The city itself is undergoing a lot of development, new road surfacing, new paving etc ready for an increase in the tourism. Riding out of the city we managed to get caught yet again in a market street which meant neither the shed, nor Brian, were happy. I was just really looking forward to getting out and moving on to Popayan which was, according to the lonely planet book, a beautiful 'colonial town'. The road trip just got worse and worse with both Brian and the shed complaining. The shed finding it difficult to give anything of herself when going up gradients and Brian expressing concern about how her condition was getting worse and worse. Following the help and effort of a chap at a petrol station we found ourselves in Popayan with the name of a place to go to for new spark plugs. We didn't get that far. Instead the guys at the Honda dealership took over and tried to put the shed right. It was funny watching Brian's face as they slowly started to take her apart and squirt her with various treatments etc. I was, however, very impressed at how relaxed he became
about it and the manager was clearly very pleased to be able to help. We spent the afternoon walking around the town which was a mass of streets that all looked exaactly the same. Rows and rows of white washed houses built on a grid.
Finally we found the old square and the two bridges. One built for the priests and a twelve arch bridge built later and now used as a place to sleep for some of the down and outs.
The following day we set off and immediately realised that the shed was no different so we limped our way to the Ecuador border. The crossing went without a hitch. We actually understand the process now and can anticipate what we are going to be asked so we stood there, dripping wet from the rain and moved dutifully from window to window. The chap that processed the 'importacion temporal' had obviously worked there forever and would continue to work there until the day he died. He was a bit of a grumpy sod and he and the computer system he used was painfully slow right up until I asked if I could take his photograph. All of a sudden he was full of life and very, very jolly.
My first impression of Ecuador was one of disbelief and anxiety. We approached the border town of Tulcan and I noticed that everyone was wearing thick ponchos, puffer jackets and woolly hats. This was Ecuador! The equator was here. It's supposed to be hot for goodness sake. Brian and I have no warm clothes anymore but it appeared that we would be needing some. The hotel wasn't up to much but met all our needs and we were only going to be there a night. We were just glad to be in Ecuador and close to the guy who was going to repair the shed. The next day and following another rubbish exit from the town and a curt exchange of words between rider and pillion, we were on our way to meet Diego in Quito. We stopped at the equator for photos of us, the shed and the fish and had a chat with a fellow biker, Marco, who has also been travelling for quite some time.
We managed to get quite close to where we were to meet Diego but had to telephone him as we couldn't find his workshop. He met us at the petrol station, arriving on a dirt bike, stood up on his pegs and grinning like a Cheshire cat. I could hear Brian's brain screaming 'He's a kid' He certainly was not what either of us expected and nor was the location of his workshop. We met his lovely family and then Diego took us and our belongings to a hostel, the Blue House hostel, in the tourist area of Quito where we intended to spend the following 5 or 6 days.
The following day we went to the tourists' equator. When I say we you would think that I went with Brian but I actually felt at one point that maybe he had morphed into Victor Meldrew. The Mitad del Mundo is a monument built to mark the position of the equator. It's slightly off the mark but was built on a historic site where the French had worked out was the middle of the world in the 1800's. Brian was unforgiving in his comments in the visitors' book advising them that it maybe a good idea to move the centre onto the proper equator and ranted on about the sham of it all as we walked around the place.
We then went to a restaurant where earlier we had seen Guinea pig being spit roasted. Brian had promised his friend, Richard, that he would eat this culinary delight. I don't think either of us expected it to arrive looking so much like a Guinea pig that had been a victim of road kill. It was definitely easier to eat when you covered it's head with a napkin.
I had some of the meat and it tasted just like chicken but there wasn't very much of it. I couldn't help but think of Squeaker, my pet Guinea pig I had as a child but, with the napkin in place, it was much more palatable. The next pleasure was to go 250 metres to where the real Equator was located and participate in the various experiments. You know the sort of thing – water going down the plug a different way depending on which hemisphere, changes in physical strength etc. Of course Victor, I mean Brian, made comments like “I don't believe it” and “that's impossible” Actually it was most definitely 'fixed' in some way and he was absolutely right but hey – it's how they make a living and it was certainly good fun. Much better than the place next door – the fake equator. Yet again we were fortunate enough to hit a city when they were about to celebrate their independence and the added bonus was being able to sit in an Irish pub eating bacon butties and watching the England game. As they didn't do too well we then went out and bought two Ecuador shirts, went back to the pub and watched them loose their game. However, at least they scored a goal and that was certainly an exciting moment.
The downside to celebrations is that no work could be done on the shed until things got back to normal which is today. We are now starting to get a bit twitchy and wanting the shed back so we can continue on our way. It's also got quite cold, cloudy and wet again. No matter which equator we get close to it seems we have hit winter. Hopefully things will move along now. It's been nice reading the comments on the blogs whilst we are grounded here. It's the comments that let us know who's reading them and if we are telling you what you want to hear. Please keep them coming
Posts
Sandra
ReplyDeleteJust a note to say how much we do injoy the blogs written by you and Brian. I for one am envious of you abililty to write with a sense of wit that keeps us wanting more. In return, here is a remarkable but true story for you:
At the time I met you two at the begining of your journey I had also met a chap from Inuvik, a village 500 miles up a dirt road on the arctic ocean in the Yukon of Canada. At the time we were setting up camp he marveled at the plastic hammer that a fellow rider was using to pound in tent stakes. Alas, the next day I found one of the hammers that he had admired laying on the roadway near Coldfoot and of course gave it to him. When the two of you stopped by our home in the United States a few weeks later I asked if you had lost anything on your trip yet. Brian told me about the plastic hammer he lost near Coldfoot. I told him I had found the hammer and he was excited thinking he would get it back. When I told him I had given it away to a man I only knew as "George" Brian probably assumed he would never see it again. Well the guy that I gave the hammer to had my address but I did not have his and I was kind of thinking the same thing. One day out of the blue George showed up at my door step and said he was just passing through and stopped to say "Hello.". I told him about the hammer and gave him a couple of plastic hammers that I had found in camp spots over the years in trade. He told me that he would send your hammer down when he got home. It must have come by dog sled because it took a while but your hammer finally arrived. I assume it is yours...it says "made in the UK" on the handle. At some point in time when you give me the go ahead I will send it to your home. In the mean time you will only have a photo (I will email one) of you long lost friend to keep you company. It's a large but small world and some things are just meant to be. Roy
I dealt with the same guy at the Ecuador border. Every time I asked him to repeat something I didn´t understand he would bury his head in his hands, shake his head, and sigh. I´m still in Ibarra until Monday, but may have to leave earlier to arrange tires in Quito.
ReplyDeleteregards, John B.