Ecuador Sur
After the departure from Cotopaxi, it goes through Farmland in the direction of Laguna Quilotoa. It goes up again to 4,000 meters in altitude. Even so high up, arable farming is still practiced. The slopes are so steep that it is only possible by hand.
In the small town of Isinliví we can camp in the garden of a beautiful lodge.
At sunset, real action was going on in the garden, there was a black-tailed sylph hummingbird, a golden grosbeak and a black flowerpiercer - all comrades that we have not yet had in front of the lens.
In the morning the weather was still on our side. But when we arrived at the Laguna Quilotoa volcanic crater in the afternoon, the sky was dark like the night and it started to rain for the whole night. At night we had to move once because we were almost drunk and then one of our alarm systems also made a warning sound. We didn't think anything about it, because it happens more often due to wind or rain. In the morning, however, we saw that a mouse somehow made its way into Michelle's handlebar bag and enjoyed her trail mix.
The rain is over and we have a beautiful view over the crater lake.
What really catches our eye in Ecuador is, of course, this impressive varied landscape, but also that a domestic pig really lives in every garden.
Our next volcano should actually be Chimborazo. On the climb to the base camp at 4,850 meters of altitude, Michelle suddenly complained of chest pain and her lips suddenly turned blue. Felix was also quite gasping for air and his nose was still tight. We immediately made our way down, but Michelle's pain didn't go away. The next day it didn't get any better and a doctor recommended us to go to the hospital in Quito. So we took the bus back to the capital for 5 hours and in the hospital there was the full program of examinations. Fortunately, nothing serious could be found. The doctors suspected that when we had such a bad cold in Panama, it was Corona and that the lungs were often overloaded to 4,000 meters in altitude by all the effort. So we were tied to the bed in Quito for some time again.
We cured and so this time really well and decided not to go full throttle again as we went further south. We also wanted to follow the advice of the doctors not to cycle straight back into the thin air. However, this is not so easy in Ecuador and so we camped the first night again at 3,500 altitude meters.
In a magazine, Michelle read an Ecuadorian proverb: "If you don't know the city of Loja, you don't know Ecuador." However, we didn't find it very exciting there.
We feel strong again and we like the constantly changing landscape in the south of Ecuador very much. We don't mind some rain showers either.
The sweet village of Vilcabamba at the foot of Cerro Mandango (sleeping Inca) is quite famous. It was even the cover of National Geographic magazine. Many of the residents are well over 100 years old, many even older than 120 years. The area is therefore also called the „Valley of Longevity“. In order to get a few years, we refresh ourselves at the village square with a local mineral water.
In the very small village of Yangana in the middle of nowhere we felt very comfortable right away, the villagers were all very friendly and gave us food and we were able to camp at the village square. They are probably so relaxed there because they react in the local cockfight arena at the weekend. First of all, we also wanted to make a bet to increase our holiday fund. But when we learned that the weaker "Gallo" usually dies in the process, it was a little too brutal for us and we preferred to enjoy the surrounding landscape.
We come to the region around the Podocarpus National Park. It is called a megadiverse zone, an area with a high degree of endemic species. It is a meeting place between four ecological systems: Northern Andes, Southern Andes, Amazon and Pacific. The road from here are deserted, we only encounter a handful of cars per day.
We discover a lot of birds, we are very proud of a portrait of the Green Jay, also called Inca.
A Blue-necked Tanager have also been shown up.
A Golden Tanager.
The Vermilion Flycatcher.
A Saffron Finch.
The Speckled Chachalaca.
A Blue-grey Tanager.
The whistling Pacific Hornero.
A Black Phoebe.
And a lot of Social Flycatcher.
Shortly before the border with Peru, we saw a plant on the side of the road that we had not seen before. But we quickly found out that it was cane sugar (Caña). On the wayside we could see how the pole plant is processed. When we looked interested, we immediately got a cup in our hands and were allowed to try it - tastes sugar-sweet.
Some climbs here in the south are quite brutal. The elevation profile looks like a saw blade and not infrequently the climbing passages are over 14%. We are often quite done in the evening.
We have been meeting a traveler again for a long time. But not on a bicycle this time. The boy from London (unfortunately forgotten his name) has been pushing his off-road Thule stroller across the continent for over a year.
At the next river crossing in the small border town of La Balsa and past the local gold panner, we come to Peru. Unfortunately, we only got a permit for 90 days, which is quite sporty for our planned route. However, we are very much looking forward to the southern Andes.
