The Adventures of the Tober-Zambrano Family

Cycling from Reventador to Puerto el Carmen....with Ramon

2012-01-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Cycling with my boy! 350k in 7 days, 6 of which was spent cycling to Puerto el Carmen, "famous for being the easternmost city/town in Ecuador, accessed by road." Details at the end of the blog.

Rio Aguarico....weeeeeeeee! Ramon just loving it.

Local kids on the Rio San Miguel, where it meets the Rio Putumayo, at Puerto el Carmen.

Tame Tapir

Tilapia

Boa?

This one's live.

Night tour by canoe...3 metre cayman...good thing Ramon or dad didn't panic....we were only a couple of metres away. The guide was snapping lots of pictures...and he'd been working there for 9 years. Stayed here
http://yarinalodge.com/ 45 mins by boat down the Rio Napo from Coca. (50usd for the boat, night tour, dinner, breaky and lodging)

For 2usd...

For about a 5km stretch, we found tomatoes about every few hundred metres....fell off the truck I guess.

Cocoa pods....A parent from last year's class gave us a tour of his huge plantion. Thanks George!

Chocolate trees!

...and the beans

"Canadian wheat makes it good/better." Well...I'd argue that whole grain flour makes it better...but that won't last the long journey to the Amazon.

Ramon counting the numbers as we go by.

Taking a fridge to down river.

The new bridge in Coca...about to be completed.

God and country.

Black gold being piped to the port in Esmeraldas...90% of which is sold to China.

PU or peeeyuu?

That smells better.

Thurs Dec 29 4 hour? Bus to Hosteria Reventador
dec 30 ..bike to Lumbaqui 48k
dec 31...bike to Lago Agrio 58km
jan 1...bike to Pacayacu 46km
jan 2 ....bike to Tarapoa 36 km
jan 3...bike to Sansahuari 52 km
jan 4...bike to Puerto el Carmen 55km
Jan 5...bus 3 hours to ferry over Rio Aguarico and ride to Shushufindi and down to Limoncocha and Pompeya on the Rio Napo 55km
Jan 6....bus to Los Sachas....tour Cocoa farm...Boat ride down Napo from Coca to Yarina Lodge
Jan 7...Boat back to Coca...9 hour bus to Quito (should have been 7 hours)

We usually finished cycling before noon, to beat the heat...got alot of sunny days. So we were usually at the local swimming hole in the afternoons. Very light traffic. Got down to 260 masl at Puerto el Carmen and took a boat over to Puerto Ospina in Colombia...no cars or airport...great little place!
...and Ramon never missed his mommy....

Next on the horizon is a tandem with Ramon as the stoker...with the tag a long connected to it with Carla bringing up the rear.

Xmas at the beach with the Zambrano-Benavides

2011-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

10 awesome days at the beach over Christmas. Parents of a child in my class, generously gave us use of their beach house. So for $6.50 each, we simply jumped on the bus for a 5 hour ride down to the Pacific.

We were joined by Carlos (Maria's brother), his wife Cristina and their daughter Mafe.

Spiny, puffer fish.

Guitar fish.

Prawn.

Many different varieties of crabs.

The beach house on the right. This photo taken from the top of the Arco de Amor...Arch of love....

Ramon's 1st time with a boogie board...no lessons required! Mafe's first time at the ocean.

Charlis y Cris

John and Paul, secondary teachers at the British School, brought 14 shoe box presents that we handed out to some poor families on the beach. Parents put about 300 of these together for various needy communities in Ecuador.

Who's the monkey?? Saw 3 in the trees, just behind this place.

This goat followed me home from a run, along with 2 dogs. I dragged him back along the beach and we butted heads a fews times.

Carlos and Cris' new store??

No electricity in the house....no need for it really....much cozier playing cards, checkers and chatting with candle light.

Carla the beach bum.

Tasaste...name of the 15 house town 1km down the road or beach. This location has it all....private, peaceful, empty beaches, run for 2 hours in each direction, lots of fresh seafood from the fisherman next door and your own rock arch right out front!

A short trip to Pasto-Caro's graduation-Mafe's 1st communion

2011-12-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of Carolina in 1995 in Mocoa, Colombia.

....and 16 years later....she is graduating from high school!....and I havne't aged one bit.

Ramon, Caro's friend, Caro, Papi Ramon.

There's just nothing like a hug from your daughter.

Huh? It works! ...at a snail's pace.

Mafe's 1st communion....what a princess!

Carla with grandma Maruja

Ramon and grandma

A spider that was on our outside window of the house. We all enjoyed the grizzly spectacle of dinner time. Beetles and other insects being entombed in silk...to be consumed later.

Kids with Silvio Guerra before a race. He was 2nd in both Boston and NY marathons about 10 years ago.

Bonfire night at the school. Neo punk/vegas poolside gear...with Carla dressed the same.

International day at school. (Thanx for the hat mom)

The mouth watering, daily vegan fare, created by Chef Lauralee at the school.

Photos below are taken at La Luna
http://www.lalunaecuador.com/
A great little weekend getaway, above Otavalo, 2 hours north of Quito.

Carla...swinging in the Andes.

Ramon with an intense look of concentration. Does it really take that much effort to beat Pugz at checkers??

