Road Warriors! (Part I)

After Finn's birthday party ended, I hightailed it to the airport to pick up the car we rented for the weekend. I elected to go with a 4x4 as there was a possibility of traveling on dirt roads (and lucky I did - more on that later), but because of the high cost of rental cars here, I went with the compact-SUV - a Chevy Vitara. (Back home in the 90s, I knew this vehicle as a Geo Tracker). While it lacked power, which made mountain travel a little more difficult, it was the perfect little car for getting around cities and the backroads, and the kids loved it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, driving in Ecuador carries a few more risks than most places. Drivers are nuts - it is quite common for a car to pass a slower vehicle on a blind curve in the mountains and they don't obey red lights - and this is common for buses and tractor-trailers, too. I established early on that there is no shame getting passed by a bus on a downhill (while hoping I didn't see that bus much further down the hill later), though there is some shame getting passed by a bus uphill - but that was the car's fault.

We set out from Cuenca around 12:00 and headed north on the Pan-American highway. The Pan-American was 6 lanes in Cuenca, but within 15 miles or so, it was down to 2 lanes, and remained that way except in the three larger cities we drove through. The road winds through the mountains, and it was an absolutely fun and spectacular drive - the highlight of my trip to that point. I love to drive, and truth be told, I like driving places where the drivers are a bit nuts. For some reason, I find that it is easier to anticipate aggressive drivers than defensive ones, and I have a fair amount of confidence that the drivers are more aware of their surroundings. I enjoyed it in eastern Europe, in Italy, and now here. Driving in the mountains on two lane highway, when that highway is the main thoroughfare for the country, presents other challenges. Every vehicle on the road goes at a different speed based on the car's abilities, and the curvy, steep roads only add to that. I quickly became comfortable with crossing the double-yellow line to pass cars - if the car in front of you was moving at 20kph, I could quickly get around it without sacrificing safety. Just a mater of adjusting.

Years ago, Shannon and I drove the so-called "Million Dollar Highway" - a 25 mile stretch of road between Durango and Ouray, Colorado. It is commonly cited as one of the most amazing drives through America - winding along the side of the mountains with breathtaking vistas and scary drops. We loved it. But it doesn't hold a candle to the 120 mile drive between Cuenca and Guamote. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share of this drive, but it was breathtaking the entire way. We we went up and down, over and around the beautiful, raw Andes mountains. We gazed in amazement at the farms that stretched up the sides of mountains. It got scary at times, as we wound around above several-thousand foot drops to the valley floors. We only averaged around 35mph for the entire 120 miles, due only to the difficulty of the driving - slow, but well worth the trip.

 At the end of that 120 mile stretch, the clouds lifted a bit and we got to gawk at the wonder of Volcan Chimborazo - the tallest peak in Ecuador at 20,564 feet - and because of the Earth's equatorial bulge, it's peak is the furthest from the center of the Earth. It was magnificent, and we drove in its shadow for about an hour.

Once we reached Chimborazo, the terrain levelled off a bit, and we were able to make much better time. As we approached our stop for the night, in the town of Latacunga, we were able to get a good view of the other famous peak of Ecuador - Cotopaxi.

We arrived into Latacunga around 7:00 and tried to make our way to our hotel in the city center - but ran into a street festival, with the main roads blocked off. We found our way around, checked into the beautiful hotel (Villa de Tacvnga), and wandered down to find the festival. The festival, called Mama Negra, began earlier in the week, and this appeared to be the final party for the festival. In a big square, a band was playing on a stage, the square was packed with people and vendors lined the side streets with food. We played at the festival for around an hour and ate our dinner there. The boys had hot dogs and Shannon & I had the typical Ecuadorian street food / fast food, salchipapas (essentially, sliced up, grilled hot dogs with french fries, drizzled with onions, peppers and a special sauce).

Afterward, we made our way back to the hotel and drifted off to sleep, anxious to get to the main destination of the trip the next morning - Quilotoa.