After a lovely breakfast we gear up and leave the Hacienda under cloudy skies. We all enjoyed last night, spending time telling stories and finding out more about each other, our families, friends, hobbies, likes and dislikes and as everyone injected his or her sense of humor, the conversations were fun and lively. Adventure riding has been part of my life as long as I can remember and my adventures started sitting on the tank of my father’s Puch motorcycle, leaning agains my hero and watching him navigate his two wheeled contraption up and down the steep mountain roads of Austria and neigbouring Italy. Watching every move of my father operating his motorcycle with great skill became part of my young life and I can still feel his warmth against my back, the wind in my face and of course, the bugs in my teeth. I can truly say that these are my best childhood memories and Adventure riding has given me a lifetime worth of good things to think about and not until much later did I realize that everyone of my rides seemed to gift me with a new story, a new experience, a new friendship and after nearly one million kilometers of riding, this has not changed, so I await with anticipation what this new adventure will bring.

Today’s road will take us past four volcanoes, Imbabura, FuyaFuya, Cayambe and Antisana, each reaching more than 14000 feet into the sky and as we weave our way through small villages, vast open areas and steep switchbacks I realize just how beautiful this country is. Breathtaking views of snow-capped volcanoes, lush green mountain sides, mysterious blankets of mist rising from the jungle canopy below and road surfaces constantly changing and keeping all of us on out toes. In fact, letting ones guard down while driving a motorcycle in this country would certainly end in disaster due to beautiful, perfect blacktop roads turning to mud, potholes and bolder and gravel strewn surfaces with air temperature changes from around 0 C to as much as 40 C.

A few instructions from our guides Egle and Hanna and we quickly fall into our riding formation with the road leading us directly into a huge black ominous cloud promising a downpour and we pull over to get our rain gear from our bags. Within minutes of donning our gear we ride in heavy rain and poor visibility makes large potholes in the road hard to see. I am worried about one of our riders who could be classed a beginner and is still trying to acquire proper riding skills while worrying about dodging large pot holes in less than ideal riding conditions. In fact, as we reach a stretch of 1000 year old Inca road built with bowling ball size stones, the Newbie (I will call him Pablo to protect his innocence) had several encounters with gravity and much of the ride was taken up with getting his bike back to a vertical position, cleaning wads of grass from his helmet, prying handguards back to their original shape and praying for Pablo’s protection for the rest of the trip.

The road takes us past Imbabura, a volcano reaching a height of 15121 feet the temperature drops to near 10 C requiring us to layer up just to stay warm. We reach the city of Cayambe by 10:00 am, fuel our bikes and spent a bit of time wandering through the market, touching, feeling, smelling the goods displayed by locals and with the help of Hanna I purchase two beautiful Alpaca shawls for my love at home. Within one hour we are back on our bikes and we cross the Equator for the second time – this time going south. As we snake our way through the landscape past small villages and single huts seemingly glued to the side of the mountains, the smell of lavender, mint and the occasional Laama poop fill my helmet, and I like it. Pigs leashed to the side of the road are a common site and the combination of the smell of pig manure and me riding a motorcycle bring back fond memories of my very first solo ride. By now you probably have your eyebrows raised, asking the question:”Pig Manure, Motorcycle riding, fond memories”? Well, I hope this piqued your interest and I will let you into the story on my next post.

We clear Papallacta Pass which squeezes between Cayambe-Coca and Antisana Ecological Reserve and as we head for lower altitudes, we feel the air temperature change from “pretty cold” to ”uncomfortable warm” and while trying to navigate to one of the look-outs, Pablo, our newbie rider once again succumbs to gravity and we go through the daily ritual: ” stop the bike at a safe location, shut off the engine, speed walk to Pablo’s bike and shut off the engine, check Pablo’s physical wellbeing and assist him with removing grass clippings from the helmet and other assorted body parts, retrieve the tool box from the chase vehicle, straighten items on his bike that if not straightened would hinder him from going on, use electrical ties to re-attach broken plastic, get him back on the bike and wish him good luck”!

One of the many things I love is the comradery we sometimes develop when riding with strangers and this time is no different. Before heading out, we were all aware of having a Newbie in the group but decided to “leave as a team and return as a team”, yet to be honest, this decision stretched our patience on a regular basis which was actually not such a bad thing for me. Though pushed to the limit, Pablo appreciated our help and suggestions on riding and became a much better rider as time went on.

An hour later we are back on our rented bikes and the motorcycle I chose, a Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT, runs well and is reasonable comfortable for my 6 foot 2 inch frame. The heavy rainfall we encountered before lunch left its mark on the rest of the riders and everyone is wet in one area or other except me, thanks to my Klim Badlands gear that has managed to keep me dry and cozy warm.

By afternoon we ascent into the Amazon basin and as the impenetrable jungle vegetation forces its way into the roadway, high temperatures and moisture require us to once again change our riding gear to cool our bodies to a reasonable level. Tired but well we pull into Misahualli and offload our gear at the lodge by 04:30 pm. Shower, eat and relax, talk about the day, hand out suggestions and have suggestions handed out concludes our evening and after applying a generous dose of mosquito repellant, we all hit the bed. It was a good day with many challenges and I fall asleep to the sound of the river while thanking my Heavenly Father for His protection and presence in my life.