... that after we crossed so many mountain-passes, we've been biking DAYS on a looooong booooooring flat piece of land???
As far as you see, the road never stops being straight - our favorite game was to count the turns. Within 31 km, we didn't turn more that 3 times. We even counted how many minutes we could still see the trucks or cars that passed us. Well, it became really depressing!!
Sooooo yep! We've had time to deeply look for details in the environment around!
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| Ow! A machine that waters the ground!!!......... Fascinating!!!!!!!!! |
Still, we've seen interesting things, like these houses on stilts, to prevent flooding during the wet season.
As always, as soon as we quit The Andes, we cycled in very poor areas. Below, an example of houses in this region of Ecuador. Nothing close to what we've seen earlier.
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| Still, the houses here are about stable. We've seen example of wooden or concrete houses, half broken because of construction errors - consequences of decisions such as "I have no clue how to do it and anyway I lack of money so still, I'm gonna build my house myself!" |
It's also along that road that we saw for the first time cocoa plants. So we took a break and went down to observe the origin of what becomes warm chocolate, chocolate bars, chocolate cakes and other brownies!!
Miam miam miam!! Yummy yummy yummy!! Lekker lekker lekker!!
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| I know. I'm on a goggle mood... |
Time for a map!
Stop complaining, you lucky-young-person traveling for months now in stunning areas of the world!! And show us where you are instead!
Ok ok. Remember Montalvo, where we stopped the last post? Well, I'm sure you do since it has been the town our deeply regretted Lapin Crétin has elected residence.
So this post will recap our trip from Montalvo, the city under the clouds, to Huaquillas, directly on the border of Peru.
Et voilà!!
Ready?
Let's start!
Babahoyo: niet goed!
Ah. That doesn't sound like a nice start!
Well, after 30 boring km, we reached Babahoyo, a city where within less than 5 minutes we felt we'd better leave quickly. How can I explain that feeling... Let's say it that way: since we travel, our instincts quickly learn to feel the atmosphere of an inhabited area. So we looked at the time, checked our guts again and decided not to stop there and to go on in the direction of Guayaquil. This has been one of the longest day ever. We biked more than 110 km on a flat road, still boring and without any turn. Not the nicest drive!!
Guayaquil: the city where we felt danger for real
We entered Guayaquil at 6pm, already night time. At 7, we finally reached the center, thanks to a nice guy who drove in front of us with his car, at our pace, to show us the way and open the route - wherever you are, thanks so much again!!
We found a hostel in an okayish area. Was not the best but hey, we were in an about safe district of Guayaquil. At least during the day... We had no plan about Guayaquil and therefore no idea about the number of days we would stay. The first evening gave us the answer...
We went out for dinner, more looking for a snack than for a big meal. Just down the street of our hostel, we found some tiendas with nice food. That's when Arthur decided to cross the street, to check what he could find on the other side. And of course, that's when trouble started... Everything started with a confused noise coming from further in the street. It was already dark, so hard to see on a long distance. When suddenly, we heard a first shot. And two. And then more. And then, about 5 guys flew from a corner. Quickly followed by a group of policemen on motorbikes or running after them. And surrounded themselves by another group of 10 to 20 other young guys, running as hell to escape. Weird situation, since most people around me promptly hid in the tiendas. Weird also to feel this sudden tension everywhere and to live, as in a movie, this unexpected course-pursuit. Weird to realize that within a couple of seconds, we were in the middle of a very nasty situation. The most surprising thing for us was to see some of the runaways having a huge satisfied smile. I guess the adrenaline - and the feeling it was as cool as a game? - carved these grins on their faces.
It lasted less than 30 seconds I guess. But darn these seconds were long! Especially when we had no clue if the other one was all right, since we were both on to different sides of the street.
So, yep. Let's say that after we found each other all safe, we went back in the hostel and just ate there. We decided to give Guayaquil one more day chance. And then we left the place, as quickly as possible.
As you can understand, Guayaquil is not a charming city. And not only because of this kind of event. It is also very dirty and you feel tension everywhere. Except... in the center and in a small posh area. So you know what? Let's talk about these nice souvenirs of the city.
I have to say I am not that motivated to write anything about it. The pictures will do a better job!