Caro's grad-message from kids

2011-11-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Pros/Cons Living in Ecuador vs Canada

2011-11-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

We are trying to decide whether to stay in Ecuador long term or return to Canada.
Please have a read and email me ANY thoughts, comments, critiques, ideas etc...
Hopefully you'll have a laugh or two and scratch your heads at the same time :)

Ecuador Positive

-Our children in the same school I teach at
-Walk to work
-Use of school library/pool/playground/internet after hours and a seemingly endless supply of avacados!
-Year round spring like climate
-Ease of growing food
-Can actually afford a decent house with some land
-Semi-rural area, outside of Quito
-Bus to Quito every 15 minutes
-Geo diversity/Amazon and Pacific coast within a 1/2 a days drive
-Volcanos to climb
-No need for vehicle at the moment
-Fantastic vegan lunch at school
-Reasonable work commitments
-Fewer teaching hours than Canada/more time off
-More time for family
-Close to Pasto/grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins
-Better/faster health care 4 kms from house
-Cheap/professional dental care
-Easy access to school nurse
-Less pervasive advertising
-Fresh, inexpensive fruit and veggies, delivered twice a week to our door
-Lower overall cost of living
-Spend less/not so many things to spend $ on
-Rental income on townhouse in Calgary
-Cheap restraunts
-Low cost of utilities/no heating or cooling bill
-Low cost of house construction/low cost of materials/more basic structure
-Dry clothes outside/no need for dryer
-No winter clothes
-Bike/climb all year
-Lots of running races/fun runs in Quito and better prize money for Maria
-Swimming lessons for kids at school
-Free tuition for 2 kids (standard in most international teaching contracts)
-Hot springs in local area, including next door
-Ilalo: 900 vertical metre extinct volcano out the back door/hike/bike/run
-Cheap taxis everywhere
-People live more in the present and don't worry so much about the future
-Maria can work as a teacher assistant in the same school
-Violent crime is rare

Ecuador Negative

-No "real" community neighborhood (takes a village to raise a child)
-Many students and teachers leave the school every couple of years.
-We are guests in the country
-Always a gringo in a foreign country
-A bit too close to 1.5 million people in Quito
-No teaching pension
-No union job benefits/security
-Reliance upon a single, non-profit school for income
-Can't contribute to an RRSP (and don't have any), Canada pension plan, Old Age Security, except for what I have already put into the last two
-Pollution: dead rivers coming out of Quito, garbage/litter all over, dog poo everywhere
-Dangerous sidewalks if there is a sidewalk
-Lack of respect for privacy: Dogs barking, loud music is acceptable
-Very poor police force/reactive rather than proactive
-Need security for house/property: neighborhood/house guard/alarm/elec fence
-Car accident: guilty until proven innocent. Must leave the scene of an accident that you are involved in!
-Don't really know/understand much of the local issues/news
-Difficult to find my size of shoes! and clothes
-No sense of time changing or passing by/no real seasons
-Too hot at work sometimes (28C in the classroom)
-Black flies come and go during the months
-Lack of English for our kids
-Must buy drinking water or boil from tap
-Stomach bloating from altitude
-Live in an expat bubble (rather than real, like-minded community working towards local sustainability), while surrounded by much poverty
-Monster potholes

Canada Positive
-The 4 of us are citizens
-Family in BC and Halifax
-Better higher level secondary/uni education...therefore more opportunities for the kids
-Better civil society organization
-Better social services
-Better infrastructure
-Rocky mountains/endless trails
-Better security/police
-Clean water
-Own a townhouse
-Libraries
-Skating
-Safer streets for kids (even though we don't play in them like we used to)
-English
-UN lists Canada as one of the top countries in the world to live in.
(I'm sure there is much more to add to this list that isn't so obvious to me...that I take for granted)

Canada Negative
-Climate...winter is too long. Leaves are on the trees in Calgary for only 5 short months
-Teenage peer culture/Drugs
-Family spread out and far away...no young relatives for the kids
-Extreme energy use/especially transporation and heating
-Must have a vehicle and the time or money to maintain it
-A cummute to work is very likely
-Junk food culture
-Consumer culture/xmas shopping a "duty/responsibility"
-Teaching: More work hours/less time off/weekend work
-Health care wait time
-Too much advertising
-Probably need another mortgage to live in a decent size house for 4 with garden space
-Fruit and veg expensive and not fresh out of season
-Limited Spanish
-Expensive utilities

Garden, treehouse, bird treat

2011-11-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Took about a 1/2 hour to dig some rows. Just left the grass between them, so we'll see how this turns out. Chard, Zucchini...7 rows and I can't remember what else we planted!

Seeding...mystery seeds!

Black soil on top of the seeds.

Ramon pounding in posts to mark the rows and hang the seed packages.

Ta-da!

Treehouse construction. Well...a few boards on a Eucalyptus stump.

Making bird feeders: paste peanut butter on a pine cone.......

Roll it in bird seed.....

Lick your fingers, spread it on your face and eat more than what you put on the pine cone.

Attach a string and hang it up.....

After 2 weeks we have not seen one bird take a nibble. Just lots of hummingbirds on the other feeder.

Hiking holiday

2011-11-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

Had a week off and for the 1st time ever, we didn't plan a big adventure and take off somewhere. Just hiked around the Quito area.

Papa bear, mama bear and two baby bears!

Think they better re-google their kms to miles conversion.

Gotta love that year round green.

False coral snake.....non-venomnous apparently....although I'm sure the bite would hurt.

Carla at 3

2011-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Dad's a bit late with this posting, as her b'day was Oct 20th

Goosy Goose! "

3 big ones!

I'm a big girl now"

Snug as a bug in an MEC sleeping bag.

Always something blooming here!

Hiking with baby.

Learning how to do a full cirlce with those pedals.

Taking pictures with her cell phone!

Dad's little climber girl!

Pedal girl pedal!

2011-11-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Ramon has moved up to a bigger bike....Carla get's the hand-me-down....with training wheels re-attached. As you can see, she is trying to get the pedals to go all the way around!

Ramon's 1st big mountain-Volcan Pichincha 4696m

2011-11-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well...this dad is just so darn proud of his little boy that he had to do a separate entry for this achievment! On his own two legs, at age 4.10, Ramon made it up his first big mountain! 700 vertical metres height gain; 4 hours up, 1 hour on top, and 2.5 down, on a rare clear day in what is supposed to be the middle of the rainy season. What makes this even more amazing is that we all climbed up the extinct Volcano behind our house, Ilalo, the day before, for about a 600-700m gain! And furthermore, upon returning home from Pichincha at 5pm, he had a bath and then went to play at the new playground at the school and rode his bike unit dark, just before 7pm. Dad stayed at home for that one, licking his wounds. Of course I'm sore today and Ramon is a bundle of non-stop energy.

At the start....4000m at the top of the gonola ride up from Quito.

