3. Heading for the Amazonas
Day 111
Heading out of Quito today. It is nice and sunny day. Despite being quite early, before 7 am, I hit the morning rush hour traffic. But thanks to my amazing navigational and riding skills 🤭 I got out quickly without getting lost.
I have about 210 km ahead of me. My destination is a small town in the Amazon region. But I need to get through Andes first. I knew from the route profile that I will need to get to the valley bellow Quito before I start climbing up. Very up. And it is already a chilly morning in Quito. The road is nice and the scenery around changes quickly. Trees are disappearing and there is only small brush on the hills around me. My bike handles the high altitude very well with almost no loss of power. Thanks BMW. I look ahead and I see nothing but dark clouds. I would be surprised if I didn’t get wet. It is getting old … I want some dry riding! The temps are getting colder and colder with increasing altitude. And it is getting windier closer to the top I get. I reach the top of the pass and altitude read 4070 m and the temp is +6˚C. Brrrrr. I put on more layers, no time to be a hero here. There are many road signs for bears crossing. Seriously? Where am I, back in Canada? Well, I never seen any bears, they must be hibernating.
I am descending to a deep and increasingly narrow valley. Temps are getting higher and the road is getting more narrow and twisty. There are many waterfalls and in one point there are 3 of them, side by side. Cool Kodak moment. The road starts to climb again. Despite all the forecasts saying it will be a dry day, it started to rain. And not one of those “practice” rains. A proper tropical downpour. It is dumping buckets. I hope it won’t last too long. It didn’t but that 1,5 hrs was enough to drench me. I emerged on the other side of the Andes in sunshine and 35˚C with an oppressive humidity. Well, I dried up very quickly and very soon I reached a turnoff to my village. I follow river Napo 20 km downstream to small village of Puerto Mishuallí. You can’t miss it, there is nowhere else to go. End of the road. River on one side and Amazon jungle on the other. I quickly find my hotel which is right on the road outside of the village. A small but nice with great owner. Theo, the owner is French from Bordeaux but lives here with his wife and kids and runs this hostal.
The same routine as every riding days. Offload my bike, clean up and head out to explore the surroundings.