PowerCycle

11/30 Hola Ecuador and adios Colombia! I can’t say I’ll miss Colombia that much but I did get to see a couple really unique places that I’ll remember for a long time. I’m certainly not going to miss the stares of death, the crazy drivers or the insane dogs.

Crossing the border was easy. I got a little nervous on the Colombian side because the immigration area is up some stairs so my bike was out of sight. The money changers kept an eye on it for me. They tend to do everything possible to help as long as you remember to come back to them when its time to exchange currencies. Ecuador uses the US dollar which suits me fine since I’ll be needing them in 8 days.

It wouldn’t be a normal day unless something broke and sure enough I lost another spoke on the rear wheel. It happened yesterday. I just didn’t realize it even though thinking back I did hear something weird but just thought I ran something over. The wheel stayed true so it wasn’t until this morning that I happened to catch that one had snapped up near the nipple.

This is about the worst thing that could have happened because now I know the wheel is crap. The further south I go the less likely I’m going to run into decent bike shops which means I have to deal with this quickly. I just wish I knew why they were breaking. This bike manual PDF I have says a million things could cause it which helps a lot. I’m either going to find a really good bike mechanic in Quito to check it, take a repair course in Florida so I can fix it myself or order a brand new wheel. The only people I know that build good wheels are the criminals that sold me the bike in the first place. Maybe I can get someone else to order it so they don’t know its for me.

Froze my butt off today. I’m still up at 9500 feet and its a bit chilly. No rain though.

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11/29 After a layover in the town of El Pedregal, I’m now 1.5 miles from the border with Ecuador. Tomorrow morning I’ll cross over and continue on to Quito where a flight to Florida awaits me. I had 6 days left of my 60 in Colombia so my timing was good.

Ipiales is at 9500 feet so when the sun started going down it got cold fast. The pizza place I had dinner at actually had a heater inside. That was pretty sweet. The rain hit right when I got into the city which kind of sucked because there are a lot of hotels so I didn’t get to shop around. Staying at the Hotel Belmonte for $6. They have shared bathrooms but th shower had hot water so whatever.

Climbing up here from Pasto wasn’t too bad but there’s a stretch just before Ipiales that was a bit steep. Stopped and had lunch at a nice roadside restaurant where I met a Canadian guy riding a BMW motorcycle around South America. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen any motorcycle touring guys.

My bike seat broke today. Luckily it didn’t break in a way that infringed on my manliness. The padded part that you sit on broke off from the medal supports that attach to the seat post. It was still rideable, I just had to be careful not to slide around on it. It lasted longer than I expected for a $5 purchase back up in Mazatlan, Mexico. Found a bike shop in town who happened to have one that is almost identical to the old one. It was only $5 too.

I’ve been really thinking about trying to get over and see the Amazon River. Unless something crazy happens I doubt I’m going to go to the Galapagos Islands. It’s too expensive and I keep reading how tourism is becoming a major problem so the river would be a good side trip. I just need to find a way to get over there. I’d love to ride but I don’t think that’s possible. There’s a Colombian city called Leticia that sits on the banks of the river and also happens to share a border with Peru and Brazil. They have lots of river tours available which would be amazing. I could also walk over to Brazil which I hadn’t planned on going to.

Saw on the news that Leslie Nielsen died. That sucks. He was a riot. The Wikileaks thing is all over the news down here. I guess the Colombian government had some documents leaked too. I love how the US government is all up in arms about private diplomatic conversations being exposed yet they don’t seem too concerned about the rights of individuals being taken away (illegal wiretapping and domain name seizures for example).

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11/27 Shacked up in Pasto at the Koala Inn. Nice place. It has wifi, hot showers, TV, comfy beds and it was only $9. Got here at 11:30am and just beat the rain. I’m glad because it’s chilly enough at 8500 feet.

I wouldn’t mind staying tomorrow and relaxing since I built a couple rest days into the December 5th date for Quito. We’ll see.

The Lonely Planet guide for Colombia kind of ripped this city a little. Here’s what they wrote:

Pastusos also have a dubious reputation among other Colombians and often find themselves at the butt of many light-bulb jokes – fortunately they are good-humored about it and will happily tell you the latest gag.

I haven’t noticed anything different about people here. It’s a big city (pop. 420,000)–there are probably stupid people here just like every other city in the world. The city itself, especially in the central area, is actually rather nice.

Colombia (or some local team) won a big soccer game and people are going crazy. It’s been like this for over 2 hours now.

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11/26 I think I can, I think I can. Got a big fat 15 miles in today at a brisk average speed of 5mph. Still on track for a Colombian departure in 3 days if these climbs don’t get too much crazier. I’ve been trying not to do more than 4000 feet a day in this section but it sure keeps the miles down when it’s all up hill. It kind of worked out since the rain started early and I was already checked into a place for the night.

The hotel last night was brutal. Imagine the scene from Indiana Jones when the bugs were so thick on the floor that you couldn’t even see it. It wasn’t quite that bad but as the night wore on they pretty much took over the floor, walls and ceiling. I was too scared to go in the bathroom. They weren’t cockroaches but it didn’t matter. They were small, dark and crunchy. Instead of sleeping in the tent I used my mosquito netting and sprayed Off! around the legs of the bed so nothing would crawl up and try to snuggle with me. Worked out OK but I was glad to get out of there.

Not too much going on in Chachagui. I’m in a hotel along the PanAm for $6.50. The trucks going by make the whole building shake. No wonder there are so many landslides here. The restaurant next door serves the best homemade hot sauce. The only internet in the small mountain towns is via USB modems using cell data links. Ping times are 4000ms plus so trying to do anything (like email people back) is next to impossible. I still have to get my plane tickets too.

Found out the border between Ecuador and Colombia is closed on Sunday which is OK because I won’t be there until Tuesday. Here’s why:

My dear friends, for those of you cycling into Ecuador this Sunday it is important to note that our borders will be close due to the National Census; and for those of you all ready inside the country, please notice that there will be a restriction to leave your hotels or places of accommodation and to move freely on the streets or roads from 07h00 to 17h00 of that day.

Thanks to Luis for posting it on the PamAm Riders group.

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