Alausi a town hiden in the mountains !!!!!

 I couldn't work on the site yesterday, there was no INTERNET available in the hotel in Alausi; as I go down south the hotels are cheaper, this is the good news (Alausi was 12 U$S/night), the bad news are that the services available are also limited. Don't take me wrong, the hotel was fine, clean, safe place for the bike, food (3 U$S for dinner) but nothing else.

Before leaving Quito I went to “La mitad del mundo” (the Middle of the world), the place is located at the north of Quito (30 minutes ride) and is the exact point where the equinoctial line pass.

in case you want to knnow more : www.ecuador.travel/en/portal-pais/la-vida-en-estado-puro/at-the-middle-of-the-world-latitude-0o.html

From there I had to cross Quito to from North to South and it took like two hours; the “big” Quito is huge and crowded, it looked like it will never finish, but it did and I start climbing in a rainy and cold day. My target was to get as close as possible to Cuenca to get to the border with Peru the next day (today).

Looks like farming is a relevant part of Ecuador economy and the work is human intensive, everywhere you'll see people working the land and in the evening, trucks will be filled with workers going to …..their houses I believe …...another impression (that's my impression.... ) is that there were more women than men in the farm...didn't ask but I'll check tomorrow.

 After asking several times about directions my alternatives were to stop at Alausi or Chunchi, I was going to decide where to stay only after having the opportunity to see, at least, one place. As commented before, you have to ask many times about distances or any other information to take a decision, as you'll receive some different feedback depending on each individual.

Alausi is a small town hidden between mountains, it is cool and quiet and the people is friendly. There is a small train that goes up to what's call “The devil's nose” a place that looks like one of the few tourist attraction other than the big statue of San Peter that overviews the city. I spent the night there and I was on the road at 7 am again. .

 I choose to ride on top of the mountains leaving Alausi and go down towards the coast to reach the border sooner. The mountain view was phenomenal !!! and the roads twisted, however not all were paved and you have to be careful as you can “discover” an unpaved patch, just beside the corner (see pics for more visual info)

 As I was going down the temperature start improving; going up from the 8 to 10 to 20 /25 Celsius, and the road worsen substantially with large parts without any pavement.

 The banana plantations started and followed me all the way to Huasquillas where I arrived at 4 pm. I did not cross to Peru today, I do not want to risk staying at the border and crossing at nigth.

Tomorrow I will approaching the border early to get to Peru through “Aguas verdes” and start my ride beside the sea.

Jorge