Hello!! I have made it safely and the bike is up and running, I took it to a
bike shop today and got it serviced. The chap spoke no English and as you know I
speak no Spanish but we muddled through. I then got lost on the streets of Quito
which has traffic like Bangkok but in a smaller area. A lot of beeping occurred
and a few hand gestures from myself. After three hours I made it back to the
Hostel tired and a little delirious from the altitude sickness and diesel fumes.
I have decided to stay another day to get used to the altitude which makes the
smallest climbs feel like your climbing Everest.
The place is lovely and the people are very friendly, generally they leave
you alone but are always keen to help if you ask, it feels a little similar to
Cuba especially when they keep talking in Spanish even if though you have told
them you only speak English. The city is built literally up the side of a
mountain which takes around three hours to travel around by bike.
I am looking to travel south towards Banos the day after tomorrow which
should take about three days. The weather is interesting 0 degrees at night, 13
degrees and raining in the morning and between 18 and 25 degrees in the
afternoon once the Sun has come over the mountain. I knew the nights might be
cold but this should make camping interesting, I might stay in a few log cabins
until I drop towards the tropics.
To be honest
I think once I get over the stony jet lag and altitude haze I am going to really
enjoy this.
