Day 5: Cotopaxi National Park To Isinlivi (42.3 Miles)

We woke up to mist over the open valley, dew covering our the rainfly on my tent.  Breakfast was a decadent affair of steamed humitas we had purchased in Quito topped with avocado, queso fresco, and a few emergency Cholula packets I always stash in my panniers.  We were excited to pack up and ride out because we knew the day would bring our first really big descent down the other side of Cotopaxi from 12,500 feet to the valley floor at 9,900 feet.

Sunshine, unexpected pavement with bike lanes, windswept hair, and happy faces about halfway down the descent!

Back to the dirt roads I love so much.

The Kasch Klan... not many brother-sister duos are this rad.

After passing industrial flower farms hidden by massive fences ("Ecuatoroses!"), crossing the PanAmerican, and taking a "detour" through a random town where we accidentally biked through a soccer game that occupied its main road, we starting climbing back out of the valley.  We stopped in Toacazo for lunch, supplies, and a surprise political parade with a motorcade that was bigger than the town.  From here, we headed towards Isinlivi as we began our own version of the Quilotoa loop.  Our inspiration for this leg of the trip was the oh so sexy bikepacker Cass Gilbert, whose journeys on his orange Surly Troll led to a fangirl crush and my own mini-version of his bike.  We spent the afternoon marveling at the Hobbit-faeryland landscapes as we made our way to a 13,000 foot summit.

More cobblestone on the way out of Toacazo... good thing my bike superpower is having a titaintium.

Aaaaaand, after just a tiny bit of cobblestone, we were back to our beloved dirt.

Winding up and up, the dirt road was in pretty good shape, except for some deep sandy section.  Ed tried to blaze through a few and sometimes he won, but this time, the sand pit won.

Sandy tracks... stunning views.  Zero traffic.  Ani is somewhere over there dancing atop a grassy hill.

Ed and I making our way slowly up with a green patchwork backdrop.

  

Snack break.

As we turned our pedals into the late afternoon, we decided we would make a huge push and try to make it all the way to Isinlivi, and then have a rest day there.  And then, at long last, it was time to throw on some layers and get ready to bomb down into Isinvili.  Even though we were exhausted, we couldn't help but bask in the descent in the glowing late afternoon sun, which had lit up the surrounding hillside in warm ambient lighting.  Once we got into the groove of our descent, it seemed to last forever.  The warm rays transformed into a stunning sunset, and then to darkness.

Pictures don't do this moment justice.  I had to stop and just basked in the sun and the views.

Even though the descent called us, we kept stopping to not let this moment go by too quickly.

Fading light and valley views.

Illuminated fiery skies.

We threw our headlights on, rocked our blinking wheel lights, and coasted into town around 7 pm with no major incidents, except some rude sheep scaring the shit out of us as they baaa-ed at us from the darkness with no warning.  Dead on our feet, we found ourselves at the Hostal Llulu Llama, one of the recommendations by Cass Gilbert, a cozy eco-lodge that lives up to its reputation.  Luck would have it that the family-style dinner included with lodging was just being served, so we were invited to eat prior to any check-in formalities.  We gorged on lentil soup, fresh crisp salad, a chicken fritatta, and a sweet cornbread cake, stumbled to our beds, and passed out.

Taking a final minute to enjoy the wood stove before bed.

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• The southern entrance to Cotopaxi National Park was recently paved with an ample bike lane and an eminently reasonable climbing grade (well, as compared to the northern entrance).  It boasts many amenities and a much more official looking control point.  This is where all the tours and most tourists enter the park.  

• The area past Toacazo was pretty remote and we would have been completely lost without Maps.ME.  Oftentimes, we would find ourselves at intersections, some with as many as five intersecting roads.  Even though not all those roads were on the map, we could see if we were on the right road based on the GPS.

• There were plenty of remote places that seemed ideal for wild camping near the 13,000 foot summit before we descended into Isinlivi.  Nothing with water, so those wanting to camp would need to pack water in.

