This is a newsletter from Family on Bikes. The family of four is currently cycling the Pan American Highway from Alaska to Argentina as the 12-year-old twin boys attempt to break the world record as the youngest cyclists to bike the entire Pan Am. See a slide show of the journey here.
February 7, 2010
We’re on the move again – finally! After five weeks in Pimampiro we hit the road for a week until we reached Quito, where we fell into a black hole again. Our intention had been to continue south for the next month, find a place to stash our bikes, and return to Quito to hang out with John’s mom when she arrived in Ecuador. Intentions are great things, but have this tendency to….well, remain intentions only.
Upon our arrival in the Quito area we headed over to the house of some of our readers – Steve and Maria. Steve, who works at the British School, arranged for us to give a presentation to their students. And, seeing as how we were there immediately before Christmas break, one of the teachers asked us to housesit for her while she went to Mexico.
We enjoyed our time hanging out in Tumbaco. Tori had four dogs and two cats for the boys to play with, and we all enjoyed a restful stay. The highlight of our time there was New Year’s Eve – Ecuadorians do it right! We wandered around all day and were amused by the “viejos” guarding houses or tied to cars - they are stuffed dolls of varying sizes who represent the old year, and are burned at midnight. There were also the “viudas” who kept us entertained for hours – men dressed as women dancing in the street who are ‘widows’ of the old year. Words simply can’t do it justice – watch my video here!
Eventually, Grandma arrived and we enjoyed celebrating Christmas with her in January. She brought all kinds of goodies for us all – what a treat! With Grandma, we headed out to the Otavalo market, the equator, and to a restaurant renowned for its traditional Ecuadorian music and dancing. We packed a lot into the three days we had with her!
And finally – after nearly 2.5 months off the bikes – it was time to hit the road again! All four of us were excited beyond belief to climb back on our bikes and head out exploring after so long. Unfortunately, we chose the hardest climb in Ecuador for our first day out. Slowly, agonizingly, we inched up the impossibly steep mountainside of the second highest paved road in Ecuador. Our bodies were sorely out of shape, and our lungs screamed for oxygen as we climbed higher. After two long days, we crested the top of the 13,300-foot pass and headed down – down into magic!
Our first stop was the small town of Papallacta, which is famous for its hot springs. We arrived at nightfall and checked ourselves into the first hotel we saw – which just happened to have a delightful pool filled with hot thermal waters. Ahhh – what a way to end such a grueling day!
As it happened, we ended up with four days of relaxation in Papallacta – it was pouring rain. We’ve ridden in rain before and we’ll ride in rain again, but dealing with pouring rain in the freezing cold of high altitude was not an item high on our list of Things We Wanted to Do. Besides that, the surrounding paramo was too beautiful to pass through in dense cloud cover – we wouldn’t see anything.
It was still cold and cloudy when we hit the road again – but the rain held long enough for us to get down a bit. We plunged down, in one massive descent, to the rainforest of the Amazon basin. For the next few days we cycled through tropical jungle, delighting in the occasional burst of color amid the sea of green. They say there is a greater density of species in the rainforest than anywhere else on earth and, after cycling through, I don’t doubt it at all.
The highlight of our time in the rainforest was a visit to a monkey refuge where they are rehabituating pet monkeys to live in the wild once again. Although the monkeys were pretty out of control, it was still fun to play with them and snuggle with a few.
For a few days, we stashed our bikes in a hotel and took a bus to Baños to spend Grandma’s last days in Ecuador with her. The kind folk at the Sangay Spa Hotel had graciously offered to sponsor us for a while, so we all stayed there and enjoyed all Baños has to offer. The boys enjoyed bungee jumping off a bridge and we were all fascinated by the explosive eruptions of Tungurahua Volcano.
The problem at that point was that at our bikes were at about 1000 feet of altitude, and the Pan American Highway was around 9000. In other words – we were in for a massive climb back to the main road.
The 60-km climb to Baños could very well be the most spectacular ride we’ve ever taken! The road gently climbed through a narrow river valley, passing massive waterfalls every few kilometers. We had magnificent views with each bend of the road, and we barely noticed the climb.
From Baños up to Ambato, however, was a different story. Fortunately, another reader – Luis – offered to haul our gear up to Ambato, so we could do the massive, steep climb with empty bikes. What a godsend that was! Although it is only 40 kilometers, the entire way is steep – very steep. We ground up the hill in bottom gear, thanking the good Lord above with every pedal stroke that we weren’t carrying our gear.
At some point in the middle of that climb, my spirits sank lower than they’ve ever been before - Davy told me his toe was hurting again. I wanted to scream and shout and stamp my feet and curse the toe gods, but realized that no matter how big of a temper tantrum I might throw it wouldn’t change the fact that Davy’s toenail was ingrown – again.
As soon as we arrived at Luis’ sister-in-law’s house (where he had stashed our gear), we headed over to the hospital where the doctor yanked out Davy’s toenail. We had been so optimistic after the surgery in Pimampiro – hopeful that his toe troubles were over. Now, we are back to square one and have no idea where to go. We’re seriously considering having his toenails permanently removed, but we just don’t know right now.
And so – we are back in Baños waiting for Davy’s toe to heal. He should be good to go in a few days, at which time we’ll bus back up to Ambato, pack up our bikes and climb up and over our last pass for a while (which happens to be the highest paved road in Ecuador!)
From there, we’ll head down to the coast and head towards Peru. Our visas for Ecuador expire on the 26th, so we need to be in Peru by then. Although we’ve loved Ecuador, we are looking forward to a new country and new adventures!
Thanks for being a part of our adventure!
Nancy, John, Davy, Daryl
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Read our other newsletters here:
Read y for takeoff: June 6, 2008
Dalton Highway in Alaska: June 28, 2008
Alaska Highway: August 3, 2008
Crossi ng into mainland USA: September 10, 2008
In Montana, Wyoming, and Utah: October 17, 2008
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico: November 19, 2008
No rthern Mexico: January 25, 2009
Yucatan Peninsula: March 14, 2009
Belize, Guatemala, & Honduras: April 15, 2009
Ni caragua & Costa Rica: June 25, 2009
Costa Rica & Panama: July 21, 2009
Made it to South America: August 16, 2009
In the Colombian Andes: September 18, 2009
At the Equator: December 20, 2009
Southern Ecuador: February 7, 2010
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