After a wonderful Christmas vacation with my family and friends I’m back in Ecuador. Big thanks to my Aunt Leigh Ann, Uncle Alan and cousin Zach for letting me crash at their place for 3 weeks. Their new couch was a perfect fit, the home-cooked meals were amazing and the wifi was always there when I needed it. 
Getting here didn’t go very smoothly. I missed on the Copa web site that they don’t accept boxes for transport during December. I had to run over to a place that sells luggage and buy a $28 duffel bag that I’ll never use again. I’ll try to sell that before I leave.
The next problem happened after I repacked everything into the duffel bag and was tying to get my boarding pass. The lady asked me for proof that I was leaving the country since I was flying in on a one-way ticket. Of course I didn’t have proof since I’m going to be riding a bike out of the country. She ended up getting on the phone with her “manager” and getting an OK after I explained what I was doing.
The flight was smooth. Landed at 11pm and walked across the street to a hotel. I’m staying with a warmshowers.org host for the next couple nights. Not sure if I am going to stay for New Year’s. It would be nice to spend it with the family where I’m staying, especially since they have been so nice and have sooooo many computer problems to keep me busy. I’m very stir crazy from not having been on the bike for so long and would love to be back on the road.
I really need to plan out the next few months. If I started now I’d get to the bottom of Argentina on July 4th. That’s right in the middle of winter and the average high is 32 F (0 C). I’d be OK heading south until I got to northern Chile but then I’d have to stop lest I freeze to death. I kind of want to ride this new highway that runs from Peru to Brazil but getting a visa for Brazil sounds like it’s going to be a pain. What I’ll probably end up doing is hanging around in Ecuador/Bolivia for 3 months.
This afternoon I went over to a bike shop and had my new tires installed (same ones I had before–Schwalbe). After considerable effort they were able to fix my bike sandal for me. One of the screws that holds the clipless metal thing onto the bottom was stripped. 2nd time this happened. I need to unscrew them more often and grease them up. The pedals are shot but I bought some new ones in Florida so I’ll install them before I leave.
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