Some of the best photo's you've taken,what a remarkable place.Until next time
Y.D.F Noel

Thank you sir, yes it is incredible to say the least, snow near the equator.

Its all down hill from here!!!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Going down on things....

Well, the ride down to the lowlands was nothing to write home about other than when we were in the mountains and we pretty much had the road to ourselves, it was so peaceful and a time to be admired, once on the flats were we inundated by trucks and buses and clouds of half burnt diesel coupled with hot and sticky ... almost like being back in Cuba!! ... except we were riding this time.

La Troncal ... yeah, had a nice shower, the only fun part was upsetting a guy who wanted to drive through me where I was parked rather than go just behind me and into the gate, yes you could have fitted a bus through there be head didn’t wonna do that.... he got angry and tooted etc so I just smiled and made him more angry, the hotel guy came out and gave him a right royal serve. :clap

Again I am no expert in Spanish but I understood clearly the hotel guy was not happy with the dickhead being very arrogant and told him to go around like a normal person ... which he did .... while I smiled.:lol3

That was La Troncal.

Sooooo, next day the gumball rally begin, gezz I hate main roads, we had one guy pull out to pass and he kept coming like we were invisible despite the LEDs in has face and we had to dive off the road to avoid being taken out head on ...wanker. :eek1

Once off the main drag heading down the coast the pace and stress levels dropped thankfully.

Puerto Lopez, Marylou and Rob were staying there so we dropped into their hotel per instructions to find they shifted to a much cheaper place and in town.

Suited us and they left more instructions, riding into town they found us easily ... only one big moto rolling into town with two big smiling faces .... being drunkards on level three they yelled out ...too easy:rofl.

We found some reasonably priced accommodation and Maya was parked out the back with the chooks and turkeys, we covered Maya in case they decided she was a good vantage point to shit from. :huh

Hanging with the dodgy Canadian we walked, relaxed, talked shit, drunk grog and ate ... as ya do.

Also took in the national park at the sulpher pools and gettin caked in mud ... awesome, this girl took a picture with us, ellen a got a picture of her with mud on her face :evil.



Me, Ellen, Marrylou and Rob ... luvin it.



The sulfur pool, neat spot.



Down at the beach ... kids having fun



Hitting the road south we headed out to La Libertard then back out and on our way to Playas.

Talking a side road created some amusement and was much nicer that 4 lane race track fighting for space with buses and trucks, down near to sea edge was a bit airy as there were 40ft shipping containers all painted yellow saying private property keep out (in Spanish) and we wondered what was so precious out in a desert area...one wonders??.



Lots of dry creek crossings



Lots of these containers ... :huh



Arriving at Playas we clocked into our hotel which was one street off the beach and only $10 for the two of us including parking, wifi, own shower and all...cool, Playas is a very locals place thus I was pretty much the only whiteyfoo there.

After having cerviche in Puerto Lopez and being in a seaside town we decided to have it here too .... well we were at the end of the day and no one else was there and the lady was overly keen ....should have known at that point.

First off she delivered a very half portion ... I said come on the picture shows this and you are trying to give us this so she took it back and two minutes later it was per the picture ,... and I suspect by the way my guts felt later it was complete with the days floor scrapings, later that night all hell broke loose, I could have shat through the eye of a needle from 5 meters away.uke1

That left me feeling very second hand the next day not to mention dehydrated and frail, we are now religiously sticking to our rule, no one in the place we are NOT going there, a place packed full of locals is a sure bet to a great feed for a good price and the risk of getting the shits from higher turnover places is greatly reduced.

Being off shade didn’t stop the hardened travellers tho .... nah .... onwards and upwards..... destination Machala for the night.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

So feeling like crap but still able to ride we set to first through Guayaquil, Ecuadors biggest city, if I hadn’t bummed our turn up we would have been through faster than a dutchman chasing a dollar bill in the wind ....but I thought a city tour was in order ...yeah. :evil

No dramas down the road other than boredom from a straight road and a dodgy guts, we did however manage to find a neat shortcut out to the sea, we shoulda stayed at the little village as it was quite nice but we punched on to Machala as we needed wifi and to be honest a touch of air con or a good fan and a nice bed was in order for yee ol sick one.

