to Saraguro: more hills and rain

March 20, 2017

"I'm wearing my waterproof socks and have my rain pants handy" Patrick says. "Good idea" Rachel agrees and does the same. The bike shoes are still wet from yesterday and we are fairly certain we will have rain again today.

There are two tough climbs. Did we say tough? Rachel says that at the age of 66 these Ecuador Hills just may defeat her. The first one of 750 meters tops out around 30km from Loja. Almost to the top, we stop for a food break, making mortadella and cheese sandwiches with mustard and mayo. We love the squeeze containers with reclosable lids these items come in.

We got up the first climb and then on the downhill the rain started. We reach the town of Santiago and the low point. There is a hospedaja and shops, but we continue on starting the second 8km climb of almost 600 meters and a saddle at the top, with an extra 100 meter hump of losing and regaining the elevation just before the start of this climb.

Almost to the top, we stop in a town for a drink and snack. Just after starting out again, we meet 3 women cyclists from Ecuador. We stop and exchange route information. They are riding from Quito to Rio de Janeiro and are interviewing women that impact their community along the way. Their site on Facebook is Warmifonis.

We finally reach the outskirts of Saraguro and follow the direction sign to the town. This takes us through a section where the market is breaking down. Just one block of the Plaza is Hostal Saraguro, a very nice place with a covered central courtyard and ground floor rooms. Perfect for a cyclist. We meet Sofia, the fourth member of the Ecuador women cyclists team. She fell ill and will stay here a couple more days to recover before catching up by bus.

There is a nice plaza in Saraguro and a pretty church. Saraguro in Quichua means" land of corn". We've seen the distinct clothing in this area. The men wear a black or maroon poncho and black mid-calf pants and gumboots. The women wear long black skirts and shawls clipped with brooches, and a bowler type hat. We walk around for a while and have dinner at a fried chicken place. We learned from other blogs that the food in Ecuador is not that exiting so we're happy with a decent chicken and fries.

Today's ride was very hard, it took us about ten hours to ride the 70k and we are wiped out. After dinner we are too tired to do much on our photos or blog, it is lights out early for us. A 40 km ride with one hill tomorrow, then two days to Cuenca.

Leaving Loja. Rachel already looks tired of hills.

Green, green Ecuador. An idyllic scene with cows, pasture, farm and trees.

Many nice vistas today but for the clouds and rain.

We are back on the Pan-American Highway for the first time since leaving it on the Peruvian coast.

Right as we stop to have some lunch Patrick runs over something, probably a nail, and has the first flat of South America. Pretty good timing we guess since we planned to stop anyway.

Cycling in Ecuador, it is either up or down, not much in between. Here the road descends into a valley and climbs back out.

We meet three girls from Quito cycling to Rio de Janeiro. Cycling for women is fairly new in Ecuador and women touring alone is unheard of. They are making their journey to draw attention to women's issues. In the hostel tonight we meet the fourth member of their team who had to stay behind because she fell ill. She will catch-up by bus later.

Arrived in Saraguro and the Hostal Saraguro. Very nice for US$10 per person.

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 29,341 km (18,221 miles)

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