Ecuador 2022 - Cloudforest, Coast and Craters Tour - Day 6 - Banos to Chugchilan

We woke up a bit slow this morning as the trip was starting to wear us down a bit.  Now I understood why there are built in "rest days" on some of the other trips.  I wish that we had the option to just stay in Banos for an extra night.  Regardless, we had about 114 miles to cover today which doesn't sound like a lot but on this trip it was going to be 7-8 hours of saddle time.  We rolled out of bed and set out for our morning search for coffee.  Once again, our hotel served us a filling and tasty breakfast.

The night before we had noticed a line of lights leading up the mountain across the river from us that ended in what looked like a cluster of buildings on top of the mountain.  We didn't know it at the time that this would be our route leaving town.

Crossing the Rio Pastaza leaving Banos

We set out at 9am and made our way north through the still sleepy town and crossed the bridge leading to the Via Las Antenas, the Road to the Antennas. That squiggly line to the right was a single lane cobblestone road that climbed over 3000 ft in only 4 miles!!  Guard rails? Who needs guard rails? Those are for sissies.  This was the one time the entire trip that I wasn't sure if my riding skills were up to the task.  I was really nervous since we were doing this steep ascent 2-up.  I have to compliment Karen in that she kept absolutely frozen (out of fear?) on the back of the bike and didn't cause any balance issues. It's also the reason that there are no photos or videos. It may sound silly but it took us 45 minutes to cover just these 4 miles.

When we finally did reach the top we were blessed with a front porch view of the Tungurahua Volcano.  This is a very active volcano that routinely spews ash and gasses.  Unfortunately, once again the persistent cloud layer blocked our view of the summit.

The spot we were in boasts several locations where you can sit in large swings and be pushed out over the ledge.  No way no how was I going to do that.  Karen had a fun conversation with the local cafe owner who was trying to teach Karen how to say Tungurahua.  Unsuccessful. lol.

One hour down and we've covered 4 miles, only 110 to go.  Continuing along the Via Las Antenas, we started our descent in an area of rural farmlands.  It was just lovely.

We were somewhat curious as to what was being grown in all of the greenhouses out on the farms.  This area was obviously the corn belt of Ecuador as the fields were filled with enormous stalks.

We made our way down into the small towns of Patate and Pillaro, bypassing the large city of Ambato.  It was such a relief to stay out on the rural roadways.

Once we reached San Miguel de Salcedo, I was having difficulty following the exact route through the small city.  This actually turned out to be a blessing as we ventured into parts of the city that were so culturally enlightening.  Safe by all means but so authentic.

Needing a potty break and to stretch our legs I spotted a small clown figure on the sidewalk next to a micromercado, a small family roadside store.  The clown figure indicated that they served ice cream which is what this area was known for.  Just across the road was a park with some public restrooms but, of course, there was an attendant expecting a quarter for each of us to visit.

The street that we stopped on was also where all the city schools were located and it was siesta time where all of the kids go home for lunch.  It was a pleasure to see the children in their varying school uniforms walking in small groups.  The child of the mercado owners took over attending the store during lunch while mom left to run errands.  The picture below is my favorite of the trip capturing Karen enjoying her real-deal coconut ice cream.

Enjoying a roadside snack

Following our break, he continued heading west down the street on our way to the Pan American Highway.  The GPS track, unfortunately, had not accounted for a one-way street where a policeman was guarding the road as it was still dismissal time for the elementary school up the street.  We finally got turned around and had to improvise our way out to the main road leading to the highway.  Upon reaching the highway, we had our first experience of high speed travel for the trip along the Pan American which can be quite crowded at times.  Fortunately, we only had to go about 15 miles north where we exited for the next segment of the day.

For the next 24 hours we would be traveling on the Quilotoa Loop, a scenic route north that avoids the Pan American.  We had to go trough the small city of Pujili that wasn't too bad.  The city center included a park with an impressive stairway up to the top of a hill overlooking the city.  Given that we were already at 9,000 ft elevation, we decided to pass on climbing the stairs that day.  Maybe someday. Not!  Below is also a picture of the local school bus as it was time for the children to head back to school for the afternoon session.

Leaving Pujili we began to climb again into the Andes ranges where vast farms and ranches existed.  Many of the farmers lived in semi-dugout thatched homes.  It also got quite cold again so we stopped to add layers.

