For our last day of the three day bike tour, we gathered early once again for breakfast, and then pile into the truck and get a ride most of the way up the world’s tallest mountain peak, Chimorazo Volcano.
That is, tallest from the center of the earth and closest to the moon – due to it being located close to the bulging equator, which make it actually 2.1 kilometres higher than Mount Everest. Although we did not go up to the very top of the mountain, we did slowly scale the few hundred meters from the parking lot to the base camp at 5000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level.
My GPS watch claimed it was actually a little higher, but I will take their word for it. No easy fete, nevertheless, and we were pleased to find the hut served hot chocolate. We all enjoyed a cup while we sheltered inside away from the cold wind and chatted around a table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimborazo_(volcano)
There were quite a few clouds around, but the skies would open up from time to time and you could see the top of Ecuador’s highest peak not that far away from where we were standing, covered in snow. A fox hung out nearby, evidentially looking out for a snack from the tourists, but there was scant else for any animal to eat at that elevation. Further down the mountain, packs of beautiful vicunas (a relative to the alpaca) could be found grazing what little scrub they could find.
We descended from the hut to return to the truck and gear up for was was going to be a 2000 meter (6561 feet) drop and 70 kilometers to the city of Ambato. It was very cold and very windy, but the descent was steep enough to keep you going through the headwinds when you met up with them on the switchback dirt and a bit too corrugated road.
It was a very exhilerating ride back down off the side of the mountain. Once we got back down to the national park’s entry gate it was decided we were running way behind (probably due to too much socializing), so we piled back into the truck to skip the next 15kms – which were purported to be slow, uphill, and full of strong headwinds, anyway.
We got to a junction with a smaller side road and got back on our bikes to ride about 15 kms through a beautiful rural valley for the stop for lunch. There was a headwind most of the way, but I was able to draft behind our leader and have a much easier time peddling. Drafting was something we both enjoyed and used to get through most of the rest of the trip.
After our scrumptious tuna lunch, we got back on the road for the long final stretch of our ride. This was a particularly gorgeous and exciting section that followed a good smooth road along a glacier-melt sourced river through a deep green canyon that meandered from side to side of the river over small bridges as it passed through farmland, forests, rocky canyons, and villages from time to time.
Everyone would arrive at each catchup point with huge smiles on their faces from the experience. Numerous carrot farmers were found along the way washing their bright freshly harvested carrots in the streams and gutters running into the area. That’s right, gutters. Make sure you wash your veggies before eating them! Lots of us thought the circuit would have made for an excellent GoPro video, but unfortunately, none of us had one on us at the time.
By the time we reached our destination, 70 kilometres from where we started and 2000 meters closer to sea level, the temperature had warmed to a very comfortable early summer / late spring day. We all took final group photos, piled back into the truck for our ride back into Quito, and stopped along the way for ice cream at a town famous for selling homemade ice cream all over the place. We all got a kick out of looking into car and truck windows of other vehicles afterwards when we got back on the Pan American Highway to see every single person eating the same ice cream. Obviously it is known as an obligatory stop on the drive through Ecuador!
