On one hand a journey like this seems an endless holiday. On the other hand, the cycling makes for hard work and a long time without seeing family or friends. So, in a way, we have just had a holiday inside a holiday, visiting Ecuador a second time, but now accompanied by my mother and brother Reyndert.
We welcomed them whilst being welcomed for a third time by our ‘family’ in Quito, Santiago and his family.
They brought along a huge suitcase full of new gear, tyres, grips, clothes, books, liquorice of 5 varieties, Old Amsterdam cheese and the SLR camera we left behind last august.
We visited the Galapagos islands by means of a sailing boat, the Sagitta. It was an amazing week seeing animals in great numbers and variety, and from very close up. Highlights were snorkeling with my mum right above a big green sea turtle, sealions wizzing by in the blue, and thousands of birds in the sky or on the ground.
In the evenings we’d nibble on the cheese accompanied by some red wine smuggled in from the mainland, watching my mum’s edited version of 28 super 8 films from our childhood.
Some highlights in photos...
The full gallery of our Galapagos and Ecuador mainland family holiday can be found on our Picasa albums site here.Enjoy
Back in mainland Ecuador we went to the saturday market in Otovalo, where Reyndert haggled over Panama hats and hammock chairs, my mum got seduced by Tagua nut jewelry, I bought a small native flute and Alister managed to escape purchase free. How does he do it? He says willpower....
Our final three days together were spent near volcan Cotopaxi. From there we did some hikes, the most memorable one the small but oxygen sapping hike up to the refuge on Cotopaxi at 4800 meters.
Time flies by when you’re having a good time, and it seemed to have gone all to quick when we had to say our goodbyes at the airport.
Another sad goodbye the next day, when we really had our final visit to Santiago and Ana Lucia. At night Malola the dog came to sleep on our bed, as if she sensed our departure coming.
From the plane we had the most amazing views, first into the snowy and puffing crater of Cotopaxi, and many snowy volcanoes poking through the cloud. Then we saw the road we cycled last month sidling through the mountains from the border all the way to the Cordillera Blanca, Recuay and further on.
In Lima we quickly got the bus to Huaraz. After leaving the big city we were amazed by the beauty and eeryness of endless desert, but also thankful we will never have to ride through it.
We’re now back in Recuay with friendly warmshowers hosts Werner and Maria, and enjoying a few days of their care before heading off into them mountains.
Hasta la proxima vez
Anna y Alister
