Feeling a little hesitant leaving Colombia and it's super friendly people....
Our first stop at a Super Market for food and comparing prices I was wronged of that worry right away.
Two elder ladies (what the hell do I know now about who is elder or old these days? It changes with age...these ladies might have been my age for all I know and I am almost 54 years old.) just couldn't get enough of us and kept praising us and hugging and kissing us and wishing us a safe and happy journey and so on and so forth..
Followed by a family with a darling daughter doing the same....Even that little girl kept looking at us fascinated and she was young enough to not quite understand what is going on, but seeing her parents so enthralled with us she did the same.
The girl (prompted by her mom) handed us a box of sweet crackers for "on the way"
Seemed like everybody smiled at us and wished us well.
A little further down the road, after being passed by several road cyclists waving at us, we came across a cycling monument.
What was I worried about?
The first night in Ecuador was spend at a friendly farmer's and his wive's cow field. In the high wet grass amongst the cows. It rained in the night and the morning was quite chilly since we were still pretty high up in the mountains. All the next day it wouldn't clear up - riding around in the clouds is kind of sad....though being in Ecuador with it's surprisingly friendly people is very up-lifting. The country side went strange, desert like - very dry and ragged an interesting change. A long, very long downhill followed and we bumped into brazilian cycle tourer and spend a few minutes talking and exchanging email addresses as well as travel experience. ( he has been cycling the opposite route)
The population is now Afro - Ecuadorian with no exceptions. Super, super friendly - greeting us from all directions ..."thumbs up" poking out from almost every truck and car window. That kind of stuff just makes you ride like the wind.......
