Day 21: Quito To Portland

Parting is such sweet sorrow.  I wasn't ready to leave Ecuador.  I wasn't ready to pack my bike up.  I wasn't ready to go home.  And that's the best way to end a bike tour, wanting just a little bit more.  We relished one last breakfast at Colonial House and reluctantly disassembled and packed our bikes and gear into our bike boxes.  Two rolls of packing tape and just an hour later, we had patched up the boxes and packed everything.  Amazing how much easier it was this time around.

Sweet grinder for our morning coffee!

 Our flight wasn't until the evening, so we still had a little time to explore a little more of Quito.  Jake had recommended to us a chocolate shop where we could buy some locally sourced sustainable ethical chocolate at the Kallari Cafe.  We wanted to grab a few more souvenir type items for loved ones and what better than chocolate?

Bolones de verde con salsa de mani.  Yum.  Not to be mistaken with the typical bolon.  Not a big fan of the latter, but the former, whoooooeeeee.  I also got a chocolate milk that was delicious, but made my tummy hurt because, well, lactose and lactose intolerant don't go well.

After our "lunch" of many chocolate samples, we decided to check out the church in the historical center.  For just $2, you can climb up the clock towers and otherwise get amazing views of the city.  While the "stairs" would certainly be banned in the U.S., if you have a little gumption and no fear of heights, it is well worth the trek up and down!

Basically a glorified ladder.

Church explorations were worth the views!

And then it was almost time to go.  Jake stopped by our hostal to say his final goodbyes.  And then our van picked us up and we headed to the airport a wee bit early.  Oops, we were 3.5 hours early, but at least the van driver was super nice and bilingual, so the three of us had a lovely conversation as we weaved in and out of traffic.  We unsuccessfully avoided the bike fee when we checked in, but we were happy to have been so early because the line was ridiculously long behind us.  

We blearily arrived in Houston at 6 am the next morning and ran straight to the first bar to enjoy a Bloody Mary, only to find out that booze is not served in Texas prior to 7 am.  What!?  We had a 4 hour layover and how were we going to amuse ourselves.  So we sipped water, made small talk with a slightly tipsy government contractor on his way home from Las Vegas, and waited it out... and sure enough, at 7 am on the dot, the lovely bartender made us glorious Bloody Marys to tide us over until it was time to head back to Portland.  

Ani's dad picked us up at the airport and luckily, Ani had enough juice to drive us back to Bend right away.  It was nearly 24 hours from the door of the Colonial House to the door of my commune, and while it was good to be home, I already was thinking about my next tour.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• I probably said this on the front end, but we made sure we got a van and not regular SUV or car for our return to the airport.  Just know that bike boxes are big and really, only a van will fit bikes and passengers!