Radioman Rides the World.......

Great video James, what editing program did you use to blend the video from the 2 different cameras?

He is using imovie on a MAC.

Stayed in Mindo at a great place, owners Susan and Louis are wonderful. Really a great place to hang out.



While here decided to adventure the local way.



No other photos but a short video that a put together after the fun of being on 13 Ziplines across and around the valley near Mindo. It was a blast.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YwrfczlDZG0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Then had a bit of time in town. Decided to to a local chocolate company tour.

OK our guide was not the most interesting as we started the tour. James was a bit bored.



Cocoa Pod.



But we learned about the varieties of the Cocoa Plants and how they are turned into Chocolate.

Fruit has Cocoa seeds. That are extracted, fermented, dried, roasted, separated, ground, pressed, Conched, and made into bars of chocolate.





Fermenting .....



Drying





With a group of mostly young college students who were great to talk to. They are in a study abroad program and living in Quito for the term.



We are at 1,400 Meters (or 4,500 feet) and surrounded by clouds. It was raining hard during our tour as well.



And a few flowers and plants to enjoy as well.







Separating the seed covers to get to the nibs.



Roasting. This reminded me of how we polished rocks as kids. Not real high tech..... But it does the job.



Explaining the Conking



Starting to look good.



at the end of the tour we got to taste test 100% cocoa with added Sugar, or Ginger, or Cocoa Honey. Was a fun process!



And then a fresh brownie with pure cocoa.



This was the small local chocolate company!



Stopped for dinner because Throttlemeister recommended this pizza. It was good the owner is from Italy. Yummy



It was a great day in Mindo! Small town in the mountains, but casual and fun to hang out!

Hey Mark!

Did you get your goatee caught in the zipline?

You've now shaved almost everything from the neck up. What happens when you get bored the next time you're rushing into a Truck Stop Bathroom at lunchtime?

:eek1

Morning "Bug Sister" indeed we are having a great ride. !

Too funny!! Thanks for the good morning laugh!!

This is one of the best RR's ever. I'm enjoying your adventure.

Very nice video james I didnt know that there where National Parks in South and Central America, stunning. In some of the two abreast riding shots I kinda heard the theme song from "Chips" in my mind.

Wow, that pan full of chocolate looks so good. Please send me one pan..... I need to go to the store now. Be safe Mark.

Frank

Thanks for keeping up with the ride Reports Radioman!

I really enjoy taking some time each week to read and catch up with what an adventurous life would be like.....

My time will come, I know that. But for now I really enjoy reading the ride reports and watching the videos that you people all share over here.

Ride safe, HAVE FUN!

OP

first of all I click "like" on "Lady" BugSister's post,.

James , I mean YOUNG can'tweallgetalong..........terrific work, very enjoyable...didn't care for the split screen in the first moments where the bikes meet in the middle, but maybe that's just me. thought the cockpit shots of you were well placed and overall, very good editing. what comes out clearly is you are having a good time and enjoying each other. Music worked well. Settles any quesitons the viewer may have of "why are you doing this?" you guys will be in Hollywood before you know it. you both have terrific talent and take the time and effort to get the shot very important sacrifice but in the end, well worth the effort to "get it right'!

RadioMan. The zip lining was great. I miss that stuff from living in Europe. Too many lawyers and too many idiots to do stuff like that in the freest country on the planet.

thank you all for sharing your ride with us

Where would that be? Can you get there on a motorcycle and when ten other people find out about it will it cease to be free.... here in this country we have given up our freedoms for something called "security" at best a mythological beast. I will go not further as this is a topic for another part of this website.

ditto

Was a great couple hour ride back to Quito.



The road is good and winds through the mountains taking you from the 1,400 Meters (4,500 feet) in Mindo up to 3,000 Meters (9,500 feet) in Quito



James has had a slow leak in his tire for the last 3-4 days. It appears that a previous plug is no longer holding.