See the bottle made from bottles advertising no biffing rubbish



Very basic wee fishing village



My wish was fulfilled and was well earned, surprising what a few home comforts when you need em can make a huge difference ... actually just not trying to sleep on the toilet makes the biggest difference. :rofl

Machala itself surprised us with its size and it is a modern town



Interesting when the tide came in during the afternoon the storm water sumps were flowing back onto the street creating a flood on the streets.

A lite snack of fries and a bottle of 7 up to settle the mid then bed for the oldies.

The road from Machala to Cuenca bought a whole new feel to the place as we had gone from jungle to mountains to beaches to desert in two days and had ridden down from 4860 meters to see level.

The mountain desert road





A solitary plastic bag racing us down the road ... we won :evil



Destination Cuenca, we were on course to meet with Luis, Janette and family, amigos of Julio in Ambato.

On arriving there was an audience and welcoming comity, a rider Alfonzo (Pocho) from Colombia, a couple Garston and Luciana from Argentina and Luis and family.

We were welcomed in and given lunch and shown to our room, very nice indeed.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Being big towns aren't totally our gig we have found some surprise in Central and South American towns.

A walk around Cuenca in the afternoon we had a small list of stuff we wanted to do including getting more insurance which was due to run out, we did a visit to the KTM shop looking for a replacement horn but the atmosphere was cool there, although we were not expecting red carpet some help would have been welcomed...never mind it is just a horn.

Las Cajas National park just out of Cuenca with hiking etc was our next mission, again up at 4000 meters our fitness was improving with every breath we tried to take.



Many lakes and tarns grace the park



There are weird "red trees' that are buckled



Stunning scenery again was served up in the intermissions of cloud. fog and occasional rain unveiling the true beauty that Ecuador hides on the top shelf.

We were there.:clap



While there we took in Cuena town as well as enjoying a very nice coffee at a gringo cafe (nice to have these luxuries every few weeks), Cuenca itself is a very nice city and by comparison very easy to get in and out of.

The Panama hat museum was in order to to see how the hats were made.

As you can see this lady has a nice hats....:evil



All shapes and colours



A hat forming machine



That evening Garston (a chief from Argentina) prepped and cooked up a big bar b que which involved drinking and lies ..as well as some BMX stunts on the top deck....good times.

...a balanced diet



A chiefs talent



Luis and I showing our appreciation



Janette is also a bombero (firefighter) so all the girls had a trip to the fire station for a photo session ....they have some pretty cool kit there.

These are BIG trucks :eek1



We tried to leave the next day and were told off ... we had to stay or there would be trouble, no prob, we don’t wonna be naughty at our age as that is seen as irresponsible :eek1:eek1 so Ellen reciprocated and made sushi that night for the gathering....again this went down like a treat.



Some cool and interesting people to, Pocho from Colombia travelling on a his Pulsar, unfortunately a "very strong gust of wind" :huh on a charm still perfect day :roflblew his bike over



Garsten and Luisa from Argentina travelling two up on their Honda 125



Yes 79424 km .... onya guys ..Respect!!!:clap



The girls doing girls things... they said it was nail polish I reckon they were graffiti taggers :evil



Saying goodbye to our new Cuencadorian family we took a cool route through small villages and a back road to Yantzaza on great advice from luis, anything to avoid the pan am and clutter that goes with it.

Huge thanks to Luis Janette and family for making us feel welcome.:clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Full of humanity ,,
This is what it's all about!

Nice work as always.If i don't catch up before hand have a wonderful Christmas ,will look forward to following your travels in the new year ,regards Noel

Heya seouljoe

You are absolutely right, the groovy locations and places are cool but the people are the ones that really make it

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere