Quito, Ecuador via Peru to Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia, a little cycle, simple. Except, we have no support vehicle, we have to carry all our equipment on the bikes, there is the small issue of the Andes in the way, the majority of the route is at an altitude of 3000m + with passes over 4500m, temperatures below -15, wild rabid dogs, living off only guinea pigs, 3 day stints without water or food, off-road, waist deep rivers, no nail polish for Amanda and only 3 weeks to plan due to Will's inability to decide on which adventure would be 'challenging enough'. If you would like to support us, please visit the fundraising page on this blog. We are supporting a fantastic charity called SOS childrens villages which helps children all over the world to be brought up in a family environment which we have been lucky enough to take for granted.







Friday, May 28, 2010

Day 3 - Quito to Ambato - A little incident

***Parents - do not read this one***
So the main reason for moving hostel in Quito (apart from Will being a cheapskate) was to position ourselves near the bus terminal for an early getaway 2 hrs down the PanAmerican highway to Ambato, a good spot to start pedalling. But chatting with the owner in dodgy spanglish we discovered that a lovely new bus terminal had just been inaugurated 20kms away south of the city! The sweet man was fearful for our lives to cycle there on the dreaded highway and tried to persuade a tram driver to let our bikes on board but to no avail. So off we set, with the tram lines as our guide on a smelly, noisy but drama-free journey to proudly arrive at Quitumbe terminal in one piece. Having been warned about the dangers of pickpockets on all buses / stations, we carefully locked our bikes underneath the bus and got ourselves on complete with 5 bags each plus helmets and water bottles - no easy task amidst the masses - though a smiley armed security guard did help me with my water bottles ;)

Very relieved to have made it we were then quite impressed with the bus with its comfy seats and latino soundtrack. Not so impressed a couple of hours later when Will opened his handlebar bag that had been on the floor between his feet to find a big empty space where his camera had been. I quickly opened mine to discover the same. Worse still, for some reason that only Will can justify, his money belt was also in the bag meaning he lost mucho dinero, credit cards and aaghhh his passport!! So feeling like the ridiculous naive tourists we were, it was off to the nearest internet cafe to try and get everything cancelled and call the embassy. It was then getting dark and we had to find a hotel in this non-tourist town where we weren't supposed to stay and no-one could offer any direction apart from the helpful advice of es peligroso (dangerous) for you sticking out like sore thumbs with all your gear on your bikes so please leave...!
Anyway I won't bore you with all the horrible details but we eventually found a place with a bed where we could plot our next move, it could have been a lot worse but it didn't feel like it at the time :(
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