Day 10: Portoviejo To Puerto Cayo (49.6 Miles)

We awoke to no water in the bathroom... Ani had used the last flush.  Good thing we had taken our showers the night before.  After a early solemn breakfast accompanied by half a dozen businessmen and businesswomen, we tried to get a discount off our room, so they gave us $5 off our $60 room.  Apparently, there had been so much rain the day before that the groundwater flooded the pump mechanism.

On the way out of town, I found a flipflop store that was just opening to replace my flipflops yet again.  It was here we experienced Ecuadoran hospitality at its finest.  We spent some time getting to know this lovely family, learning about how they lost nearly everything in the earthquake, hearing all about their family who had "made it" in the Chicago.  As we got ready to part ways, we asked if there was somewhere to buy water, and they offered to fill all of our bottles from their water cooler.  I asked if we could offer them something and the grandmother insisted that we just take the water because "El agua no se vende, el agua es vida" (one does not sell water, water is life).

Roadside angels, of sorts.

We had mapped a back way out of Jipijapa towards Puerto Lopez, but we were stopped by a guy riding a sweet ole bicycle dragging a political sign.  He frantically waved us down and asked where we were going.  Ed and I prepared ourselves for our normal polite excuses of "yes, we know there is a more direct way" and "we prefer dirt roads and quieter roads."  Unconvinced, he tried to relay that it was not that the road didn't go through, but that it was considered a red zone and unsafe for traveling.  The three of us conferred and decided to take the safe route and stay on the E30.  Leaving Portoviejo was unremarkable, busy highway riding, but we got a magnificent tour of the love hotel row leaving town!

As we turned south towards Jipijapa, the traffic gave way to fairly pleasant rolling hills.  Each tiny town we passed through seemed to specialize in selling something, sometimes it was five stands in a row selling jars of honey, other times, it was ceramics.

Cold fresh coconut water!  And, of course, plums.  The culture of plastic and trash here is pretty terrible.  We asked if there was a trash can nearby and were told to just throw it by the side of the road like everyone else.  Screw that!  Ed carried our cups until he could find a trash can.

We were about four miles from Jipijapa when Ani had a heat bonk, so we sat in the shade of a lean-to and regrouped.  Not only was everyone fairly burnt, but Ed had started to get heat rash blisters!  After gulping some water down, we made a big push to finish the last four miles to get to civilization.

I think we only went this way to be able to say we went to "Jipijapa."

I suggested we make a beeline for the biggest supermarket because they are almost always air-conditioned.  Maps.ME told us where to find the Aki and it was there we passed the heat of the day, hunkered under the massive awning, taking turns going inside to enjoy the cool air and to buy random drinks and snacks, and making some pretty spectacular wraps.  And then finally, it rained, and made cycling a little more bearable.

Racing our way towards the coast over a small costal mountain range... thunder and lightening threatened us as we rolled on.

And then, we hit the summit and started to descend down to the coast.  We knew we were close when we saw the ocean.  As we zoomed down the hill, I almost crashed my bike when I noticed a massive animal racing along with us out of the corner of my eye.  It turned out to be a giant ostrich running along the road inside a fence.  Weird.  We were happy to make it to Puerto Cayo and started to assess our options for somewhere to stay.  Some super buff surfer dudes yelled at us and waved from a bluff, and Ani and I joked that we should stay there.  But really, all we wanted was a place that was on the water, so we headed on a road along the waterfront until we found a sweet hostel named Cabalonga.

We made it just in time for happy hour and a torrential downpour.

Seriously massive rainstorm.  Luckily, this was about as bad as the flooding got and it drained quickly.

Ani headed straight for the ocean and dunked in, while Ed and I just enjoyed our beers.  We didn't really feel like going back into town, so we decided to make our emergency instant ramen soups that we had been carrying around since Quito for dinner and call it a night.

Hammock camping at its finest.  Except for me.  My hammock was in the bottom of the canyon, so I made a bed out of three benches.

A few tips for cycle tourists;

• Stealth camping is probably an option in Puerto Cayo if you wander out far enough.  For us, the looming clouds and the desire to have some amenities led us to the Cabalonga, which has a variety of sleeping options... camping with your own gear, camping with their gear, rooms, hammocking, etc.  There was it's own beach access, plenty of space for our bikes, a nice common area, some drinking water, and a little restaurant.  When it's nice out, they have a bonfire each night.  So chose to throw our hammocks up for $5 and enjoy this space.

• Next time, I would actually sleep in my tent despite how warm it was.  I had decided it was safer to sleep on the benches in case it rained again, but I got so many bug bites in the night, that I barely slept at all!