Saturday, January 8, 2011

Cycle Touring to the Amazon....starring Ramon

This little bike trip exceeded expectations, as I wasn't sure if Ramon was old enuf to hang on! Bumps, rain and humid heat, couldn't knock him off his perch! Bussed up to 4000m and biked down to a muggy 280m at Lago Agrio in the Amazon. 223km in 4 days.

Papallacta, just below the 4000m pass. Looks a bit like Swiss countryside no?


A swim in a river every day, kept him happy. Along with many popsicle stops.


Dye is injected into the eggs, b/f birth. Cute...but not sure I'd want to munch on one.

The active Reventador volcano to the right at 3562m

Gotta keep baby doggy happy too.




Ramon on the oil pipeline that paralleled the road the whole distance, which of course is the only reason the road exists...and our entire industrialized culture for that matter. Pumps b/t 1-6 metres per second!


Landslide at 7pm the previous evening. We got there at 9am. They still had a few hours work ahead of them, so I walked the bike thru the mud, with some help. Vehicles started coming by a few hours later. Ah...the many advantages of a carbohydrate burning machine :)





Boy is he gonna be shocked if he does the same thing in a Canadian river one day!

Many bridges have been washed out recently, hence the large number of Bailey bridges. The tractor/trailer can't make the tight corner on the new bridge....but our trailer can!!!!!!!!

He loves to stop and watch machines at work.

View from our hotel window.


They were refilling the pool...which was perfect for Ramon at waist deep.

Tilapia

San Rafael falls. Highest in Ecuador at 130m. I thought this was it...but as the next pic shows...a few more metres into the bush....

1 hour return hike at the end of a hard cycling day...well for dad...then I had to carry him back up!


The next morning...the cloud on the left is where the falls are.


A smoking Reventador as seen on the other side. Very lucky to view this, as they get 6 metres of rain a year here.



Ramon always wants to use the camera now.

I can never get enuf of this view. The flat horizon of the world's biggest jungle, stretching out to the Atlantic; a mere 5,000km or so away. Too much to fathom.

Yup...the little man can eat and drink and ride at the same time.

We must have had over a hundred photos taken of us during the 4 days. No cyclists in these parts, let alone a 4 year old on a tag along. Everyone is a photographer these days, with cameras in their cell phones.

Sorry mom...don't know the name of the black and yellow bird that makes these nests.


Another sandy Amazon tributary.


Cooling his heels after a hard day of pedalling.

And finally some rain to cool us off on the last morning.

Got in at 9ish and took the 6.5 hour bus back home. I can see more of these trips happening in the future.

1 comment:

dmorgorg said...

Brilliant! Great to meet you, Steve. And I've finally made it to your website. Don't know where to start; there is so much. I've been a bit delayed, getting all my retirement stuff organised, but heading off down the Divide, slowly, next week. Unless I hang around for another week to get through your blog. BTW, my wife is at West Dalhousie Elementary. My bad (as the cool kids used to say).