A piece of Quito in the foreground. We live at the base of the round hill, which is an extinct volcano below Quito. Antisana at 5700m? in the background.

Cotopaxi and South Quito

It was t-shirt weather all the way...but it was cool enuf in one spot for some tasty icicles.

Thanks for the great boots Elisa!

Ta-da!

Clouds over the Pacific lowlands

Anyone know the name of this critter?

Upon decending, Ramon was somewhat apprehensive, as he was not facing the mtn rock anymore, but rather the "abyss"....he held my hand thru the rocky bits and was then worried about sliding down the sand as I had told him on the way up, that we would come down this way. Need I have worried? Let loose for a few seconds and he was on his own!

Teleferico/gondola back down to Quito

Around 6pm from the house. Now he can look out the window every day and know that he has stood on the top of that big volcano.

Upon his return home, Mom had made him a cake with this flag stuck in it.

The quote below is from a little PDF booklet "Cycle touring with Children" Written by a family that biked from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego with their two 10 year old kids. They stayed with us Christmas before last.

"But honestly, the best bit of advice I can give is to never doubt your child. Never, ever doubt your child – not even for one nanosecond.
You see, children have this uncanny ability to live up to their parents’ expectations. Somehow, kids know exactly what their parents expect them to do – and they do exactly that. If parents expect their children to pedal around the block, they’ll do it!! And if parents expect their children to cycle around the world, they’ll do that too. It’s us – as parents – who tend to limit our children.
We are the ones who look at our kids and say, ―You’re just a kid. You can’t do that!‖ But do we ever ask our kids what they can do? Rarely. We tend to assume they can’t do it – and so they can’t. Or maybe we assume they won’t do it – so they won’t."

Panama!

2011-10-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Spent 5 days in Panama last week for a teacher's conference. http://www.tri-association.org/newsletter/highlights.htm
It was great to catch up with Sinead, who left Quito for Panama last year...went for some great runs and did a few jungle hikes on the weekend. Also caught up with former collegues from Bogota.
This photo of Sinead is taken in the pouring rain....yet no need for rain gear!

Sinead's Grade 1 class at the Metropolitan school, right across from the Miraflores locks on the canal. An i-pad for every student! and a Smartboard in everyclass. http://www.themetropolitanschool.com/index.php

Panama city has changed alot since I biked there from Guatemala city 12 years ago. It has quite an impressive skyline. Apparently there are no major earthquakes and no hurricanes, so these skinny little towers shouldn't fall over. But what really impressed me about Panama city? You can put your toilet paper in the toilet! (But unfortunately it gets flushed straight into the bay!....sewage treatment plants are in the works)

The Donald Trump tower....tallest buildingin Latin America...the curved building that is.

Great to come home to kids that are always so loving! :)

No TV? Then dance!

2011-10-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Bits and bobs 4

2011-10-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well...Blogspot has made some changes....these pics should be in the opposite order. This is the playground at the residence of the US ambassador to Ecuador. Went there for a potluck lunch.

Papi Mon came for a visit!

Note the Photo of Darren and family on the wall behind. And the NHL toque.

87 years young! Boy is this guy strong. He took 3 taxis and 5 different buses to get here, as there was a strike half way.

Carla dances for papi Mon

...and with Papi Mon

Oh what great hugs! So happy to see each other.

Dad's 49th....not enuf wind to blow out the candles...so Carla took care of that problem.

Don Ivan and Tia Betty

The Buitrago clan from Bogota.

Prima Betty, Ramon and Dario

Mom wins another $200 for 1st masters runner and second woman overall.

They love sleeping in the living room!

Carla's hand me down, from a student in my class.

Daddy's little helpers. They volunteer now...not sure it will be the same another 7-8 years down the road...or less.

Carla loves oatmeal and brown sugar for breaky!

Asleep outside.

Out the back door.

These last 3 pics remind me of BC, esp when wet. Guess I don't need to go home then. That's Carla wandering around with her umbrella. Those are Cyprus trees I think.

View out the front window. Volcan Pichincha with snow.

Big deal....

2011-09-17T04:58:00.001-07:00

Too funny....
Reminds me of a album by the Australian group the Skyhooks "Ego is not a dirty word"
Legends in our own minds....
...and so here is something else to add to my pile.

http://www.andeanface.com/excursion_treeking_corazon.htm

Profe on top of Corazon!

Cotopaxi the hard way - Sea to Sky

2011-08-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

Trip report at the bottom.

Pedernales: closest beach to Quito. About 280km in two days, over a 3000m pass. L to R Marco (el lobo) Steve, Pablo (Compadre), Javier (Jefe) Robert joined us for the 2nd and 3rd cycling days as he had just returned from Holland and didn't think he could acclimatize properly.

The peleton just flying along.

Forgot the name of this monster fruit.

Day 3 (after a day off)....on the road from Quito up to Tambopaxi http://www.tambopaxi.com/ 17km of the 53km that day was cobblestone. Cotopaxi in the distance.

Javier, Marco and Robert from L to R

Sincholagua, just north east of Cotopaxi

Carla hugging some alpine flowers. Javier, Robert and Steve had their families meet us at Tambopaxi. We spent the afternoon and following morning together, before starting the hike to the refuge.

Ramon going for it, with Robert spotting him.

Marti and Elisa (Javier and Robert's daughters) with Cotopaxi in the background. These two lovely girls will be in my class this year!

Javier jumping a canal on the way up to the Refuge. The hike was roughly 1000m vertical metres, followed by 1100m the next day to the summit.

Marquito our expert guide, with whom I have previously climbed Cayambe and Ruminhaui.

Pablo downclimbing a section.

Wasted and coated in rime.

Summit. Steve and Pablo. Spent all of 9 minutes there. Sign reads "Sea to Sky, 5897m 4.5 days.

