Day 9/10
36,207 – 36,407 ——- 200 Miles today (13,707 Miles Overall)
Banos, Ecuador – Cuenca, Ecuador
A great way to start the day when I wake up in my hostel and it’s only me in the room for $8 a night. Cant beat it. Got myself a nice breakfast burrito at the hostel which was literally maybe 6-7 eggs in a wrap with nothing else in it. I shoved it down my mouth and loaded the bike up ready to hit the road. I was praying I wouldn’t hit any rain as well since it was about a 6 hour ride through mountains.
The ride was lovely as always. Lots of mountains. Lots of coming around corners and seeing a bunch of peaks and mountains in the distance with the clouds being below me many times. Such a cool view to be above the clouds. It definitely never gets old. I came around a corner and a pile of rocks and boulders came sliding down the talus of a mountain next to the road and it just missed me. I pulled over and snapped some pictures with the dust still in the air from the fresh rock fall. That was a close one!
It’s so nice being back on the road and having plenty of time to think about my life and everything else I don’t have time to think about at home. Today was one of those rides where I just wanted to keep on riding and not have it end. But a few minutes later, passing through a small town in the mountains, I just saw a ton of food cooking and I made a U-turn. I’m so happy I did. BTW my Spanish is getting better and I feel like i’m back where I left off even picking up new words everyday!
I sat down and they brought me a plate of some meat and corn to hold me over for a few minutes until my order came in. I got just a regular plate of chicken, rice and some veggies with some juice. This was so delicious I couldn’t believe it. If only I could eat like this every single day my life would be complete. People kept stopping to look at my bike while I was eating and seeing the look on everyone’s faces was priceless. I got up to get back on the road and they hit me for a big charge. $2.50. You just can’t beat this. I rode for a few more hours. Bike was running real nice with the better fuel in the tank. I even hit my record for miles on a single tank. I rolled into Cuenca with 350 miles to a tank. Unbelievable what good fuel and driving slow does!
My friend Ivan from my gym at home told me his family has a fancy hostel in Cuenca and he saved me a room for a few nights free of charge. I met Luis’ aunt and she let me park my bike inside the house. This place is huge, guys! It’s ridiculously huge. I got the huge bedroom by the kitchen which I would later hate.
I unloaded my stuff and his aunt got my neighbor next to my room to translate for me but little did know my Spanish was better than she thought and I understood most of what she said! I went out into town and walked around for about an hour or two. I went to the market to get some dragon fruit and blackberries. This dragon fruit was so damn good. I haven’t had a real one that actually tastes like something since my last time in Colombia. I picked up a little dinner, walked around some more and headed back home. I unpacked all my luggage because I figured out I can mail a few things back home to lighten my load up by maybe 10 pounds. My first round of shedding gear and probably my last on this trip. It’ll be nice to have some extra room on the bike for when I’m in a rush and don’t have to cram everything in my panniers.
Perfect timing because a few minutes after I got home it started to downpour. It was raining so hard and with the thunder and lightning it was beautiful. I grabbed my jacket and sat outside on the deck watching the rain come down. Heaven. All I needed was a warm cup of tea. I tucked myself in and went to bed. Well I tried to but everyone and their mother decided to party in the kitchen and hang out next to my bedroom window until 3am or so which kept me up most of the night.
I woke up the next morning hearing rain. Looks like my day is fried with all this rain. I did a little workout in my room and then went for a walk around the city. When I left NY I brought an extra iPhone 12 with me in case one of them broke or got stolen or lost. But since I was lighting up my load quite a bit before I left I decided I was going to sell that phone here and also have some extra cash when I get down south. I walked around for about 3 hours trying to sell the phone to cell phone stories but no luck. I listed the phone on Facebook marketplace and boom it was gone by 4pm. I couldn’t believe it. Too easy.
I went out and got my laundry done and walked around some more trying to get some calories burned and this rain was not letting up. Went out to a Belgian restaurant to have some sour beer and a burger which left me drunk very quickly and I must have looked pathetic. Stopped for a bottle of wine for Luis’ Aunt and headed home for the night. I was going to get up early the next morning to get to the border crossing early but we will see how early I actually get up!