Before we left the hotel in Mindo we had a bit of a laugh. Did not take photos, but we were having breakfast and an older American couple were at breakfast. The conversation went like this. Classic !

Wife to owner of hotel; "is there a doctor here? Or do we need to go to town?"

Husband: " I do not need a doctor."

Wife: "He is coughing and it is keeping me up"

Husband: "She needs the doctor &#9786;"

At doctor staying at hotel shows up a couple minutes later. Asks a few questions of the man….

Husband: "I do not need anything…."

This carries on for a bit longer.

Wife: I need to take him home Dead or Alive.

Husband: cremation might be cheaper down here &#9786; :loll

Then Doctor listened to his lungs. The guy comes back. Sorry honey we have to go home, I’m dying! &#9786; No Im fine it is just a cough.

We were laughing very hard. Loved it! Classic Man not wanting to have any help



So once back in Quito we stayed again at the Casa Helbling, another rider we met in Medellin, had made his way down, so we got together with Him! Great to see you again Ade from Canada!



Yummy Pizza while sitting around the nice hostel talking about our experiences riding south America!



Also ran into Hector who we "helped" buy his KTM last time we were in Quito!




We also rode up to Las Choris to Guido's restaurant! I must do in Quito!



Guido working hard when we show up!



Great sandwiches!!



Young James, Ade, and I enjoying lunch!! Thanks Guido





Hector just arriving back on his KTM




Bikes stored away for the nights! Safe and secure behind a locked gate!! Photo's by Ade (really missing my camera!)



Goofing around in Quito ...Photo to be sent to Sheri Jo as she loves M&M's and we found a huge box of them for her!

Hi Mark, started to read your RR and (sad) background information yesterday 8 a.m. lying in bed with a bad influneza. Did not stop reading till 2 o'clock in the morning, slept till 9 and started to read again. Its now close to midnight and I am ready until you drop the next lines. So I read everything, saw all vids and all pics and all posts in more or less one go. Took a while as I am not a native speaker and had to use the dictionary from time to time.

Awesome RR! I really thank you for taking me with you on this amazing trip. I am an ol fart but learned a lot about the US, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador etc. Brilliant!

You live the dream many others (including myself) have, even when the reason for your decision was a very sad one. I'd bet that even if I could afford such a trip would not have the balls to try. Its amazing me that you go and have no target and you are not looking for something, you just go and see what happens. One can see that the further you go the less you are planning and I think that is a good thing. Its a pity that Idahosam isnt joining you as I really like the guy, think he is a cool and funny guy and he has my respect for joining you quite a while (and no one thought that you are his dad)

All the others you met and who joined you for a while seemd to be really cool and tough guys too, no doubt.

Concerning the tires, I think that loosing the front end wasnt the tires fault, but who knows.... The second crash could have been due to a worn tire with too low pressure. The K60, although it has stiff sidewalls needs raised pressure when the bike is fully loaded. And it reacts exactly as you describe when its pressure is too low. It starts to get hot and weaves and slides and feels weird accelerating out of corners... However, glad you are fine and you could fix the bike.

I will follow you virtually and am looking very much forward reading your next posts. And now go and get a new camera, I like your pics. And I'll copy that brilliant idea with the flexible Manfrotto tube

By the way its annoying to see hundreds of photos of lovely food, crispy chicken, huge pieces of any kinda meet while trying desperatly loosing weight

I'll be present in spirit with you and I keep my fingers crossed for you and those who ride with you!

Take care

Steve

Thanks Steve for the very thoughtful Post and comments!! Appreciate you taking the time to read and then comment. It has been an awesome adventure so far, and will continue to be

Stay tuned. Hope you feel better and lose a little weight in the process While on the road I am averaging about two solid meals a day, and feel great losing a bit of weight myself!

With all the stuff on the internet.... Seen too many versions of this, so I just simplified it

As we grow older in our minds we are still young. As I ride, and hanging out in hostels, I realize things have changed a bit in the past 20 + years