Trip report:
The idea for this trip had been fomenting in the back of Javier's brain for a number of years. Before he became a mountain guide, he was an Ecuadorian cycling champion and had dreamed of combining his two passions in a challenging way. The four of us started at the closest beach to Quito in Pedernales on Monday, with Robert joining us for 2 out of 3 cycling days. Instead of 3 days, we made it to Quito in 2 very long days, and decided to take a rest day in Quito. On Thursday we biked up to Tambopaxi Lodge....from 2300m in the valley to around 3800m at the lodge. Both Pablo and Marco had never ridden these kinds of distances before and were really happy to have pushed their limits to new extremes. After spending the afternoon and following morning with some of our families, we left after lunch for the 4.5 hour/1000m hike up to the Refuge. Had dinner around 6, hit the sack around 8, got up at midnight and left the refuge at 1am. Marquito the meticulous guide and good friend of Javier's joined us as Javier haden't been up the volcano much recently and the route always changes and to have someone else to turn back with in the event of problems, rather than the whole team turning back. Everyone else had summited Cotopaxi before, except for myself with 2 previous attempts.

So up we went for about 1.5 hours of zigzaging scree to the glacier. At this point, Marco had had enough of the extreme wind (around 80kph higher up) and Javier had a headache in spite of having taken Diamox; so they turned back. Pablo, Marquito and I geared up and started the climb. Many hours of staring at the light from our headlamps as there was no moon. With about 600m vertical remaining, the wind began to blow even harder, knocking us down a number of times, and the snow began. At this point my energy started to wane and I began to consider turning back. The 5 hour toe warmer had expired and my left foot was beginning to freeze. Pablo decided he was OK to continue, so with my total trust in Marquito, having climbed with him twice before, we carried on. At this point, fighting the wind, altitude and extreme fatigue, Marquito practically pulled me along to get me moving (I was in the middle of the rope, being the weakest link) as we had to get down before the ice bridges began to soften. 6.5 hours (at 7:40) later we summited, took a few pics and headed back down after only 9 minutes. It was a total white out and no views whatsoever. A 100m or so below the summit there were one of very few places that were somewhat sheltered from the wind and I managed to get the boot off and get two more foot warmer pads in there. The wind pushed us over a few more times and we got covered in rime, barely able to see where we were going, as we staggered our way back down to the refuge, sometime around 10:30. It was after about 5 minutes in the Refuge that it suddenly hit me, what I had done and rather unexpectedly, a few tears flowed.

Upon reflection, I have NEVER pushed myself to such an extreme climbing. I used my precious remaining energy to gain the summit, thus endangering my ablity to decend, which also put our guide and my partner at risk. That really hit me when I got to the safety of the refugio. Why? 3rd attempt; to go from Sea to Sky; having someone from our team, make it to the summit (if I would have turned back, Pablo would have had to as well). Of course it all turned out well in the end, but overextending myself like that at high altitude, is not something I wish to repeat.

Why so drained?
-Fatigue of cycling from the coast
-Improper acclimatization (although I had no ill effects from the altitude)
-Extreme winds
-hiking 1000m up the previous afternoon.
-no sleep
-Worrying about frozen feet (ended up with minor frostbite on the 2nd toe, enuf to loose the toenail...what irony here on the equator!)

If it wasn't for Marquito, I would have turned back long before, but in retrospect, thinking a guide will be there to get you out of trouble, just doesn't sit well with me afterwards, as I put myself and others in danger.

In the end....it was a great team effort and everyone learned that they were capable of something more than expected!

In an email later from Javier:
"It's not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves"-Sir Edmund Hillary
You did not conquer Coto profe just got to know your self better

To market to buy a fat pig

2011-08-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Hiking...papa stay here

2011-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Little miss independent!

Our new home

2011-08-18T08:22:00.001-07:00

View out one of the many windows. This is to the west....Quito is up there behind the ridge and volcan Pichincha is the peak in the distance. Looking from 2300m at home to 4700m. There is snow on it about 20 times or so during the year.

5 trips in 2 hours to move 500m across the street. That's brother in law, Carlos in the back...he was a huge help moving and 3 days getting the house set up the way we like it. Gracias Charlis :)

The boyz

Wowee...a bathtub even!

Living room

Kitchen

Gotta have the hammock up 1st!

It's a one bedroom joint....wish dad luck. Loft up the stairs to the right.

This is the guest house....50m from the house. It's a raised, bamboo shack, tin roof, typical of the coast. 3 rooms...electricity, but no water. So there is an guest toilet and sink attached to our house with an outside door...but no shower...so you have to ask Carla and Ramon if you can use their bath tub.
We thought we would stay in the same place but the owner reneged on a 2 year renewal that we had signed. All for the better though, as this is $225 cheaper, cleaner and brighter...even if it is smaller and a 5 minute walk to work, rather than 3 mins :) The owners plan on building a bigger house on the lot next year...we'll see how that goes! I expect that Ramon will love to watch the construction.

TZ Family bike trip along the Ecuadorian coast

2011-08-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

Well...the much anticipated family holiday started off with a long bus ride to Bahia de Caraquez. We were dropped off at the end of this new 2km bridge and made use of the bike lane to get to our hotel on the other side. 330km in 9 cycling days for a 37km average. We had two weeks in total and spent 2 days in a few places. The longest day was 60km, only because there was no hotel in town and we had to carry on another 12km or so. But otherwise anywhere between 2.5 to 4 hours of riding time, with stops in school parks and beaches. Carla would usually sleep about an hour of that riding time.

Bahia de Caraquez. Great little peninsula town with open beach to the west and calm river/ocean beach to the north, which is great for kids.

View of Bahia from a hike up to the cross.

Calm beach and the new bridge over the Rio Chone.

The 1st 21k we rode on the beach at low tide.

If we get tired of cycling holidays, we can always check in here for something different.

Carla's little house on wheels.

Beachcombing

San Clemente

Carla loves coconut water....she's got a big pile to work on!

Ecuador even has proper bike lanes....well...in the city of Manta anyways. Manta is where the prez refused to renew the American's airbase lease, because they wouldn't let him open and Ecuadorian airbase in Florida.

