7. Heading For the Pacific
Day 114
I was right, it was a COLD night. But I had many blankets to my disposal and those kept me pretty warm. And only in the morning I have discovered that there is a HOT shower … I am not used to that here … The small heater worked hard over night to dry everything. I still didn’t want to get up into a cold morning. I look out of my window and it is NOT raining. Shocking!
A quick breakfast and I am on my way. It is partly cloudy and I can actually see where I was riding yesterday. This place is gorgeous, when you can see it. It is still in the single digits temperature so I put on my heated jacket and head down the valley. Very windy and steep road but dry and I can see where I am going. Very nice scenery. And after one turn I can see Chimborazo in front of me. At least the top part as there are few hills between. A very impressive mountain full of snow and glaciers. It is hard to believe that you are only a stone away from the Equator. I took few pics a proof. It could be a nice ride up there today. Well, wrong timing. You win some you lose some.
I am following GPS tracks recommended by the guys in Quito. Soon enough I am on the small road. Paved, but very narrow and twisty. And steep. I keep descending. I have a long way to go when I want to be at the sea level today. It is almost 400km today. The views of the valleys and ridges are unreal. Houses and villages high up in the mountains and so are their fields they farm. I am riding on the narrow ridge with a deep valley on my sides. I catch up with some trucks going down. The road is a constant turn. I can’t pass the trucks. Not if I value my life. Not even with my 136 HP I can risk it. So I settle down and switch into a sightseeing mode. I get through the cloud layer and it is now overcast. And much warmer. I stop to get rid of my heated gear and all that nonsense … It takes almost 100km to get down to the bottom of the valley around 400m. Valley ends and I ride through dozens of miles of banana plantations. It is never ending. I see some crop dusters spraying the plantations. All trees have green bananas cover in plastic. That’s lots of bananas. According to the signs the plantation is owned by Dole company. All of them. I ride by the small airport on the side of the road and there are whole fleet of crop dusters. At least 20 of them. You must have lots of banana tress if you need that many airplanes. But that’s what I see for the most of the day, bananas.
I get out of “banana jungle” and the scenery gets very dry, more desert like. I ride on a very small roads in the middle of nowhere. The my GPS wants me to turn off even this small road. I keep going as I didn’t notice any road there. But after awhile I stop and double back. There it is a small dirt track. Hmmmm, it doesn’t feel right. But, at least might try it. I follow this dirt double track for a few km up and down and through few water crossings. But then it is getting more and more narrow and steeply uphill where it changes into a single track. That’s it, I better stop here before it is too late. I need pick my battles carefully with my loaded bike. I turn around and double back where I came from. I get back in the road and find a road which leads where I want to go. It is a bit longer and I am not gonna get stuck here. As I get closer to the coast the traffic is getting heavier and heavier. The temps are over 34˚C now. And it is windy now. But there is the marine fog covering most of my horizon.
I get into the city called Manta. I find my place and unpack. I am not far from the beaches so I head out to explore. Well, unfortunately, Manta is not exactly a nice city. There is a big fishing port with many of them offloading their catch of the day and smelling it right on the beach. I walk around for a bit and head uptown to get some food. Nothing really special in town, old non descript building, many of them abandoned. I can’t even find a decent restaurant. I settle for some fast food chicken joint which has an awesome berry juice. Chicken is OK. Every store and restaurant with TV has it on and on full volume as there is a football match. Ecuador plays Venezuela. Big deal here. People are standing on the streets watching the match. It was a long day so I had to my place. I don’t feel like doing my blog or pics so I crash pretty early.