We also went in the artistic area, very poshy and apparently the most expensive one. A touristic place where the houses look as pretty from the outside than they are messy and dirty in the inside.
We did have a very charming moment though, when we spent some time in the afternoon, listening to music played on a place by a couple of talented local musicians.
That's how we will end with Guayaquil. Let's go to the next step!!
If you look back on the map, you will see that we were quite west at this point of the trip. However, we wanted - ok, especially Anaëlle - to visit Cuenca. Which meant biking up again in The Andes, until 2500 meters. Pouah! Already done before. Eeaaasyyyyy!!! Yes but. We didn't wanted to go back to The Andes: we wanted to change and follow the Pacific coast! Outch. That meant that we had to bike up to Cuenca and then back down in the direction of Guayaquil - following one of these fascinating roads we described before... Yeepeeee...
Let's say we found another way :-)
We decided to head on to Najanjal, a city at the crossroad between Guayaquil and Cuenca. And so we did! Ah! Naranjal: one of the messiest town we've passed by - but yet one of the nicest too. So when we arrived there, we saw the mess, we heard the mess, we felt the mess, in the streets, in our hostel, in the restaurants, on the market - which spreads in fact in every street. But we also felt how warm and peaceful this city was - at least as far as we visited it. Nice people, relaxed atmosphere and above all, no feeling of being a target. Or maybe was it the after Guayaquil effect?
There, we found a hostel were we left our bikes for 3 days. We prepared some stuffs for the journey and hopped in a bus to Cuenca. After a 4 hours trip east, we reached the capital of the province of Azuay. And boy, that was worth the detour!!!
When you've seen Quito, you've already seen, from our opinion, most of the beauties of colonial remains from Ecuador. At least as far as we know the country. As you have seen in the posts dedicated to the Ecuadorian capital - you, Duntchies blog fanatic! - Quito's historical center is stunning. However, Cuenca possesses one huge asset: its new cathedral.
It is such a beautiful building, that Anaëlle went crazy on the camera. So, well, let's say that she tried to make a selection (but this one is very nice, and this one too, and this one!!).
This cathedral is another proof of Ecuadorian's level of faith. The old cathedral, built in the 16th century, became apparently too small for the amount of Catholics attending services. Therefore, they decided to built, end of the 19th century, a new cathedral, much bigger than the first one. The old one is nowadays a museum.
For the story, the original plan of this cathedral was quite different than the result. Indeed, the architect made a huge mistake in his calculation - mega oooops!!! To prevent the cathedral to break down under the towers' weight, they had to truncate them. But even so, this monument is a beauty.
Let's now have a closer look. At the facade, for example, made of local marble and alabaster. And now, let's walk inside: yes, you've guessed it - you are good! - the floor is made of pink marble from Italy.
Apparently, 9000 people can fit in. Let's start the party!
Ok. Stop with the cathedral. Let's go further and visit the center, which also has so many charms... Just have a look below and you'll be convinced.
Right picture: Monastery of El Carmen de Asuncion, whose place, in front of the main door, has been chosen for the flower market. So charming...
Left picture: no clue. Just, it's a nice one!
This museum tracks the pre-Hispanic cultures in Ecuador, through more than 7000 artifacts. It is chronologically organized in 13 areas, depending on the regions the artifacts have been produced.
As you can see, these artifacts are super well preserved - especially when you learn that some of them date back to 13000 years ago...! "Woooow!" Would you think. And you would think right.
These stones, used as music instruments, are called lithophones. And as you can imagine, we've had quite some fun playing with it. So yes, we definitely recommend to visit this amazing museum, which you only see a glimpse of... Ahah! I can see your very curious mind being frustrated and thinking about taking this stupid flight ticket!! We won't. We are already there, having a great time, and going on with our trip - oooowwww that was meeeaaaan!!!!
Our three days in Cuenca have been quite full. Time to go back to messy Naranjal, grab our crazy engines and bike down to Peru's border. Once again, the road was not that exciting... But once again -fortunately - we passed by another coffee fields area. That's when Arthur decided to see what was in the cocoa fruit.