• The Hostal Llulu Llama was a bike tourists dream.  Hot showers, lots of communal space both inside and out, a hot tub, options from dorms to private cabins, a secure area to store bikes, gorgeous views, and friendly front desk staff!  It is a little pricey for those on a budget at $20 per person, but that includes a beautifully prepared breakfast and dinner.  Most of other folks staying there are hiking the Quilatoa loop.  I've been told that it can be completely booked up in advance, so if it is high season, you may need to make reservations in advance or beg to throw up a tent outside.  We just showed up and were very lucky to nab the last 3 dorm beds.

Day 4: Machachi To Cotopaxi National Park (9 Miles)

We went back to the market early in the morning to grab some fruit, queso fresco, and hot cocoa mix to make our instant coffee more palatable.  Ani was poking around one of the market stands and the vendor gave her a handful of sticky toffees for free.  We were bummed that none of the food stands at the market were open yet, but after asking around, we were told that "the" breakfast place was on another edge of the market.  And indeed, it was "the" breakfast place.  The owner ushered us in and explained what there was that day.  Ed and I ordered some juice, hot chocolate, caldo de pollo (a chicken soup with clear broth and yuca and some cilantro-type fresh herb), and fresh bread with queso fresco sandwiched in it.  Ani just ordered the queso fresco sandwich, but after seeing our soup, immediately ordered that, too.  The owner gave me a knowing look and said "my food is the freshest!"  With our bellies full, we rolled out of Machachi to sunnier skies and a bit of trepidation about the route to come.

The road out of Machachi started off pretty good...

We plummeted down into a small valley leaving Machachi on a gloriously paved road.  And then the pavement ended and turned back into cobblestone as the road started its ascent to the base of Volcan Cotopaxi.  After a while, it was clear that the grade of the road and cobblestones would be unrelenting.  With clouds looming, Ani verbalized out loud what we were all thinking.  "So hey guys, I wouldn't be opposed to getting a truck to help us up this thing, I don't want to push my bike all day and I'd rather hop a truck if we can't ride."  If we had unlimited time, maybe I would have stuck it out, but I agreed with her.  My personal rule with group bike touring is to do whatever whatever the person who is feeling mentally and physically the worst wants to do.

And magically, this lovely truck driver appeared.  For $25, he would lug the three of us and all of our bikes to the park entrance.  Ed decided to sit up front and chat with the driver about live, the universe, and everything and practice his Spanish.  Ani and I sat in the truck bed to enjoy the fresh air and have better views.

Truck bed selfies.

As we jostled up and up and up... I was happy to not be pushing my bike up the road.  We probably wouldn't have made it to the park even that day and we didn't want to get too off the schedule.  Although we had built some flex days in, we didn't want to burn through them so early.

We finally made it to the park entrance just around lunchtime.  Although we had read other accounts that there were no park fees, the park official at this entrance was in a heated argument with some other tourists about how foreigners were required to have a certified guide in the park, and a guide cost $40.  After some contentious negotiation, we grouped all the foreigners together with one guide.  We ended up paying $20 and it was decided that the guide Mariela would lead us in a truck and we would follow on our bikes.  The others jetted out once they were past the control point and just left, much to the park official's chagrin.  Mariela was incredibly sweet and full of interesting information and we were happy to have her company.

Whew, made it.

FINALLY, my kind of dirt road with sweeping stark views.  It was still a lot of "up" and since we were now at over 12,000 feet, we were still struggling a bit.  So we figured we would take advantage of having a guide in a truck, and so we had Mariela take our panniers.

This lava rock is famous because it is from the last eruption of Cotopaxi in 2015.

Mariela is so cool she has a dog named "Valley of the Condors" in Quechua.  She also explained to us that Cotopaxi means "Neck of the Moon."

Although there are several camping areas in the park, Mariela told us the one by the laguna was quieter and more peaceful.  And indeed, it was.  There was just one other group camping there, some wild horses, and lots of birds.

After depositing us at the camping area, Mariela went on her merry way and we were left to set up camp and explore.  Our first order of business was to set up camp and cobble together wraps with tuna, queso fresco, avocado, and spinach as we had forgotten to eat lunch in the stress of entering the park.  Ani decided to try to take a nap and Ed and I explored the laguna.  As the sun set, we cooked dinner and learned that the type of lentils available in Ecuador take forever to cook.

Camp!

That tiny speck is my tent and if it were a clear day, you would see Cotopaxi peeking out behind.

