World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Ecuador
23° | sunny | km 689
Southern Hemisphere
on 2017-11-04 in Ecuador
We were extremely excited about our stay in Ecuador, because we would finally get to met Harald our former neighbor and long time friend and his new family. Harald grew up with Fabi and Basti and he had moved to Ecuador with his Ecuadorian wife Malu and their little daughter Emma to Quito. But before we would be able to meet them we would have to get through the Ecuadorian border which turned into a complete nightmare. Just when we parked our bikes we noticed the bike of the Finnish couple that we had traveled with from Panama to Columbia and he immediately noticed us and came up to us. He told us that he was already waiting for more than two hours in line for immigration... A long and boring wait later we also managed to get through immigration and another endless time later we also managed to pass customs control... It was by far the worst organized border we had ever come across. Overall it took us more than 3 hours to pass. After a night at the border town we immediately headed towards the west cost where we would be meeting Harald and his family near the small beach town Esmeraldas.
We parked our bikes at the building Harald had told us and walked, right after we said hello to his family, towards the beach to find him. It was really nice to see him again after all these years. Especially relaxed at the beach with beautiful weather. So we spent the next two days catching up with a couple of beers and doing a whole lot of nothing. The entire family welcomed us with open arms and we enjoyed our time in Esmeraldas very much.
After two days we headed towards Quito, where Harald had invited us to stay with him in his new home. But it was not just a normal day trip for us to Quito, we also had to pass the equator. The place where our coordinates changed for the first time from North to South. The monument "Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World) might not have been very spectacular but it was still a great feeling to pass the equator on a bike. In a small museum they also solved some of the myths surrounding the equator. For example that the water turns the other way if you are south of the equator. Or the fact that you can only balance an egg on a nail at the equator. Especially because we managed to balance the egg even though the line displayed on the monument is actually 240 meters off. It was still worth the visit and after about 2 hours we headed onward to Haralds house. It might have taken us a bit longer because of the traffic, certain construction sites and a lot of one way streets but in the end we managed to find our way.
We had made no plans for Quito except for having a relaxed time there. So we all worked a little on the bikes, kept the laundry machine busy for a couple of days and watched a couple of series on TV. One night we went out with Harry to see the old center of Quito. It was nice to see and whilst walking through it we also got to know a little about the political situation in Ecuador. It is always nice for us to get to know a little more about the countries then just nice landscapes and smiling faces. After our walk we met up with Malu and enjoyed a great dinner with the both of them. It was a Peruvian, a little higher class, restaurant in which we probably would have never walked thanks to our budget. But luckily it had special prices this day and even more we were invited :) We had a great night and enjoyed the company very much.
The next day we had to say our farewells once more. Harald was already back at work - work.... weird word... - and so we hugged Malu and Emma, got on our bikes and headed onward!
A big thanks once more to Harald, Malu and the entire family for the great time. Quito was thanks to you more then a just another stop on our journey, it much more felt like a new second home!
We parked our bikes at the building Harald had told us and walked, right after we said hello to his family, towards the beach to find him. It was really nice to see him again after all these years. Especially relaxed at the beach with beautiful weather. So we spent the next two days catching up with a couple of beers and doing a whole lot of nothing. The entire family welcomed us with open arms and we enjoyed our time in Esmeraldas very much.
After two days we headed towards Quito, where Harald had invited us to stay with him in his new home. But it was not just a normal day trip for us to Quito, we also had to pass the equator. The place where our coordinates changed for the first time from North to South. The monument "Mitad del Mundo" (Middle of the World) might not have been very spectacular but it was still a great feeling to pass the equator on a bike. In a small museum they also solved some of the myths surrounding the equator. For example that the water turns the other way if you are south of the equator. Or the fact that you can only balance an egg on a nail at the equator. Especially because we managed to balance the egg even though the line displayed on the monument is actually 240 meters off. It was still worth the visit and after about 2 hours we headed onward to Haralds house. It might have taken us a bit longer because of the traffic, certain construction sites and a lot of one way streets but in the end we managed to find our way.