Found this little doggie hanging around his dead mom, who's leg was sticking out of the gunny sack that someone had thrown over the edge of the road. Maybe he was in it too. Gave him some food and water and told the people at the hotel about him. Not sure if they took him in.

Good thing he's not steering.

Nice shoulder!

Too much attention for Carlita.

The only rain on the trip...a 6km downhill into San Lorenzo. Thanx for the light Studley!

A cloud of Frigates.

A bit like the Oregon coast!

...and a bit of the Italian med....

Puerto Cayo.

only 60 bucks a night for one of these cabins on the beach. Kitchenette too. We stayed in a smaller unit in the back for $20. The place is American owned and for sale.

Baby Bagre

Thanx to our Swiss friends, Puis and Margret for the Swiss knife! It sure slices pineapple nicely!

Don't throw garbage on the beach....courtesy of Bart Simpson.

Fishing town before Puerto Lopez...can't remember the name and too lazy to dig out the map.

Gorgeous 5km section of road before Puerto Lopez.

Aw shucks...ain't he cute. Here they call it a Cosumbo...google tells me it's a Coati.

More wildlife

Rule number 2 sounds like fun.

Ramon taking in a little early morning surf action in Montanita.

Carla poking around in the tide pools. I used to love doing that when I was a kid....on the west coast out of Vancouver.

Montanita is a stop on the gringo trail...which means banana pancakes....this one came with chocolate inside.

All on his own....Ramon, papa, mama, Carla.....I think he's ready for kindergarten.

Just a beach cruising holiday....had a slight headwind most of the way, but it wasn't too big of an issue.

One very skinny fish.

Guitar fish.

3km of soon to be paved road into Ayangue. Carla had a bit of a bumpy ride.

Ayangue

Fresh Calamari?

This place has just been purchased by a retired couple from Calgary! We were the first Calgarians to rock up. Denise is a retired med library tech from the U of C and Paul is a retired HD mechanic. Their pensions were not enuf to live on in Calgary, so they sold their Bowness condo and paid 80 grand for this house one block back from the beach and converted it into a B and B. The locals direct the gringo traffic to them. We had a great dinner and came back for breaky (the rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we stayed elsewhere). Give them a try if you're down this way. They don't yet speak Spanish and had never been to Latin America. I admire the courage they have to just sell everything, pack up and take on such a challenge in their golden years.

The posh hotel in Ayangue....Las Cumbres. It was off season and we had the pool and resturant to ourselves. Temps in the low to mid 20's this time of the year, which is great for the kids and cycling. Too hot and sunny in Feb.

Pedestal for a glass top table.

Humpback whale watching at Las Cumbres. Saw them blow and surface about 10 times!

Dr. Ramon!

Ok...guess we won't go swimming at this beach kiddies!

Salinas is where we finished. No direct day bus, so we left at 8:30pm and got home at 6am. Kids slept well...Maria did OK....I read.

Salinas is a soul-less place...no character...just a strip of big hotels/condos on an average beach....one that we couldn't even enjoy, as the authorities were telling people to get off the beach as they were expecting some kind of super high tide....which never materialized. It's also Ecuador's biggest resort...and only 2 hours from the biggest city of Guayaquil.

Cycling the Amazon...with Ramon and Studley Rango

2011-08-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

A little four day jaunt with Ramon and Studley down to the Amazon....on a road I hadn´t been on for 15 years. 4 days and 250km I think. Basically the Coca road...from km 24 on the way to Tena...ending at Lago Agrio.

My little man!

Still with pneumonia and took the bus on the 4th day...although he´s feeling a little volcanic after that energy drink.

Also starring Tigger.

Cockroach in the wilds
Box of yet to be fried chicken
Mama and baby spider

What´s a trip to the Amazon without seeing a monkey?
Either way, I´ve always got this little monkey to look after.
quit playing in the middle of the road kid
Is this why he´s known as Studley? Does he really need a leaf that big to cover up the Studley bits?

Multitasking....talking to mom on the phone.

fungi

orchid

Volcan Sumaco...makes a rare appearance

Cycling to the coast and back up...with pneumonia

2011-08-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well, well....Studley "Rango" was in town for the 2nd consecutive summer, to team up for another endorphin adventure. He didn´t fare so well this time as you can see from the above photo...upon return to Oz, he was diagnosed with pneumonia, which he likely had the whole month he was here. I have no idea how he managed to bike up to 4000m and cycle 1,000km on this trip. That skinny little streak of Rango shit is one tough turd.

The vultures were at him, just before we arrived. Studley could sense the vultures circling him more than a few times on this trip.

This little guy fared better.

The new turtle look. Yup... a shave all round reveals that squirrel has no upper lip and has a somewhat uncanny resemblance to a smiling turtle.

More wild life.

Crab on the road...100k inland.

cocao in the foreground...palm oil trees in the background.

Tour of a palm oil extraction plant...buring the remains in the furnace...it´s only in the high 30´s outside...but Studley Rango and his pneumonia, has the chills.

Palm oil thingies

Studley Rango struttin´ his stuff.

Studley up to his usual tricks.

After pestering-running along side Studley for a few kms...Diego got his ride....

customers.

The erotic chicken restaurant.

Some shots of the locals...

National Geographic eyes

Lady and her grapefruit(s)

Offering us a shot of aguardiente upon arrival in said village.

Deadbeats for rent....did I include myself in that one?

A snowcapped Tungarahua in the background...spent xmas eve in the crater at 5000m in 1995.

aahhh...such peaceful riding

Our mighty Giant Iguanas have been doing it all for 15 plus years.

21km on the beach from Bahia de Caraquez to San Clemente...low tide of course.

Muisine

A few boat rides through the mangrove swamps, to join up some of the off-backroad stretches we took.

We got dropped off at the wrong point after one boat ride...a local helped us out in order to get us out of the swamp and onto the beach near Mompiche.

Near Quilatoa

The 4000m climb...this section shows roughly a 30th of what we climbed

up...

and up...

This should read 3950m...as listed on the internet. Studley´s altimetre was a bit off.