Ed and I came across some nice gals from Chile who let us take a glamour shot with their jeep.

Eruption evacuation route signs are up in this joint.

The laguna was beautiful and had a neat trail that circumnavigated the whole thing.  We decided to walk around it and see what there was to see.  We saw cows, birds (aplomado falcon, Andean lapwing, ducks), and lots of bunnies!

And then surprise!  Cotopaxi decided to come out from under the clouds for a few minutes before they enveloped her in a mystical shroud again.  We also found a beautifully clean water source away from the horses and cattle grazing here, so we filtered some water.

The flora is tiny, but colorful, and beautiful.

View from the tent.  Hello wild horses!

View from the other side of the tent.  Hello Ed!

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• If we had more time, I may have pushed to actually cycling the section into the northern entrance and attempt to go around the east side of the volcano rather than sticking to the dirt road that goes through the park out the southern entrance.  Ed only had two weeks for this tour and Ani and I had three weeks so we had to make some hard route choices.

• The control points are only open certain hours and there is nothing otherwise barring folks from entering the park.  Other accounts of cycle tourists entering the park after the control points are closed with no problems and no charges.  My feeling is that if we had arrived after 4 pm, we would not have had to pay nor had any problems otherwise.

• There are many options for accommodations within the park ranging from primitive camping to lodges with hot showers and wifi.  The camping area by the laguna requires folks to either boil water or have a filter and there are no bathroom facilities.  The camping area by the southern entrance has everything from bathrooms to a little store and restaurant.  There is also an area close to the volcano where a lot of climbers stay (El Refugio).

Day 3: Quito To Machachi (30 Miles)

We woke up early in anticipation of our first day of riding.  We had made the decision the night before to ride out of city towards Cotopaxi National Park on smaller roads and avoid the Panamerican.  The idea of starting the tour on a bus out of town didn't sit well with anyone and we were itching to ride our bikes.  Ani and I headed out to grab some last minute parts for her fender from the hardware store around the corner from our hostel.  We were pleasantly surprised that it was run by a woman and we were able to find an appropriate bolt to mount her fender properly.  And then... it was time!

Three amigos and three bicicletas all clean and full of stoke.  Those are some sexy bikes.

The ride out of Quito was stop-and-go with an obscene amount of traffic, gas fumes, and a quick stop at the gas station for Ed to fill up his fuel canister.  Technically, the gas station attendant wasn't supposed to fill it, but he did anyway.  We had a big climb to get out of the city on a highway and then, all of a sudden, we were zooming down our first huge descent going just as fast as traffic.  With loud vocal whoops, we relished the wind in our faces.  And then slowly but surely, the traffic and congestion of the city gave way to the countryside and we found ourselves on small back roads.  The intermittent clouds and sun made for pleasant cycling.

And by small back roads, I mean dirt roads with lots of rocks.

The sign says "Ciclismo Turistico"...  not sure if the folks that put up this sign know that cobblestone is not cycle tourists favorite road surface.

Unending cobblestone.

After about 10-12 miles of riding and pushing our bikes up steep pitches of cobblestone and getting stuck in a heavy afternoon rain, realized we were not anywhere close to making it to Cotopaxi National Park, nor did we have any hope of getting particularly close.  We decided to aim for Machachi, the gateway town to the northern entrance of the park, and find somewhere we could dry out for the night.

"In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous" - Aristotle.  The Ecuadoreans certainly are poetic in their signage!

Ed checks out a road that is marked as "seasonal."

It ended up being a little muddy all the way into Machachi, but passable by bike.

We rolled into Machachi around 5 pm exhausted, wet, and ready to splurge on a hotel.  As luck would have it, the hotel we found was right next to a huge open air market.  It was $20 for the three of us for basic but clean accommodations.  A guy came in with a woman right before us, and we didn't think much of it at the time, but neither of them had any luggage and we never saw them again... pretty sure we stayed in a sex hotel!

Exhausting work hanging up all the wet things.

After unloading our gear, we made a bee line for the market because we were told it would be closing soon.  And then, we followed the whims of our noses and stomachs and ate all the things.  We gorged ourselves with llapingachos (fried mashed potato patties with achiote and cheese), fried chicken empanadas made with yuca or green plantain dough, quesadillas made with corn dough, guate (beef tripe stew with egg), and salchipapas (fried hot dogs and salsa atop french fries).  The clear winner was the llapingachos which was served with a beet salad, fried egg, grilled beef, aji sauce, and rice.  We would search the rest of Ecuador for llapingachos as good as these, but we never did.