A machete, a cocoa fruit, a curious Dutch. Here you go! Arthur entered the cocoa tree field and took a fruit from the ground. And the owner came, just at this moment... Since we travel over here, we know people are nice and friendly. But hey, you can't get rid that quickly of your first reflexes. So we both felt uncomfortable when the owner of the fields arrived on his bike and saw us with one of his cocoa fruit in Arthur's hand.
Well. Five minutes after, the guy had opened the fruit with his machete - I would have cut my hand - and took out some grains.
He then told us we could eat that! "Whaaaaat???" Believe it or not, it's super good! There is not a lot to chew but it is tasty and sugary.
Ready to say goodbye to our cocoa-gold new friend, a car stopped in front of us. We then recognized this car that had followed us, slowly, on a couple of kilometers. Arthur had seen one of the passengers taking pictures of us biking. Weird, would you say? Indeed! And as us, you want to know why they were following us - and taking pictures!
After this night, we reached Huaquillas, at the border with Peru. Huaquillas is another big mess but we got used to it. And knew where to go to enjoy it!!
Yep! This is the border! At least on the signs. Since you have in fact to go back to another place to actually pass the border and reach Peru. For the record, it took us more than 2 hours to reach it, since we first have been sent to a closed office ("Siii, pero lo que pasoooooo.......") and then to an empty area, lost in the middle of a weird no-man's land.
Finally, we happily joined the patient crowd of tourists willing to reach Peru. Found out that we only had 3 months visa - and not 6 as expected - and started a weird biking trip on a no man land area. Wanna know why? That's gonna be for the next super exciting in-coming post!!!
Allez, lets be nice and give you a bit of taste of the next post...
As many already know, we didn't like our first weeks in Peru. Apart from the very first days... Just have a look below and stay thirsty until our next update!
We went out for dinner, more looking for a snack than for a big meal. Just down the street of our hostel, we found some tiendas with nice food. That's when Arthur decided to cross the street, to check what he could find on the other side. And of course, that's when trouble started... Everything started with a confused noise coming from further in the street. It was already dark, so hard to see on a long distance. When suddenly, we heard a first shot. And two. And then more. And then, about 5 guys flew from a corner. Quickly followed by a group of policemen on motorbikes or running after them. And surrounded themselves by another group of 10 to 20 other young guys, running as hell to escape. Weird situation, since most people around me promptly hid in the tiendas. Weird also to feel this sudden tension everywhere and to live, as in a movie, this unexpected course-pursuit. Weird to realize that within a couple of seconds, we were in the middle of a very nasty situation. The most surprising thing for us was to see some of the runaways having a huge satisfied smile. I guess the adrenaline - and the feeling it was as cool as a game? - carved these grins on their faces.
It lasted less than 30 seconds I guess. But darn these seconds were long! Especially when we had no clue if the other one was all right, since we were both on to different sides of the street.
So, yep. Let's say that after we found each other all safe, we went back in the hostel and just ate there. We decided to give Guayaquil one more day chance. And then we left the place, as quickly as possible.
As you can understand, Guayaquil is not a charming city. And not only because of this kind of event. It is also very dirty and you feel tension everywhere. Except... in the center and in a small posh area. So you know what? Let's talk about these nice souvenirs of the city.
Some nice areas of Guayaquil: the center and the posh area
I have to say I am not that motivated to write anything about it. The pictures will do a better job!
 |
| Please admire the professionalism of the pause, after such a long trip and such a short night...! Thank you. |
While walking in the center, we found a long path along the river side. Very pleasant, calm and well maintained. Two beautiful old sailboats were moored.
The artistic district, perched on its hill
We also went in the artistic area, very poshy and apparently the most expensive one. A touristic place where the houses look as pretty from the outside than they are messy and dirty in the inside.
Still, if you like the place, there are some empty houses waiting to be restored!
We did have a very charming moment though, when we spent some time in the afternoon, listening to music played on a place by a couple of talented local musicians.
That's how we will end with Guayaquil. Let's go to the next step!!
 |
| Panoramic view from one of the hill |
Bye Guayaquil - and er... good luck!!
Naranjal, our favorite mess!!
