Ipiales > Quito – 288km – In Quito a few days

Alaska, Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia and now Ecuador.

Was foggy and raining lightly when we woke up, so we just waited until it cleared.  The border crossing went smoothly, we are getting pros at it now.  Money changers are always there.  Was funny today, they offered a really good rate, in fact more than the going rate, but then their calculators are rigged somehow so that when they calculate it out the amount is way less than it should be.  We had already worked out what our money was worth so they looked kinda busted – we could only laugh.

Today we continue to follow the Andes.

The most noticeable difference from Columbia is the absence of the many small motorbikes, in the towns they are not shooting up left and right of you, along with the taxis.  In fact in Ecuador people keep to their lanes and the stop at red lights.  Very orderly.

Today we crossed the Equator

As you can see it was a grey day today, but no rain where we were.

Tonight was New Year’s Eve and we welcomed it in Quito.  The extensive fireworks started about 11:45 and lasted for a good half hour, big ones straight after each other continuously. Our hotel is quite high up so we could see over the city as well as those going off around us locally.

They burn guys in the street (just caught the end of this one) which represents the past year, then about 12:30 all the music and partying suddenly stopped as they went off to dinner.

We have almost completed another 10,000 kms  since San Diego, so we will spend a few days in Quito to get the bikes serviced. Court and Willie at Freedom Rentals are top blokes, and sorted us out with a great mechanic on the spot and we get the bikes back tomorrow.  Most of the places are closed until Tuesday, so we were really happy!!

We took a ride up the 12 minute gondola ride to the Teleferico Lookout which is 13,287ft, higher than Mt Cook.  Expansive views in every direction.

Some pics of Quito … our lunch stop

Shops in Plaza Grande

Delivering coffins

Now there’s a good name for a hairdressers