A few notes for bike tourists:

• We had read about other bike tourists making it to the park in a day, but they had taken the Panamerican to the southern entrance to the park, which is all paved.  The north entrance, which is accessible from Machachi, the guidebooks all say has a road that requires a high clearance vehicle, preferably with 4WD.  

• In order to avoid the Panamerican, we relied on Maps.ME to navigate us using the cycling option.  We had no idea if the route would be a good one and didn't have any real intel on what going through the northern entrance would be like.  Once we were out of Quito, we just had the route loaded instead of in navigation mode.  This saved a lot of battery.  We did have to recharge the phone off an external charger since getting out of Quito was complicated.  I'll take quiet backroads over a highway any day.  This day was certainly challenging and we had our fair share of mud, hike-a-bike, and cycling through cow poo/pee from the big ranches we cycled by. 

• There were only a few times a road showed up that wasn't really clear on Maps.ME.  Usually, the GPS would tell us shortly if we were going the wrong way, but we also asked locals if we were close enough to the town if it was the right way.  If we were within a few miles of a town, the locals always knew the route.  If we were relatively far away, locals were confused by us not taking the most direct highway route so we found it easier to use the GPS.

• Maps.ME showed there was a hotel where there was none, or maybe it had closed.  We found it was a lot easier to just ask around.  The woman at the hotel tried to charge us $30 but after a quick negotiation, she dropped her price.  We would find out as the trip goes on, the first price quoted is never the actual price... and often would come with a price reduction three seconds later even without negotiating. 

Day 2: Quito

Despite being exhausted, we dragged ourselves out of bed to make sure we could catch the end of breakfast at our hostel.  Colonial House is a brightly colored quirky three story hostel with tons of hangout nooks, basic kitchen amenities, filtered water, a book exchange, WiFi, a green backyard, hammocks, and pet rabbits that freely roam about.  The vaulted ceilings give it a spacious feeling and the staff was welcoming.  Not only did they let us store our bike boxes for free, but we had a ton of space to rebuild our bikes.  We were also conveniently located at the edge of the touristy old town, but still convenient to all the practical amenities of the new town.

Sunny backyard!  There was also a large covered area in the back as well to protect our bikes from the rain.

Bunnies!  These two lovebirds produced a bunch of baby bunnies while we were gone...

Breakfast was a lovely affair done family style for an additional $3.50, and included real coffee, fresh juice, a tropical fruit salad (fresh cut strawberries, papaya, dragonfruit, and whatever else was around), granola, yogurt, 2 eggs scrambled or fried sunny side up, and fresh bread.

After breakfast, we assessed the contents of our boxes.  Ani had lost one of the wire spokes of her fender and Ed had a much bigger problem.  The cantilever brake boss on his new Surly Long Haul Trucker fork had broken in transit.  He figured out it would still probably mount okay with a longer bolt.  We set out to do a bunch of errands, including getting some washers, nuts and bolts, a fix for Ani's fender (or maybe a new fender), fuel for our camp stoves, and provisions for the first few days of cycling.  About 3 hardware stores, a bike shop, a mountaineering store, a crazy spiral shaped mall, and a few mangled interactions trying to figure out how to say bike parts in Spanish later (fyi, a washer is "arandela plana" in Spanish), it was time to eat.

Shrimp with tons of achiote (aka annato aka the Latin American tumeric)!

On the way back to the hostel, we passed by a park where a guy was welding some sort of metal structure so Ed asked if he might be able to weld his brake boss.  The guy was willing to give it a look, so Ed booked it back to the hostel to grab his bike while Ani and I shopped for food provisions.  I bought some produce from the indigenous women outside the grocery store, and then we stocked up food provisions for the next few days.

Quito has a burgeoning bike infrastructure, including miles of ciclovias and these bike shares!