His head in the clouds as usual....Andes dreamin´

The route went roughly....truck to 3000m pass out of quito....Puerto Quito, Viche, Tonchigue, Muisne, Pedernales, Bahia de Caraquez, Bonanza (Joe´s place), Quevedo, some town 2300m up the climb...starts with a P, and a town just outside of Latacunga...truck back home.

Stampede breaky; school awards; hiking; Pasto

2011-08-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

Stampede breaky and Canada day celebration just 3km down the road from our place. Carla hob nobbing with the Canadian ambassador to Ecuador.

Great shirt and a very cute little daddy´s girl!

The obligatory pancakes, powdered OJ and bacon.

Carla survives 3 months in nursery with Ramon.
Best sports person in his class...well done little man!
Ramon "graduates" from nursery and moves on to kindergarten now.
Carla´s 1st ever medal...taking after mom already.

Carla at the primary production...in the dress that Aunty Annette made for her.

Shaggy manes growing at 3700m! fried ´em up!

Paper bark tree

She just didn´t want to give up this dead mouse....we tried to bury him under a pile of flower petals...had to drag her away.

Maria in the waterfall.

drove up to 4,000m in a rental 4 by 4

...and found this lake....laguna mojanda

With grandpa Ramon in Pasto

With cousin Mafe

What a dimple!

...yet another race and another $150 prize

The fruit and veg truck that come to our house 2 or 3 times a week.

Hail collector

2011-06-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Carla grooving

2011-06-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

While chomping on coconut.

Bits and bobs 3

2011-06-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

Spells his name, all by himself now.

This self portrait reminds me of years ago when Adam did the same thing with my old Nikon

It's not enuf to just swing now...he's got jump off from ever increasing heights.

Lynne our yoga expert calls this the....Utthita Hasta Padanghustasana" (Extended hand to foot pose, or standing Big Toe hold)

Bowl of hail anyone?

Swimming lesssons at the school. Part of her Nursery class.

First toenail painting. Courtesy of some older kid in nursery.

Sports day and their 1st medals....for running like their mom of course.

Dad and kids make it into the Quito paper again.

Year 3 overnight trip to Baeza

2011-06-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

Bits and bobs 2

2011-05-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Collection of photos over the last month or so.

Ramon with his best classmate, Felipe

Volker trying his best to entertain the kids.

Priest blessing the mighty Iguana....Damn holy water is peeling the paint of my bike now :)

Maria ran 4 races in a row during May and won $200usd in each race

Great posters and billboards around Quito....This is your daily portion of intelligence!

Carla loves the snowsuit....just needs some snow to play in!

Pickin' blueberries

Guacamole night

Volcan Rumiñahui central peak 4631m

2011-05-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

These photos are from a 3 day trip with the year 12's, to Cotopaxi National Park. The first day was a 6 hour hike, day 2 was an ascent of the lower central peak of Volcan Rumiñahui, and the third day was a hike up to the Cotopaxi refuge at 4800....up from 3800 at the camp. Led by guides of www.andeanface.com These next 4 shots are of Cotopaxi....Volcan Rumiñahui is to the NW of Coto

Don't you love these signs....just in case you don't recognize the iconic peak.

Blueberries galore!

What's left of a horse.
Rumiñahui massif

Spoiled....hot tea and camp set up for us at the end of the first day....with dinner ready a half hour later.

Two peaks I haven't climbed yet, Sincholagua on the left, Antisana on the right.

The latest in Ecuadorian scrambling gear/fashion....socks and long undies.

Decending the volcanic rubble from the central summit

Now that is scree bashing! And energy enuf to play frisbee in camp afterwards!

Box canyon

The weekend hords hiking up the 200 vertical metres from the parking lot to the refuge.

Looks like snow and feels like Canada........hail!

Very stuck....we couldn't get him out, so our bus had to go another route.

Cycling 400km-Baeza to Mendez in the Ecuadorian Amazon

2011-04-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

There's that 5,000km view off to the Atlantic again! Great to have lots of company on this inaugural, 'bring the whole family along' bike tour of the Amazon. We need'nt have worried about the kids....they were awesome, it's the adults that need the recovery time! We'll definately be doing this again...next trip will be the Ecuadorian coast in August.

Starring....Maria, Ramon (pulling yet another face) and Carla

Also starring, Aisling (AKA Ash) from Ireland and Adrian from England (AKA Pugz)
They did all but the last two days, as Pugz had to fly back to England to work on his masters.

and also starring...the red sausage....Volker from the Black Forest. Came for the first 2 days as he had to fly back to Germany to start a new job.

and also starring....Papa as George of the jungle (suck that gut in dad!)

So yes...it's the Amazon and it does rain...but not as much as expected. In fact there were floods in Quito while we where gone! Note the latest in rain wear....Maria is modelling the 2011 recycled garbage bag waterproofs. This is b/c I took 2 pannniers with all the gear for the 4 of us, so that Maria's load would be lighter. The trailer weighs 17kg and Carla 10 kg. Ramon weighs 16kg and the tag a long 10 kg. We started the trip at 2000m, where we needed the garbage bags, but quickly dropped down to 1000m and didn't need them the rest of the trip.

Mom and daughter. Carla would usually sleep 1.5 to 2 hours a day and most days we biked no more than 4 hours, for about a 50km per day average.

Carla pulling a face....who taught her that Ramon?

Carla is at that stage where she is fascinated by any insect, dead or alive. She puts them in water bottle and plays with them as she rides along.

Ramon...the master of crazy faces now.

Ramon can now spot and read his own name. If only he were a little 'saint' as the San Ramon would suggest.

Multi-tasking already: taking in the scenery, pedalling and eating a banana.

This amazing couple have just ridden from London to Istanbul!
Aisling will be Ramon's kindergarten teacher next year. Wonder if she's had enuf of him already :) Pugz is a acoustics engineer, currently working as a bike mechanic. They were awesome with the kids and super company to have along. Hope they can join us again on the coast in August.

Now look who's teaching Ramon to pull faces!

Doing their good deeds for the day....picking up kids and giving them rides up hills!!! Would'nt catch me doing that! What am I saying? I already am! Their parents must wonder if their kids are being kidnapped.