We had made no plans for Quito except for having a relaxed time there. So we all worked a little on the bikes, kept the laundry machine busy for a couple of days and watched a couple of series on TV. One night we went out with Harry to see the old center of Quito. It was nice to see and whilst walking through it we also got to know a little about the political situation in Ecuador. It is always nice for us to get to know a little more about the countries then just nice landscapes and smiling faces. After our walk we met up with Malu and enjoyed a great dinner with the both of them. It was a Peruvian, a little higher class, restaurant in which we probably would have never walked thanks to our budget. But luckily it had special prices this day and even more we were invited :) We had a great night and enjoyed the company very much.
The next day we had to say our farewells once more. Harald was already back at work - work.... weird word... - and so we hugged Malu and Emma, got on our bikes and headed onward!
A big thanks once more to Harald, Malu and the entire family for the great time. Quito was thanks to you more then a just another stop on our journey, it much more felt like a new second home!
21° | sunny | km 1190
Moto Paradise
on 2017-11-09 in Ecuador
Even though it was hard to leave our new home in Quito and we really enjoyed ourselves at Haralds new home and family, our journey had to go on. We left Quito with great memories and headed towards the border to Peru.
The roads were incredibly nice to ride a motorcycle on. Great, grippy surface and one corner after another. The Andes are a motorcycle paradise for sure even if the high altitude sometimes robbed our bikes of some power. Except for loosing a couple of horse powers there was nothing to complain about. The bikes ran without any problems and continuing south gave us great pleasure. We had picked up some speed. And if it were not for a little detour to the Amazon region we probably would have left Ecuador within two days. Heading over the mountains towards the Amazon region was fun and soon we felt the warm, moist climate. The scenery changed about as quickly as the climate, within reaching the bottom of the mountains we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by jungle once more. Since we might have had enough of this humid, warm climate for a lifetime we soon decided to head straight back over the mountains towards the Andean high ground.
We took as many twisty roads along the Andean mountains as possible and we had great fun pushing our bikes to new limits. Once we reached the border we were a little worried that crossing it might take a very long time once again. As it later turned out our worries were quite unfounded. The border was under reconstruction and it was already possible to make out the new large structures and road work. We on the other hand headed on a little gravel road towards three small containers which in the meantime worked as the provisionally immigration, customs and police office. While we waited in line for the immigration office we were pulled aside by a customs officer who started to check our credentials. At first we were not quite sure what he was looking for until we realized that he simply wanted a picture with us and our bikes, because during the "inspection" we were not allowed to stand in front off him but by his side, so that his colleague was able to take a better picture.
Shortly thereafter we had our passports stamped and the motorcycles cleared. We left Ecuador over a small bridge towards the neighboring Peru where more adventure was waiting for us.
The roads were incredibly nice to ride a motorcycle on. Great, grippy surface and one corner after another. The Andes are a motorcycle paradise for sure even if the high altitude sometimes robbed our bikes of some power. Except for loosing a couple of horse powers there was nothing to complain about. The bikes ran without any problems and continuing south gave us great pleasure. We had picked up some speed. And if it were not for a little detour to the Amazon region we probably would have left Ecuador within two days. Heading over the mountains towards the Amazon region was fun and soon we felt the warm, moist climate. The scenery changed about as quickly as the climate, within reaching the bottom of the mountains we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by jungle once more. Since we might have had enough of this humid, warm climate for a lifetime we soon decided to head straight back over the mountains towards the Andean high ground.
We took as many twisty roads along the Andean mountains as possible and we had great fun pushing our bikes to new limits. Once we reached the border we were a little worried that crossing it might take a very long time once again. As it later turned out our worries were quite unfounded. The border was under reconstruction and it was already possible to make out the new large structures and road work. We on the other hand headed on a little gravel road towards three small containers which in the meantime worked as the provisionally immigration, customs and police office. While we waited in line for the immigration office we were pulled aside by a customs officer who started to check our credentials. At first we were not quite sure what he was looking for until we realized that he simply wanted a picture with us and our bikes, because during the "inspection" we were not allowed to stand in front off him but by his side, so that his colleague was able to take a better picture.
Shortly thereafter we had our passports stamped and the motorcycles cleared. We left Ecuador over a small bridge towards the neighboring Peru where more adventure was waiting for us.