We all reconvened back at the hostel to finish preparing our gear.  Unfortunately, the brake boss metal wasn't something the guy could weld, so Ed just used a long bolt and hoped for the best.  We finally had everything all ready and so Ed procured us several shots of aguardiente, a cane sugar liquor, and the ubiquitous beer Pilsener to celebrate.  We adopted a young French student named Anaiz and went to dinner where we got an entire roasted chicken, which came with salad, rice, french fries, chicken soup, and juice.  We only managed to eat about half the chicken so we saved the rest for a bike snack for the next day.

Sleep did not come easily.  We were too excited and pouring over the cycling route that Maps.ME had generated to send us on our way towards Cotopaxi National Park.

A few notes for bike tourists:

• We had tried to email the Casa de Ciclistas located in nearby Tumbaco, but got no response.  To be fair, I didn't try very hard to follow up and our super late arrival and short stay before cycling didn't give us much incentive to hunt out this option more.  We had also tried to see about other options through the Biking Dutchman, but this ended up feeling very pricey in comparison to the hostel options in Quito.  We were very pleased with our stay and the hospitality at Colonial House.  They held our boxes for the duration of our trip and were very helpful in arranging transport that would accommodate our huge bike boxes!

• I have a mini Trangia stove which uses denatured alcohol.  In Ecuador, like much of Latin America, it is called "alcohol industrial" and is cheap and widely available.  Ed has an MSR Dragonfly multi-fuel stove and we searched high and low for white gas.  We came across a mountaineering store which sold propane canisters, and the gentleman there told us white gas is basically impossible to find in Ecuador.  So Ed ended up just buying some gasoline on our way out of town (which, according to the guy at the pump, was illegal to sell in other containers, but he did it anyway).

• Supermarkets are great for dry and canned goods, but have pretty awful produce selections.  In retrospect, I would NOT recommend buying the lentils in Ecuador.  They take more than twice as long to cook as quinoa or pasta. 

• If you see coffee being sold out of a big pot, you can guarantee it will have a mouth-puckering amount of sugar in it.  You've been warned.  

• It is always worth emailing or calling a manufacturer about faulty gear.  Ed shot Surly an email about his fork and asked for the burlier Troll fork when he got back to the U.S., and whaddayaknow, they gave him one!

Day 1: Portland To Quito

January passed me by in a whirlwind of agonizingly short dark busy days.  Day after day, it dumped snow and we were reduced to cross county skiing around town.  My bike was banished to the shed.  The trip to Ecuador didn't quite seem real, even as we counted down the days, reviewed gear, tuned up bikes, perused bike touring blogs, and brainstormed routes.  Ani and I scheduled a video chat with Ed that involved a fair amount of whiskey (wait, isn't that what got us here in the first place?) so that we could at least get a rough sketch of where we wanted to go for Ed's two weeks with us.  We had no real agenda other than exploring Cotopaxi National Park and the Quilatoa loop, routes inspired by Cass Gilbert of While Out Riding.  Ani and I would play the last week in Ecuador by ear.  Who knows if we would love the coast or yearn to return to the mountains?

Stu, my roommate and fellow bike touring fanatic, sings the "I'm not going to Ecuador blues" while I finalize this tour's setup.

And then, after a whirlwind of wrapping up loose ends at work and spending some precious last moments with my incredibly understanding boyfriend David, it was time for Ani and me to head to Portland to pack up our bikes!

Bonk prevention gifts from Stu.

We had given ourself a full day in Portland to get ready since we had one of those ungodly pre-dawn flights out of PDX.  Ed made us breakfast burritos to fuel our day.  Good thing because he and Ani spent the better part of a day in Portland sorting through gear, agonizing over last minute bike setup issues, and running last minute errands for gear and supplies.

All packed up!

We got to the airport insanely early in case there were issues with the bike boxes.  United Airlines might be my least favorite airline, but the tickets were so cheap that it was still worth the whopping $200 bike box fee each way.  What was unclear to us from the website was if the weight limit for the bike boxes was 70 pounds or 100 pounds.  While mine came in at 66 pounds (mostly because I opted to take a pannier on as carryon luggage with about 10 pounds of gear), Ed and Ani's boxes were just over 70 pounds.  As Ed approached the counter, we held our breaths.  There was some discussion amongst the front counter folks.  I prepared to lawyer the shit out the policy wording if need be, but ultimately, they didn't charge Ed or Ani anything additional for their boxes being overweight.