High Altitude Grasslands on Quilotoa Loop

Photo Credit: Google Maps

One interesting and sort of sad aspect of this area, it was also known as the Perro Highway.  For the next 30 miles or so, dogs would sit on the side of the road, or even in the gutters, waiting for food to be tossed out of passing cars.  They were everywhere. Literally, hundreds of them along the way.  We didn't understand why they were there until we caught up to a delivery truck that would toss out small bread rolls for each waiting dog.  Certainly mixed feelings about it.  This reminded us of when we were told that animals and pets are treated very well in Ecuador.  Stray animals become the community's pets and residents voluntarily share food with them.  Seeing all the dogs on the highway had us dreading seeing ones that had been hit by passing vehicles.  Thankfully, we did not see one dead or injured dog during our time there. 

We continued on our way deep into the mountains and passing through several small towns.  I guess this brings up the time to talk about a negative about riding around in Latin America.  Muros, or as they are known in other countries as Topes, are large (sometimes extremely large) speedbumps that are placed at each end of town and sometimes in the middle of town.  In Ecuador, they are mostly marked quite well but there isn't a real uniform size or signage to alert drivers.  In some areas, business owners might build their own muros in front of their shops to encourage people to stop and shop.  Some muros were quite large which would cause the bottom of the motorcycle to scrape hard.  I would often have to do a serpentine crossing to hopefully minimize the scraping.  We only had one occurrence of where I missed seeing the muro and hit it a faster speed than was prudent.  Fortunately, it didn't launch Karen off the back but I still suffered the consequences of my lack of attention.

All along this route we could view the Chimborazo Volcano to the south as well as several other smaller volcanoes in the area.  Each provided its own majestic scenery.  As we closed in on our turn for the Loop in Zumbahua, we could make out the edges of a large ancient caldera.

Rim of an old collapsed caldera

Turning north we continued across the plateau and then started the ascent up the moderately sized Quilotoa Volcano to reach Laguna Quilotoa, Ecuador's version of Crater Lake. After paying the $2 entrance fee we proceeded into the park where we were warned to ignore all the "parking attendants" and ride past them to a specific spot on the rim.  The spot was just past the parking lot on a very potholed dirt path so Karen hopped off and walked the last 100 yards to the spot.  We were not disappointed with the effort. Absolutely beautiful.

The obligatory selfie on the rim of Laguna Quilotoa

We were a bit cold and hungry at this point as it was approaching 4:00 in the afternoon so we returned to the small summit village and found a small restaurant open in a fairly new structure.  A sign outside advertised hot chocolate and we were hooked. The owner/chef provided us a menu in Spanish and I could make out some soup offerings that sounded good.  We probably wouldn't have dinner for another few hours so we decided we'd have a small bowl each.  Holy cow.  Karen had this cheese soup with potato and an avocado, called Locro de Papa, and I ordered a chicken soup that came with a quarter chicken and a mashed potato ball.  We also each had a genuine hot chocolate that was simply awsome.  The total bill came to $12.  Wow!

Once warmed up and filled up, we ventured back outside to complete the 15 miles to our night's accommodations in Chugchilan. The road paralleled a magnificent gorge that seemed to go on forever.  Straight vertical walls for hundreds of feet.  About 3 miles from Chugchilan, the road put us in for a surprise.  A large barrier had been erected on a downhill slope that didn't have any notice or signage to warn you about it.  The detour pointed us off to the left onto a dirt path, not even gravel, that continued the descent down into the riverbed at the bottom of the gorge.  This was the one spot where I almost lost control when the front wheel washed out in some deep sand.  Fortunately I was able to keep us upright as we climbed back up to the roadway.  Apparently the bridge over the gorge had collapsed and was being rebuilt.  Whew.

We finished the day in Chugchilan with our arrival at Mama Hilda's Lodge.  Like many properties, the street view ain't much but once you pass through the portal you're greeted with a bit of paradise.  The grounds were stunning.  Our hostess instantly fell in love with Karen (really Karen's blonde hair) and did so much to make us feel welcome.  Our room was at the far end of the property where we could pull the bike right up next to it.  It was spacious with plenty of blankets and an awesome view across the valley.  After getting cleaned up we wandered back down to the main building where other guests were chillin in the bar/reading room.  It was really quiet and peaceful around the big roaring fireplace.  The whiskey collection was quite impressive I must say.  The included dinner was served at 7:30pm and was just as amazing as all the other meals that we experienced on the trip.  After dinner we retired straight to our room and passed out shortly after.  It was another incredible day.

Our beautiful room at Mama Hilda's