Ecuadawesome!!!!
So first off a massive thanks to Freedom rentals for great information, also to Julio, mum and dad of Ambato and Luis and Jeanette & family of Cuenca you guys rock and made Ecuador for us....and we had a good crack at the rest of it.
Starting back at the beginning arriving at Tulcan we bedded in getting used to new another country after leaving the comfort and fun of Colombia, let me tell you Maya nearly turned back....it was close, my enthusiasm to head to Ecuador overruled the want to stay in Colombia, was it a smart move ... who knows but the idea is to see the place so to move on.....nonetheless my heart was not in leaving Colombia.
Hitting the coast we wondered why the hell we did that, it was not anything like we thought, both of us agreed our hearts are in the mountains.
Heading to Quito was great, nice ride and accom and meeting the guys from Freedom Rentals, now if you are coming to Ecuador GO SEE THEM, these boys know the place like the back of their hand ... trust me they WILL make your trip.
Ecuador has stunning national parks worthy of world class status so we made the most of these.
Ambato, Julio,mum and dad ... outstanding, great times from great people and Julio is an inspiration doing his RTW trip on a KTM 525EXC.
Chimborazo was undoubtedly the highlight for both of us and the highest point we have ever been on land . .... if we look a bit red it is cos we were the closest to the sun we have ever been.
Over to the coast further down we enjoyed that apart from the guts ache from a dodgy food tienda, shit happens (ouwh and it it did)
Cuenca, amigos of Freedom and Julios, Luis and Jeanette put up with us and to be fair we loved staying and torturing them with sushi, again great times with local people, they really make the trip putting the icing on a great cake.
The roads were outstanding condition... even the dirt roads were great condition and despite the road from Vilacabamba to the border was difficult we really enjoyed it and the entertainment of diggers towing buses etc on the main drag was something different.
The down side, as with anywhere it is not perfect and the blemish for me was the daily dose of people “trying it on”, doubling prices, quoting prices then changing it, I have started to grow a thicker skin after being ripped a few times....and allowing it...fool on me.
Now I fight back, they think nothing of trying to take me to the cleaners so I have no bones about defending my position and standing my ground, I am sure if they came to New Zealand and we did it to them they would get tell us to get stuffed.
Much to their surprise when I say no, that is NOT what you said they are taken back, I think they must do it to white faces and other white faces just blindly go “ouwh OK”, so I raise my voice one notch and they don’t seem to like that attention.
So enough on that but I do advise any whiteyfoos to stand your ground and let them know it is not cool as it makes it more difficult for the next people if they think they can do it and get away with it all the time, some food for thought anyway.
To finish on a good note we both enjoyed and loved Ecuador and wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to other travellers, as for danger, no this is not a dangerous place and like anywhere you mind your stuff and be sensible.
Ecuador Video, don't know how to embed with pic sorry
So first off a massive thanks to Freedom rentals for great information, also to Julio, mum and dad of Ambato and Luis and Jeanette & family of Cuenca you guys rock and made Ecuador for us....and we had a good crack at the rest of it.
Starting back at the beginning arriving at Tulcan we bedded in getting used to new another country after leaving the comfort and fun of Colombia, let me tell you Maya nearly turned back....it was close, my enthusiasm to head to Ecuador overruled the want to stay in Colombia, was it a smart move ... who knows but the idea is to see the place so to move on.....nonetheless my heart was not in leaving Colombia.
Hitting the coast we wondered why the hell we did that, it was not anything like we thought, both of us agreed our hearts are in the mountains.
Heading to Quito was great, nice ride and accom and meeting the guys from Freedom Rentals, now if you are coming to Ecuador GO SEE THEM, these boys know the place like the back of their hand ... trust me they WILL make your trip.
Ecuador has stunning national parks worthy of world class status so we made the most of these.
Ambato, Julio,mum and dad ... outstanding, great times from great people and Julio is an inspiration doing his RTW trip on a KTM 525EXC.
Chimborazo was undoubtedly the highlight for both of us and the highest point we have ever been on land . .... if we look a bit red it is cos we were the closest to the sun we have ever been.
Over to the coast further down we enjoyed that apart from the guts ache from a dodgy food tienda, shit happens (ouwh and it it did)
Cuenca, amigos of Freedom and Julios, Luis and Jeanette put up with us and to be fair we loved staying and torturing them with sushi, again great times with local people, they really make the trip putting the icing on a great cake.
The roads were outstanding condition... even the dirt roads were great condition and despite the road from Vilacabamba to the border was difficult we really enjoyed it and the entertainment of diggers towing buses etc on the main drag was something different.
The down side, as with anywhere it is not perfect and the blemish for me was the daily dose of people “trying it on”, doubling prices, quoting prices then changing it, I have started to grow a thicker skin after being ripped a few times....and allowing it...fool on me.
Now I fight back, they think nothing of trying to take me to the cleaners so I have no bones about defending my position and standing my ground, I am sure if they came to New Zealand and we did it to them they would get tell us to get stuffed.
Much to their surprise when I say no, that is NOT what you said they are taken back, I think they must do it to white faces and other white faces just blindly go “ouwh OK”, so I raise my voice one notch and they don’t seem to like that attention.
So enough on that but I do advise any whiteyfoos to stand your ground and let them know it is not cool as it makes it more difficult for the next people if they think they can do it and get away with it all the time, some food for thought anyway.
To finish on a good note we both enjoyed and loved Ecuador and wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend it to other travellers, as for danger, no this is not a dangerous place and like anywhere you mind your stuff and be sensible.
Ecuador Video, don't know how to embed with pic sorry
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