If you look back on the map, you will see that we were quite west at this point of the trip. However, we wanted - ok, especially Anaëlle - to visit Cuenca. Which meant biking up again in The Andes, until 2500 meters. Pouah! Already done before. Eeaaasyyyyy!!! Yes but. We didn't wanted to go back to The Andes: we wanted to change and follow the Pacific coast! Outch. That meant that we had to bike up to Cuenca and then back down in the direction of Guayaquil - following one of these fascinating roads we described before... Yeepeeee...
Let's say we found another way :-)
We decided to head on to Najanjal, a city at the crossroad between Guayaquil and Cuenca. And so we did! Ah! Naranjal: one of the messiest town we've passed by - but yet one of the nicest too. So when we arrived there, we saw the mess, we heard the mess, we felt the mess, in the streets, in our hostel, in the restaurants, on the market - which spreads in fact in every street. But we also felt how warm and peaceful this city was - at least as far as we visited it. Nice people, relaxed atmosphere and above all, no feeling of being a target. Or maybe was it the after Guayaquil effect?
There, we found a hostel were we left our bikes for 3 days. We prepared some stuffs for the journey and hopped in a bus to Cuenca. After a 4 hours trip east, we reached the capital of the province of Azuay. And boy, that was worth the detour!!!
CUENCA
Prepare your eyes and you plane ticket
 |
| The cathedral of Cuenca |
It is such a beautiful building, that Anaëlle went crazy on the camera. So, well, let's say that she tried to make a selection (but this one is very nice, and this one too, and this one!!).
This cathedral is another proof of Ecuadorian's level of faith. The old cathedral, built in the 16th century, became apparently too small for the amount of Catholics attending services. Therefore, they decided to built, end of the 19th century, a new cathedral, much bigger than the first one. The old one is nowadays a museum.For the story, the original plan of this cathedral was quite different than the result. Indeed, the architect made a huge mistake in his calculation - mega oooops!!! To prevent the cathedral to break down under the towers' weight, they had to truncate them. But even so, this monument is a beauty.
Let's now have a closer look. At the facade, for example, made of local marble and alabaster. And now, let's walk inside: yes, you've guessed it - you are good! - the floor is made of pink marble from Italy.
Apparently, 9000 people can fit in. Let's start the party!
Ok. Stop with the cathedral. Let's go further and visit the center, which also has so many charms... Just have a look below and you'll be convinced.
Yeah...
I know...
Just pack your stuffs and take a flight.
Iglesia San Domingo, on your left, if you please. On your right, a nice building, certainly with a name.
Couldn't find it.
There are many more churches and religious monuments, nicely painted in blue, green, yellow. Which gives to the city a nicely joyful atmosphere.
Above and below: some nice colonial and republican style buildings
On your left, some arches, nicely decorated and well maintained.
That's the good thing about touristic cities over here: the historical centers and other remaining of history are usually very well taken care of.
Below, some views on a typical architecture, mixing colonial and republican styles.
Right picture: Monastery of El Carmen de Asuncion, whose place, in front of the main door, has been chosen for the flower market. So charming...
Left picture: no clue. Just, it's a nice one!
Allez! Now let's see how it looks by night...
Above, Cuenca city hall.
Aaaaah ok I craaaaacked! The cathedral again!!
But by night!! And from another angle :-)
And of course, some palm trees, by accident on the picture - sign of warm areas, aaaaaaaah...!
Oh the previous one is blurry? Sorry! Here, another one.
Oh the previous one is blurry? Sorry! Here, another one.
Oooohh! What a beauty!!
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| Santo Domingo Church lighted at night |
"Guys! Would you mind to shut up and go inside?? We're freezing here!!"
Ok ok calm down sweet reader! We bring you inside. But not anywhere... Please follow us in the...
Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes (what a clever switch!)
This museum tracks the pre-Hispanic cultures in Ecuador, through more than 7000 artifacts. It is chronologically organized in 13 areas, depending on the regions the artifacts have been produced.
As you can see, these artifacts are super well preserved - especially when you learn that some of them date back to 13000 years ago...! "Woooow!" Would you think. And you would think right.
