Around the World in 800 Days

Did I mention that I hate riding in to the big cities?
Tons of traffic
Crazy drivers
Not really sure where am I and where to go
More expensive
Blah, blah blah

I was planning to bypass Quito. I don't have good maps loaded in to my GPS. I took a wrong turn that took me in to Quito at rush hour. It sucked!
I was not planning to stay the night there but it was already dark.
It took some searching but I food a hotel in the heart of the city that had room in the entrance to the lobby for my motorcycle. And for dinner, I went to a restaurant called Vista Hermosa. And let me tell you, the view was amazing! The restaurant sat on top of the roof of a 5 story building overlooking the entire city. I could see all the church towers, monuments built on top of all the mountains surrounding the city and all the lights of the city below and above me. The food was good too......lamb and rice for $12. The hotel is nice too.......$25 a night!
Hey, not all big cities are bad, I just hate driving in to them

Following daily... VERY impressive!! Sorry you won't be doing Baja in April but really glad you are doing this adventure... be safe..

Wish I was riding Baja with you and Josh too
I hope you get Pepe

So far I am really liking Ecuador. It rains a lot here up in mountains though. I am here in the rainy season. But it had to be this way. I traveled thru Mexico and Central America in the dry season. And once I get to Peru, it should be mostly dry as well.

Near Otalavo, I did this cool 5 hour hike around a volcanic crater with a lake in the middle of it. It stayed dry the whole time I hiked, but it started to rain on the way back to town

The trail sometimes went thru the forest so thick it formed a tunnel

The views from the rim of the crater were spectacular

Out of sight
Out of mind
I am always a bit concerned about leaving The Flying Dutchman while I go for a hike. But I have everything locked up and cover the bike. Also, there was a guard at the entrance that watched for me.
And the best part about this park was it was FREE. Take that - Costa Rica and your $10 for each park!

Ok, one more picture.
There was a neat little pair of islands in the middle of the lake

After the hike, I went to a nice little waterfall near Otavalo. It rained on me the whole way. But I had my Gore-tex liners zipped in so I stayed dry

I met these Colombian gals at the waterfall............or should I say, they met me. They were propositioning me and being all flirty. I took a picture with them to make them smile. I was thinking why it couldn't have been the two German hotties that I met at the Lake earlier in the day. Not all girls are crated equal and not all Colombians are good looking either
And no, I didn't get a picture with the Germans, they weren't interested in a guy traveling around the world on a motorcycle

This was actually tough to do. Here I am stopped exactly on the equator on the side of the road. To stop my bike at exactly zero degrees, I was within a foot or two of the equator. Plus I had big trucks wizzing past me as I stopped on the shoulder. This picture was taken just north of Quito.
I was planning to stay in this hostal just north of town but I couldn't find it. I asked for diirections and 2 people pointed me in the direction of Quito. So before I knew it, I was deep with in the city in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. So change in plans........looks like I am staying in Quito instead

I had no idea where I was going. I had no maps downloaded on my GPS of Quito. I knew I wanted to go to the Old Town. I ended finded it but I had know idea where I was going to stay the night. I saw this huge church and headed for that. I needed to take a break, get off my bike and regroup. It was dark and I was tired after a long day on the bike and the trails

Finding a place to stay is difficult at times beacuse:
I need a safe place to keep my bike and a lot of the downtown hotels don't have parking.
Riding around town, there is a lot of traffic and you don't move very fast. My bike is air cooled and it doesn't like sitting in traffic.
There are no places to pull over and park.
My bike is top heavy so riding slow and trying work my way thru traffic is exhausting.
But I found this place right in the heart of the city. It was really nice and only $25 a night. I negotiated them down from $30. The guy that worked their loved my motorcycle so he let me park it in the entrance to the lobby. It nearly blocked the whole entrance
But it was safely off the street at night

Here is the kind of traffic that I had to deal with. But at least on this street there was room to split lanes

The next day, I went back to that big church. I wanted to see it during the day. It was by far the most incredible church I have ever seen in the Americas. It was built about 150 years ago. I wonder if it is going to survive the next big earthquake. And I hear Quito is long overdue

No matter where I stood, I could not get the whole church in the picture

The detailing was amazing

In South America, they like a little extra blood on their Jesus'