Ash also likes to blow up ballons for kids on the side of the road.

Well....they did volunteer to come along :) Why is it that friends become more popular with the kids than with their own parents? (thus ponders a jealous dad)

On a little hike....somehow, one of these tarantulas landed on my shoulder! Seriously..and they wanted to take a picture first before telling me that I have a problem! Fortunately the bugs really weren't a problem.

More wildlife....sunning himself.

Never did get the name of this friendly type of monkey....he likes the salty sweat on Carla's neck. She is laughing with sheer delight here...but was crying when a Spider monkey bit her twice a few minutes later. Mom was not impressed. Just left small bruises though....

Here is the culprit!

These and other monkeys are at a rescue centre a few miles out of Puyo.

...more wildlife and another victim for Carla's insect collection.

and some not so wildlife.....

and some not so alive wildlife. Is that a vampire bat? look at the hooks on the wings!

Volcan Sumaco in the background.

The active volcan Sangay at 5300m; the most active volcano in the country. Poking its nose out of the jungle. This was taken at sunrise...The only day the Pugz and Ash had to get up early....but it was worth it, as it was Pugz 33 birthday and they would have missed the view if we would have left an hour later. By 7am these views were gone!

El Altar....(Kilimonjaro eat your heart out!) The most technically demanding climb in Ecuador. 5319m ...this from wiki: Spaniards named it so because it resembled two Nuns and four Friars listening to a Bishop around a church altar. The ancestral Purwa people of the region called the mountain Capac-Urcu, which means “Lord of all the Mountains” in Kichwa.

Now for some water time photos. I think we have all the appropriate bits covered here.

A pool with the right depth for all!

Maria in the hotel pool.

Ramon had a great time playing tarzan on the vine in the background.

Maria cooling her heels. She actually kept to her running training program that her coach gives her every month or so, as she wants to go to the Colombian nationals in Bogota in about 3 weeks. Double training, all while doing the world's hardest job; being a mom (and here I thought the hardest job was being a teacher :)

Chinese food in the jungle....chopsticks and all.

Steaming hot. I think mom, the world's greatest chinese food afficionado, would call this a hot pot? Or would Dr. Suess say that?

Pugz 33 birthday.

Guayabas everywhere.....no one seems to eat them here...they just rot off the trees. We ate our share though!

New bridge over the Rio Pastaza.

Same bridge at night from our hotel.

The old bridge, or what's left of it, that I rode over 15 years ago, when I biked the entire ecuadorian amazon in 2 weeks. Back then it was 90% gravel/dirt/cobblestone/oil....nowadays it's 95% paved!!! Never imagined back then that I'd be cycling it again...with a few kids in tow!

A jungle downpour.....with the kids running around naked.
stained glass window in Macas church

Well...it is that time of the year when Jackie jesus comes out to play isn't it?? :)

Above the town of macas. It would take 2 of me to reach her big toe. We should have climbed up to the crown inside and the door was left open...but we thought the taxi guy was in a rush. Next time.

Typical roadside cycling scene.

Hanging the laundry out to dry.

Sometimes it does get a wee bit hot and sunny.

Trying to keep up with Ramon!

Wonder if this is what Maria will look like in her old age :) Hopefully not the same outfit though.

The endorphin adventure peloton.

This is the second last day. We rode 25 to Sucua. We were suppose to do the 25 to Logrono the next day but ended up doing the 50km to Mendez quite comfortably. I went a further 50 km to Limon the next day solo as it was a 600m vertical climb, which would have been too much with no place to stay in between.

10 days of quiet roads, quiet country side (noisy kids), some great company (although Maria was tired of me by the end), green-green and more green, and luxuriant warmth. Who wants to join us next time?

Rolling down the jungle hiway-commentary by Ramon

2011-04-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

The Red Sausage rides again: Down to the jungle and back up to the sierra

2011-04-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

6 days, 600kms over Easter. Julio Andrade (near Tulcan-Ecuador/Colombia border down to Lago Agrio, north into Colombia and up the Mocoa road to Pasto.
"Folding" frame. S and S couplings save on baggage fees.

The active Reventador volcano

Up from Mocoa to Pasto

Carla's first day of school

2011-04-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Well...first day of Nursery that is. Maria was offered a temp teacher assistant job (covering a 3 month pregnancy leave...which is all ya get in Ecuador), so Carla is now with Ramon in Nursery. She will stay in Nursery next September for the year, and Ramon will move up to Kindergarten.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

2011-04-06T12:04:00.001-07:00

So said Hunter S Thompson. What the heck is the British Embassy doing in the entertainment biz? I actually paid $ to see Ozzie...way back in 86 in Vegas. He was rude and drunk...which was probably the norm then. Wonder if he'll behave himself at the "cocktail" party. Life is just too weird at times. And wouldn't you know it, we'll be on holiday cycling the amazon and I'd pass on the invite to you, dear reader, but the invite says non-transferable. I can tell you're heartbroken.

Carla-It's all in the hips

2011-03-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know where she learns it...Sure isn't from Maria, we have no TV, we don't go to dances and it sure as heck isn't from me as you call well imagine!

Volker visit and kid pics

2011-03-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Volker, our good friend from Frieburg Germany, has come for a 5 week visit. He has been coming and going, using our guest suite as a base for his numerous cycling trips around Ecuador. Previously we have done 3 bikes trips with him in Ecuador,Peru and Bolivia over ten years ago, Guatemala city to Panama city around 10 years ago and thru the alps about 5 years ago. We first met when I was teaching English in Pasto in 1996. He was pushing his bike up a mtn to a refuge at around 4600m!!!

Cutting some bananas in the yard.

Carla and mom

Pitaya...a cactus fruit....related to the variety called Dragon fruit.

Don't know the name of these spiders...they are everywhere around our house.

Papa and his little princess

Grandpa Ramon and Carla

Tia Vilma and Carla

Carla got ahold of a pair of sissors and decided to she wanted to create her own hair style.

