggested that we enjoy the morning in Canoa and depart around 11am.  Since yesterday was our long day, we decided to sleep in a bit and take our time.  I wandered down to the restaurant and retrieved some coffee to get the day started.

After the jolt from the strong Ecuadorian coffee took affect, Karen and I went back to the restaurant for breakfast.  After sitting down the house parrot, Ziggy, decided that he would welcome us to the new day.  He flew down from his perch up high to the bar counter and gave me the judgement stare before hopping over onto my shoulder, traversed across the back of my neck and finally settled down onto my wrist.  He wasn't particularly vocal other than the occasional "Hola."  After a small nibble on my ear, that was enough and he returned up to his perch to oversee our food preparation.

In keeping with the expectations already experienced on this trip, my breakfast dish of Huevos Rancheros was just out of this world.  I don't normally eat guacamole so you know that this had to be good if I gobbled it all down.  This was definitely the best breakfast of the trip.

After breakfast we took the suggestion of the tour operator and went for a morning swim in the Pacific Ocean.  We were expecting cold, cold water but it was actually just perfect.  With the beach so incredibly flat we were able to enjoy a good hour of body surfing and splashing in the waves.  Our Canadian friends, Arian and Anthony, also joined us for a splash.  They were spending a rest day in Canoa so we would be traveling solo from here on out.

After a great morning playing in the ocean, we got our gear together and loaded up on the motorcycle.  Given the load we were putting on the bike, the tour operator suggested that we take the paved route today as the off road option was particularly knarly, so I understand.  Even so, we were warned that the road conditions today would be challenging.  Indeed, this was the only day were we ran into some really bad road conditions.  "Paved" should really mean "Mostly Paved" on this route.

The route had us moving further south along the coastal highway to San Vincente where we crossed a large bridge spanning the small bay at the mouth of the Rio Chone where an extensive network of shrimp farms existed.  Just out of town we turned east and headed back inland along the river. The highway was set high up on the cliffs offering a stunning view of the shrimp farms and surrounding area.  Continuing towards Tosaqua the roads deteriorated as warned and we had to be especially careful of gravel and construction debris in the roadway.  

The biggest change that we noticed as we ventured inland was the substantial rise in temperature.  On the coast the temps were pleasantly in the high 70's but 50 miles in the temps rose up into the lower 90's.  With the rise in temperature the land use changed to tree crops such as banana, palm and sugar cane. The landscape through Tosaqua and on to Calceta was gentle rolling hills with lots of agricultural activity.

As we rolled into Calceta apparently the local school was letting out for the midday meal and siesta.  Children in their matching school uniforms were walking everywhere and parents were arriving and departing with their cares.  We were both succumbing to the heat so we found a shade covered spot on the side of the main road leaving town and shut down for a quick bottle of water.  As we were enjoying our break, we had to laugh at the ingenuity of the locals including family transportation.  In the picture below a family of four have just picked up their daughter from school all on a small 100cc motorcycle.  Little brother was in front of dad straddling the gas tank as the little girl was barely hanging on to the back.  She epitomized the friendliness of the whole country with her wave back to us.

A family of four after picking up the daughter from school

Leaving Calceta our route led us off onto a secondary road heading up into a small coastal mountain range offering a respite from the oppressive heat at the lower elevations.  However, the price was some of the most deteriorated road on the trip. Our pre-trip briefing had warned us of this 40ish mile stretch and it certainly lived up to the expectation.  Some parts were good pavement but we had to the cognizant of the sudden changes in pavement quality and the ever present construction materials piled up on the edges. 

Sadly, this was also an area of extreme poverty with families living in structures made out of whatever materials that they could find. We didn't see many people out due to the time of day but it definitely appeared to be a very, very poor part of the country.

Once we passed this stretch of roadway, we met up with the main highway from the east heading into Quevedo which was our destination for the night.  This was our truly first encounter with the chaotic Ecuadorian traffic in cities.  It was absolute NUTS.  But it worked.  Traffic flowed but you had to be 360 aware at all times because the lines on the pavement were only suggestions at best.  Filtering through traffic is expected on a motorcycle and can lead to its own problems if you fail to do so.  Putting on an Ecuadorian face I weaved and maneuvered the big Suzuki through the traffic and made steady progress. I swear Karen just sat frozen on the back with her eyes closed the entire time.

Adding to the joy of all this was a major bridge construction project just as we were within a mile of our destination and, of course, the Garmin GPS knew nothing about it.  After pulling to the curb for a minute to clear my mind, I found a suitable alternate route and followed some locals that obviously knew about it as well.

Arriving at our pre-arranged hotel for the night, Hotel Olympico, we both heaved a sigh of relief for surviving the day.  While maybe not the most scenic of days, it was fulfilling in a different sense as we really were immersed into rural Ecuadorian life. This was a cultural experience that we, citizens of the United States, simply cannot understand without being here and becoming more aware of just how good we have it.

The claim to fame for the Hotel Olympico is its Olympic sized swimming pool built for an international event hosted in Ecuador last century.  After cleaning up in our AIR CONDITIONED room Karen and I headed down for a much needed dip in the pool before dinner.  Our briefing suggested a certain Chinese food restaurant in the large Chinese ex-pat community so we braved a cab ride out to the restaurant where the experience was so-so followed by another adventurous cab ride back to the hotel. 

Tomorrow was promised to be a highlight day so we dropped into bed and passed out immediately.  The a/c was a nice addition and the only hotel on our tour to have it.