July 27, 2018 – July 30, 2018
We decided to head back inland. Surprisingly, given that we were at sea level and not very far from the equator, it was cool in Puerto Lopez (the cold humboldt current from the south moderates the coastal temperature), and we were anxious to get back to the mountains. We headed towards MtChimborazo.
We drove through banana plantations and rice fields for a hundred or so kilometres before the road began to climb back into the mountains.
We spent one night in the yard of a small hotel where for $5 US we had use of a bathroom and electricity. The flower gardens were impressive!
Alstroemerias, a bit bigger that what we buy in Canada, the blossoms on this one being about 7-8 cm in diameter…one of Derek’s Mom’s favourite flowers.
The next morning as we drove we began to get views of Chimborazo.
Seymour posing with Chimborazo
Chimborazo, at 6,268 metres (20, 548 feet) is the highest mountain in Ecuador. Interestingly, Chimborazo is also the point on earth that is closest to the sun. While Everest is the highest mountain measured from mean sea level, due to the equatorial bulge of the earth, Chimborazo is furthest from the centre of the earth. Here’s some facts about it copied from Wikipedia:
Despite being 2,585 m (8,481 ft) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6,384.4 km (3,967.1 mi) from the Earth’s center, 2,163 m (7,096 ft) farther than the summit of Everest (6,382.3 km (3,965.8 mi) from the Earth’s center)
There were vicuna grazing on the lower slopes of the volcano.
We drove to the visitor centre, where I bought a pair of alpaca wool socks from these two ladies….sometimes I feel like a giant.
Many women in Ecuador continue to dress in their traditional clothing.
We then walked along a dusty road to get a closer look at the volcano, which last erupted in 550 AD. We had driven from the beach the previous day, and I was really feeling the effects of being back at elevation.
The glacier on the summit.
The view down the valley.
We headed on to the village of Quisapincha where I had read that there was shop after shop of leather goods. Our mapping software suggested a short cut, and after seeing that the road was paved, we decided to take it.
The start of the road was through beautiful, green farmland, dotted with holstein cows, through which a beautiful river ran. As we drove, canyon walls crept up beside us. It was an unexpectedly beautiful drive.
We arrived on the outskirts of Ambato, a city of about 165,000 people, set deep in the valley between several peaks. Our mapping app suggested a route that would skirt the edge of the city….great! Avoiding city driving is always preferable in a truck that is sometimes wider than the lanes.
We ended up on a road that was so steep, that the tires were slipping and screeching on the pavement as we dodged in and around cars parked on the hill, leaving sometimes little space in between. Luckily we made it, but it was a pretty intense few minutes as we climbed up and out of the city.
We did end up buying some leather, Derek a jacket and me a new bag for my computer.
We managed to drive back through Ambato without having to drive back down the road we had taken on the way to Quisapincha. We were heading towards Banos, and I had found a place on iOverlander that seemed nice. It was outside of the town, on a bank along the river, and the mapping software estimated that we would get there about 5:30 in the afternoon, about an hour before it would start getting dark.
The drive to Banos was beautiful. The road runs high above a wide, green, fertile river valley. We were approaching Banos and needed to cross the river to get to our camping spot for the night. “Here, turn here!”, I said. “Here?”, Derek said incredulously, as the road appeared very narrow. In we turned, and I looked down at the phone to realize that I had told Derek to turn onto a dead end street that was 20 metres before the actual turn off. And it was narrow. And there were cars parked along it. And there appeared to be no where to turn around. Backing out was not an option as the highway we had turned off of was busy with high speed traffic. So, Derek drove in further. At the end of the road was a hostel, and with the assistance of a local, Derek perfected a 10 or 12 point turn and got us out, back on our route.
On the correct road, we crossed a chasm in the river on a narrow bridge (“Did you see any load rating for that bridge?”) and followed a paved road that soon took on the appearance of a paved golf cart trail. We came to the gate of the campground, and found it securely locked with a chain. Great. There was no room to turn around, so Derek again drove on until he could find a small grassy ledge hanging over the river in which he could, again, perform remarkable feats with a huge truck and a small space.
We headed into Banos, where we found parking in the grassy lot of a restaurant/hotel that welcomes overlanders.
Cascada de la Virgen in the town of Banos.
A little, flapped window in the mural allowed this dog to go crazy, barking at people passing by.
It was pretty rainy while we were in Banos. We walked around the town, Derek saying that it reminded him a bit of how Banff was when he was a kid. We went out for a nice dinner. There were waterfalls to visit, a possibility to see a recently active volcano (that we never even got a glimpse of through the clouds), hiking to do and thermal pools to soak in, but we were uninspired, largely due to the rain. And so we packed up after two nights and headed for the city of Cuenca.