Go Ecuador Go!!!

Back in California, I have a friend, Elan, who has a great motto for life that goes, "When the question is to go or not go, the answer is always GO!". So for example, a friend calls and asks if you want to go for a night hike - "Yes, let's GO!". Or if you are invited to a friend of a friend's for dinner - "Yes, let's GO!".

Biking through Ecuador, after a three-day delay at Casa de Cyclista in Tumbaco rebuilding my rear wheel with a new hub, I was now ready to ride. A fellow bike tourer, Felix, was also leaving the same morning and asked if I wanted to ride together. Of course, I said "Yes, let's GO!". After all, this blog is entitled "2 bikes, 1 continent"!

I have been riding for about a week now with Felix, who himself has been riding down from Guadalajara, Mexico. Since we have a similar travel style (always trying not to spend money) and a similar riding pace (about 100+ km a day), we ride well together.

There are dogs everywhere. This was on a timer and so the dogs joined us in the picture. We are having a typical roadside snack (Doritos), soda, and of course,  ice cream!

Felix decided to join me on a detour off the PanAmerican, dropping into a warmer climate for a few days. The route from Banos to Zamora travels along the edge of the Amazon, so it's also nice to cool off in the natural streams. One day, on the ride from Banos to Macas, Felix asked me if I wanted to follow a 1 km detour to go swimming at a place along the river. I immediately said, "Yes, let's GO!". I always try to apply Elan's motto to bodies of water; whether it's a cold river, lake, or an ocean... I GO (most the time).

Felix and I took a day off the bikes to rest a bit and we were lucky enough that the firehouse in Macas allowed us to stay a second night (gratis!). In the afternoon, the fire bell rang and within literal seconds, Cisco firefighters were in the fire truck and flying out of the station. Felix and I both looked at each other with our jaws dropped, surprised to see how quickly they could react to an emergency call. A few days later, as I was riding from Limon to Gualaquiza, I was thinking about the spontaneity of the firefighters and their rapid preparations. This is exactly the same mind set for when adventure calls, a "drop everything and GO!" mentality.

As a brief tangent, I saw one bombero had a GoPro attached to his fire helmet, essentially allowing him to capture footage from the emergency (Steven, you gotta do this for your training!). When he got back, he showed me and Felix some of the video from previous calls. Let's just say it is probably illegal to film that kind of stuff in the States, and for a good reason. Regardless, it was a neat perspective.

Felix and I often talk about the current day's ride and route, but sometimes this discussion turns towards our future routes as we gradually ride south. Two routes in particular that Felix plans to ride are the Road of Death in Bolivia and the Uturunku mountain pass, which sports a paved road reaching 5,700 meters in altitude. While I have yet to fully commit to these, Elan's motto still lingers in the back of my mind.

-Matt

P.S.