Same great roads, less corners. That was our introduction to Ecuador. Several hrs. south of the border we ran into Quebec Sammy, a fellow motorcycle enthusiast from Montreal area. He briefed us on outsmarting the Lima, Peru police by staying in the center lane of two-lane traffic .Not making eye contact with the police if they attempt to pull you over. It seems they are very corrupt and will use any excuse to force you to pay a bribe. He however was pinched by the police and after some 2 hrs. finally got his passport back without having to pay a bribe. He said he got into a physical altercation with the police, they pushing him around.We entered Ibarra, the base for Carol's last year of anthropology some ten years previous. She had worked with indigenous women setting up a co-operative in a town 20 minutes from Ibarra. We visited the foundation the next day and Carol took a trip down memory lane with one of the ladies that remembered her. Some of the elders had past on while others had moved away. Kids she recalled now had children of their own. Carol reminisced for about an hr. and we then headed back to Ibarra.
We stayed at the Hostal El Portal, a recently refurbished hotel, excellent beds, plenty of hot water, multiple English channels on TV and secure parking around the corner. All for $16 a night.
I always enjoy eating at the market, the smells, sounds and sights. a sensory overload. I had a feed of pulled pork while Carol had chicken soup washed down with blackberry juice. Once again laundry was on the menu and that took up several hrs.
From Ibarra we made our way down to Quito and found a great hostal, Loro Verde in New Town. They let us park our bikes in their yard and were very accomodating later when we needed to store our belongings for the trip to the Galapagos Islands. We met up with several bikers from the Panama boat ride and caught up on things. With Aaron and Robert we went to Mitad del Mundo, the Equator marker, and took some photograghs. According to Robert's GPS the actual marker is off by 71 ft. Close I guess by late 1700 standards. Carol and I both got altitude headaches, the marker being close to 10,000 ft.
The day before we befriended Sylvain and Curt, co-owners of Freedom Bike Rentals. They rent scooters, pedal bikes, KLR's, Suzuki and BMW1200's. They even have GPS guided tours of the city, very friendly guys. As it turned out we booked a trip for the Galapagos but had nowhere to store our bikes. That's when Sylvain came to our rescue and we stored our bikes in his showroom for 6 days, all free of charge.
While in Quito we also went to the national museum and viewed the history of Ecuador thru the awesome display of ceramics and precious metals. Prior tto the Incas the indigenous people were well versed in the arts of gold, copper and silversmithing, along with inlaying of semi-precious stones.
Carol and I had one of the best meals ever in our lives at Rincon del Gaucho, an Argentinian grill house. We both had baked potato with a huge portion of beef, grilled and then served on it's own brazier to keep it hot while removing forkful after forkful of the most tender and juicy piece of flesh I've eaten to date. The room had memorabilia from bull-fights as well as various grilling apparatus adorning the walls. When one eats 2-3 meals a day prepared by others, many not worth the effort, it is very special to have a meal such as this. Even with the strong Oriental influence in Ecuador many restaurants can not prepare Chinese food very well. The food is not very good, but the portions are large.