Ah! A question for you. Have you ever been playing music just with stones? Not talking about when you were 3 and throwing stones to your little friends' faces - so they would cry and therefore it's kind of music. No. We are talking about musical stones... Wanna learn about it? Well, you already know what to do: take a flight to Ecuador, go to Cuenca and pay a visit to the Museo de las culturas aborigenes. Then, please follow the instructions of your best teacher, Arthur, on the video below.
A bit more below...
Here!
Here!
These stones, used as music instruments, are called lithophones. And as you can imagine, we've had quite some fun playing with it. So yes, we definitely recommend to visit this amazing museum, which you only see a glimpse of... Ahah! I can see your very curious mind being frustrated and thinking about taking this stupid flight ticket!! We won't. We are already there, having a great time, and going on with our trip - oooowwww that was meeeaaaan!!!!
From Naranjal to Huaquillas, on Peru's border.
Our three days in Cuenca have been quite full. Time to go back to messy Naranjal, grab our crazy engines and bike down to Peru's border. Once again, the road was not that exciting... But once again -fortunately - we passed by another coffee fields area. That's when Arthur decided to see what was in the cocoa fruit.
How a cocoa fruit brings gold in your bag
A machete, a cocoa fruit, a curious Dutch. Here you go! Arthur entered the cocoa tree field and took a fruit from the ground. And the owner came, just at this moment... Since we travel over here, we know people are nice and friendly. But hey, you can't get rid that quickly of your first reflexes. So we both felt uncomfortable when the owner of the fields arrived on his bike and saw us with one of his cocoa fruit in Arthur's hand.
Well. Five minutes after, the guy had opened the fruit with his machete - I would have cut my hand - and took out some grains.He then told us we could eat that! "Whaaaaat???" Believe it or not, it's super good! There is not a lot to chew but it is tasty and sugary.
Ok. Let's be honest: Anaëlle liked it, Arthur not really...!
Now, what about the golden stone...? Well, we had a very nice chat with this guy and we shared with him some fruits we had.
Guess what, in exchange of this nice moment together, he decided to give us... a stone encrusted with raw gold.
Fine with me! (want more fruits??)
Ow, and at this exact moment, we understood why a car was following us and taking pictures of our sublime butts - yes, as you can understand, our days are quite busy in fact!!
How we became stars in Ecuador
Ready to say goodbye to our cocoa-gold new friend, a car stopped in front of us. We then recognized this car that had followed us, slowly, on a couple of kilometers. Arthur had seen one of the passengers taking pictures of us biking. Weird, would you say? Indeed! And as us, you want to know why they were following us - and taking pictures!
Quite simple in fact. They were members of the team of the ministry of Urban development in Ecuador. They are currently working on creating bicycle paths along some parts of the Ecuadorian panamericana. To enhance a presentation about their project, they took pictures of us.
So who knows... in a couple of years, if you go in Ecuador, you may see on some side paths huge posters of us both on our bikes - that's the way to become a star, somewhere in the world!!
How I don't have any other "How-titles" in mind...
Ah si! => How we reached the Peruvian border - ahah!!
In two stops. First, we spent a night in Machala, regular city in South Ecuador, not super nice but, as many towns in South America, the main place in cute.
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| Main place in Machala |
SUPER NICE!! Feeling thirsty? Easy: buy a coco-nut for a couple of dollars and sip it!! Then grab your machete and cut the top off. And enjoy the delicious fresh coconut flesh while watching the stars from the hostel terrace. Mmmmm!!!!!
Yep! This is the border! At least on the signs. Since you have in fact to go back to another place to actually pass the border and reach Peru. For the record, it took us more than 2 hours to reach it, since we first have been sent to a closed office ("Siii, pero lo que pasoooooo.......") and then to an empty area, lost in the middle of a weird no-man's land.
Finally, we happily joined the patient crowd of tourists willing to reach Peru. Found out that we only had 3 months visa - and not 6 as expected - and started a weird biking trip on a no man land area. Wanna know why? That's gonna be for the next super exciting in-coming post!!!
Allez, lets be nice and give you a bit of taste of the next post...
As many already know, we didn't like our first weeks in Peru. Apart from the very first days... Just have a look below and stay thirsty until our next update!
Bye-bye amigos!! And see you soon for our next stories!!
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