With the most stressful part of the day behind us, we settled into a long long long day of travel, including what ended up being a 7 hour layover in Houston.  Trip stoke and being self-entertained go a long way!

Airport acroyoga!  We even taught Ed a little bit.

Ani introduced me to a fun travel bingo game.  Basically, everyone brainstorms 24 things they hope or think they will see on the bike tour.  Then they are numbered and then a bingo card is filled with the numbers 1-24 randomly.  Then we came up with different prizes depending on which row was completed so that the prize would be a surprise.

Making Ecuador bingo over two bottles of wine.

Our 24 bingo squares included:

1. Blue footed boobie
2. Seco de cordero
3. Equator line
4. Live guinea pig
5. Mangroves
6. Cotapaxi
7. Sailboat with a dark hull
8. Stray dog
9. Local cyclist with animal
10. Lightening
11. People playing soccer (futbol)
12. Kids selling stuff
13. Other bike tourist
14. Dugout canoe
15. Hot springs
16. Panama hat (on a person)
17. Stuck vehicle
18. Lighthouse
19. Livestock or other unusual pasajero on bus or pickup truck
20. Panpipe or flute (being played by a person)
21. Ruins
22. Train
23. Red-headed person
24. Naked or swaddled baby

Prizes and completed bingo card... for the record, Ani won with a dubious spotting of a dark hulled sailboat on a version of the Ecuadoran flag.  She won a fancy Valentine's day dinner in Cuenca.

Just some tipsy bike tourists waiting for their flight and taking selfies for unsuspecting boyfriends.

We groggily got to Quito well past midnight and anxiously awaited our bike boxes to come off the conveyer belt... we celebrated as we collected all three boxes.  Ed had arranged an airport transfer with our hostel in advance making sure that they sent a van to accommodate our huge boxes and the three of us.  

A few notes for bike tourists:

• It is worth comparing airplane ticket prices with baggage policies for bikes.  I've paid as much as $200 (stupid United Airlines) to just $75 (yay Jet Blue).  Some European airlines don't charge at all.  There are also different requirements for what the bike must be packed in... United requires a box or hard sided case whereas some European airlines will allow you to just use a clear plastic bike bag. 

• Packing a bike box is fairly easy.  All I had to do was remove the front wheel, handlebar, pedals, rear rack, and one of my water bottle cages on the front fork.  I taped some cardboard around the rear derailleur and just used the rest of my gear to cushion the rest.  

• If you arrive late like we did and do not plan to ride from the airport, it is worth arranging an airport transfer in advance to make sure you have a vehicle that can accommodate the bikes.  I recommend a van since Quito is prone to rain at all times of the year.  We planned to ask our hostel to store our bike boxes so we could use them on the way home, and wanted to make sure the boxes stayed in good condition.

Viva Ecuador!

So, long story short, an amazing woman (who is not me) got the Baja Divide scholarship.  Good thing, because I already had the itch and the means to make another bike tour happen.  Sometimes the stars align and good friends decide to drink whiskey with you and buy plane tickets to Ecuador for a three week bike tour.  Enter Ani and Ed, a dynamic sister and brother duo who are no strangers to bike tours.  Ani has been featured in some of my greatest hits, including, bike touring the McKenzie Pass last year.

I am fortunate to have a healthy savings account and seven weeks of vacation, which is my non-profit's noteworthy attempt to provide work-life balance for domestic violence advocates exposed to a lot of trauma.  Ani saved a lot of money making maps and managing data for a big agricultural consultant that ended up laying off a bunch of folks due to reasons out of Ani's control.  Ed just loves bike tours and made this shit happen.  And so, our motley crew was born.  Airplane tickets have been purchased and the cold winter months of Bend, Oregon have been spent in front of toasty fireplaces sorting through gear and routes.

Mmmm, maps of Ecuador.

We find ourselves just three weeks away!  Immunizations are being finalized, research on plugs conducted, and gear being sorted.  Soon, an itinerary will be born from bike blogs and suggestions from friends who have lived in Ecuador.  I'll be happy to swap my -8 degree nights for balmy 40 degree weather in the highlands.

As always, we plan to chase the roads less travelled, eat all the food, and take the rest as it comes.