Day 92

Day 92  1/26/2022

Country #40 Via Motorcycle

I didn’t sleep at all last night with all the anxiety about this border crossing and my pillows were also made out of plastic pretty much along with the 14 plastic covers on this rock solid bed. I got up at about 7 and took a shower. I packed everything up and got out at 8AM to get the fake covid PCR test printed out. I found a little shop in town that I walked to a few blocks from the hostel. I got 2 copies printed. I have so much anxiety about this thing working to get me across.

I went down to the parking garage and got my bike out, parked it in front of the hostel and then loaded the bike up. All my gear was still wet along with everything else that was exposed to the rain yesterday. I got on the bike and rode down to the border about 15 minutes away. As soon as I parked a fixer got all over me and my patience was already running thin. He made me follow him to a building a little far away so I went back to put the locking straps on my panniers just in case. I got back to following him to a small building that said money exchange. I called Alex to translate but I had no service. I was getting frustrated because he kept telling me I need a PCR test along with the Colombian Check Mig form filled out online. I showed it to him and he brought me to the immigration building where I showed the man working the door the same paperwork and he let me in. I got inside, showed them my passport and I was done in about 1 minute.

I was pointed over to the Aduana building which is Customs. The woman at the counter was a miserable asshole. Not one person spoke any English yet. She kept yelling at me in Spanish like I was magically going to understand her. She threw my bike TVIP paperwork back outside the window about 45 seconds after I gave it to her and slammed the window shut. Ok I had it with this place already. I didn’t give a shit if my paperwork wasn’t all cleared up to leave Colombia. I’m out of here. I’ll deal with it when I get back.

I got on my bike and rode over to the Ecuador side. I see the doctor in the middle of the border checking the Covid tests like Dan said it would go. I parked and gave the doctor my test. He took a good look at it and I just played it cool. About 10 long seconds later he grabbed the stamp and I was all clear to go. Thank god that worked. $50 was well spent and I didnt have to wait 38 hours for a real test. I made my way over to the Ecuador immigration where the woman did my paperwork in about 5 minutes, then I shot over to Aduana which took about 20 minutes maybe and I was all clear to go. As I was waiting in line for Aduana into Ecuador I got an email from Colombia saying my TVIP was closed for my bike in Ecuador. Wow so she really did her job and in about 45 seconds. Way faster than most border crossings i’ve done which took 2.5 hours minimum.

I took a picture of myself in front of the Ecuador border and tied up half my wet gear to the panniers so they would dry on the ride to Quito. It was quite cold at 59 Degrees this morning but it was partly sunny. I’m happy with it. I got on the road and started my 4 hour ride to Quito. The views were incredible right off the bat. I had a good feeling about this country. I texted Jacki to let her know I made it into Ecuador and ill be in Quito in a few hours. She was planning on landing at midnight in Quito. I wanted to stop every 5 minutes to take a picture of all the rolling green hills loaded with farms. I pulled over for breakfast around 10-11am. I found a nice little restaurant on the side of the road. I got a lovely breakfast and juice for $3 along with the best coffee I’ve ever had in my life. I was really happy at this moment!

I got back on the road and in 30 seconds I had to make a u-turn to take a picture of what I saw. I got back on the road listening to music and having a great time. I was getting pretty dry and it was getting a bit warmer out. It was perfect. The next 3 hours were some of the nicest riding I’ve done on this trip. So many mountains everywhere, rolling hills with farms everywhere, low clouds out in the distance that I somehow never rode into. I was praying I didn’t hit any rain anywhere and I didnt. I got close to Quito and decided my bike and panniers needed a wash after all the filthy mud and rain I rode through last week.

I stopped over at a little car wash and they cleaned my bike and chain up for $4 so I wouldn’t make the hostel a mess when I walked into it. All the guys at the car wash had so many questions about the NY plates. I got back on the road and about  50 minutes later I parked in front of the Hostel I booked. I unloaded all the things off my bike and took a hot shower. I met the owners of the hostel and they gave me a rundown of the city. I took a walk into the city and went looking for a haircut. This place was cold since we were at 10K feet. I was getting looks from everyone and after a few minutes I noticed I was the only white person around and also not wearing a mask. They’re all pretty crazy about covid here it seems.

I found myself at a barbershop. $4 for a nice haircut along with my first straight razor shave as well. I was shaking and terrified of this guy cutting my throat open with the razor. Never again will I do that ever again. I stopped for some food on the way back to the hostel which wasn’t great at all. It was interesting to see how there were barely any tourists here. I must have seen maybe 3-4 in the few hours I was out around Quito. I got back to the hostel and went out looking for a place to park my bike with one of the hostel owners friends. It was quite expensive at $1 an hour. I’ve been paying $2 a night my whole trip. I’m pretty bummed it’s so expensive. When I got back to the hostel with Freddy he told the owners I could keep my bike in his garage for $10 a night around the corner. Still super expensive but I’m glad I could give the money to a regular person and not a company. I took my bike over to his place and worked on my blog for a bit.

After some time I went downstairs to hang out with the owners and they gave me a small tour of a map on the wall for things to do over the next few days. Well he gave me a ton of things to do! In the middle of the conversation he had I noticed how many times he told me how dangerous it was here and how I shouldn’t take my bike anywhere in the daytime because it’ll get stolen real quick. I disregarded all of that. I’ve heard it my whole trip. He told me not to take my phone or camera out on the streets as well since they will get taken from me very quickly.

Jacki was gonna land at midnight and then take an Uber over to the hostel. I texted her and told her to call me if anything was going bad for her since I was going to bed at 10. I was beat from the long day of stress at the border crossing and I also had no sleep last night. I told her I was upstairs in the dorm room and I’m sure the owners will tell her which room we have.

I clocked out in seconds after working on the blog.