We crossed through Ecuador in just 8 days, but enjoyed our time there greatly.
After an overload of fried food in Colombia, we were happy to find the markets in Ecuador well stocked with delicious fruits and vegetables. We stayed in several hostels with well equipped kitchens, which we took advantage of to cook ourselves some much needed nutritious meals. On top of that, we found the restaurant food, although similar to much of what we have eaten in all of Latin America, to be higher quality than we had seen for the past few months. Rice, beans/lentils, eggs and plantains are our usual staples, and we were happy to find them well seasoned in most restaurants. We made it through the whole week without once being accidentally served meat! We even found a homemade veggie burger in a small town, some great pizza, but the highlight was definitely delicious fruits and veggies which were much easier to encounter than they had been in Colombia and Panama.
Local cuisine like humitas, tortillas de yuca, Ecuadorian elote (very similar to Mexican elotes, our favorite), horchata (very different from Mexican horchata), and empanadas have been a treat for us as well. Although, we’re still learning to enjoy (or at this point avoid) the fermented quesillo, which despite its presence all through Colombia and Ecuador, we have not developed a taste for.
Eating well and feeling healthy, we were riding strong through most of the country. We have loved our time on the bike in the surprisingly rugged mountains on the Amazonian side of Ecuador. We opted for our chosen route primarily to avoid the big cities and gang incited unrest on the coast. We did not know much about this area of Ecuador prior, except that everyone we talked to said that it was very calm/safe. This was definitely the case, but beyond that, the scenery and riding was incredible. We rode past numerous waterfalls, huge rivers, through jungles, and in the last week climbed over 16,000 meters in total through national parks and beautiful little mountain towns.
That being said, we are definitely feeling the fatigue of riding so hard day after day. After leaving Ecuador on 50 km of steep dirt road, we crossed the border and arrived in Namballe, Peru exhausted and hungry. We went to one of the only restaurants in town, and convinced them to cook us a vegetarian meal, which was simple and delicious, but we still couldn’t help ourselves when we saw a street cart selling papas fritas afterwards. With no WiFi and very poor cell service, we went to bed early in a cheap hotel room.
We are feeling a little sad to leave Ecuador, since we enjoyed it so much, but simultaneously very excited to see Peru and all it has to offer: expecting lots of potatoes in our future.
Mark’s Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/markandnic
Google Photo Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8sK1ryrupSjneZ9BA
Thanks for reading!
-Nic