In our garden...lettuce everyday!

A cement slide....very slick!

If only this were as harmonious as the picture shows. Ramon thinks he knows everything now and he sure lets Carla know.

Chef Superman Ramon

Ramon Hammering

2011-03-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Got that nail in from start to finish...all by himself.

Ramon Counting

2011-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Nina Bonita

2011-03-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Slaughter in Libya

2011-02-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

We'd just like to let our friends in Libya know that our thoughts are with them and that we hope they are safe.

Let's hope Gadaffi leaves ASAP, so that the slaughter stops.

For the real news of what's happening in Libya, go to:
http://www.libyafeb17.com/
Warning....very graphic material on some of the videos.

323 kms in one day

2011-02-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

Report at the bottom.

The computer time at the bottom flashes when it goes over 10 hours. So that should read 15:41. The average speed of 21.8 stopped at 10 hours too.

Warming up after the rain, in roadside shrine.

Same as above

Strange tree plantation

10km from Esmeraldas....not lookin' too bad for wear.

Esmeraldas river the next day. This is Ecuador's oil port. Lot's of tankers waiting their turn, to keep the wheels of our global economy greased. At least until empire collapse, climate change, overpopulation etc take care of that.

A self-indulgent blog entry here. I had thought about breaking my previous record for kms cycled in one day, which was 277km. So at midnight Friday, I set out under a full moon. Gradual uphill of 800m? vertical over 50km to the top of the pass. Then downhill in the rain for 20min and a total of about 75 "free" kms DH. Through Santo Domingo and Quininde, past the pineapples, cocoa, palm oil trees to Esmeraldas on the coast at 6:30pm....sunset. Whew...just made it. 323kms 15:40 peddaling time. 18.5 hours total for an average of just under 20 kph. Took the first hotel with a chinese food restraunt beside it and flopped out till 6 am. Then rode to the beach...a further 4 km and rode around town. Got on the 8:20 bus and 6 hours later I was dropped off just below Quito and whizzed downhill for 35km to get home by 4pm Sunday. I feel great today. It's the bus that killed me. The seats are made for little people and someone had pissed on my seat, which I didn't notice for about an hour (cycle short padding gradually soaked it up) and as the bus was packed, there was no other seat. yuk. So it only takes the bus 1/3 of the time it takes me to get to the Pacific.

Hands on hips

2011-02-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

And she even moves to the rhythm of the music!

Carla on horse

2011-02-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

This is real time....I didn't speed it up!

Getting carried away with the soap bar

2011-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Leave the kid alone in the bathroom for a few minutes and this is what you get!

Run, bike, hike, swing, visit, pee pee, poo poo

2011-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Thee latest family photo.

Still flying at 40

Do her feet ever touch the ground? And that's going uphill!

Swinging above Quito! Weeeeeee! On a ridge separating Quito from the valley we live in.

180 degrees from the above photo....is where we live....at the bottom left of the old volcano Ilalo.

Cotopaxi

Adam cruised thru on his way from the beach to Colombia.

The treehouse out front. Ramon really can hammer in the nails and even start them on his own. There will be more metal than wood in that treehouse soon!

Chocolate poo. Actually that is chocolate cake on her face....the vegan recipe with lots of avacodo in it.

Cyclists Karin and Martin from Holland...on their way south from Alaska.

The pee part of the blog. "Forbidden to pee here...don't be a pig!"

Cycle Touring to the Amazon....starring Ramon

2011-01-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

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.

Cycle touring with Ramon to Lago Agrio

2011-01-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

25kph on a very slight downhill on the flats.

xmas holiday pics

2011-01-08T12:04:00.001-08:00

Carla and grandpa Ramon

Carla and Tia Cris

She sure is a sweet little hugger now!

Ramon and his fave cousin, Mafe.

Our Gingerbread man. He couldn't run away, as he was loaded with sooooo many healthy ingredients, that should keep us alive and healthy till 100 :)

Ramon's 4th birthday. "I'm a BIG boy now!"

Carla dancing

2011-01-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Beach Running-Carla

2011-01-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Beach Running-Ramon

2011-01-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Xmas in the Amazon

2010-12-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

Just a little 3 day juant down to the amazon...a 3 hour, 20 minute drive from home to Misuahalli on the Rio Napo; a major tributary of the Amazon.

Found this on our car upon returning from a hike (well...for a nominal fee)

Honda CRX...great cruising mobile...courtesy of the school.

Capuchin monkeys

...in action

Tug of war with Ramon

Great way to get around, as they come back from the river to spend the night in the trees in town.

Caught the top one in mid flight. Flor de beso. The kiss flower or something like that.

This flower is amazing! Only saw one plant like this...great hike.

tricky bit

Shouldn´t the roots be IN the ground?

Riverside beach

Driving across these bridges, equates to the the thrills of a midway ride! You never know if it will hold up.

10usd per person...kids free.

Ramon loved these vehicles, as did I. They are pedal powered! ...as opposed to those noisy electric things. Homemade jobbies.

There goes lightening McQueen!

Hot springs up at 3300m! One hour from the house...before dropping down to the jungle. 17usd pp inc the hot springs and breaky. Hostal Antisana. Spent Xmas eve here.

Very wet and cold hike the next day

Closest thing to an Xmas tree down here!

Xmas at the beach

2010-12-31T13:48:00.001-08:00

Spent a week with Maria´s sister's family at three different beaches on the north coast of Ecuador. Sure was wet, but warm at the same time. Modesto (40) and Carolina (16) had never been to the beach! It´s only a 5 hour drive from Pasto.

Carolina´s first time at the beach ever!

The happy family.

Sisters. Vilma is 7 years older.

Colombia is on the other side of Rio Mataje. There is no road on the Colombian side.

Just another great, unknown tropical fruit.

The kids

2010-12-15T08:05:00.001-08:00

Carla sure has sprouted!

Ramon ready for swimming lessons at school. (BTW...Maria is learning how to swim at age 40! Private lessons at the school.)

Ramon on the left.

...again on the left.

Ramon read his first book to me last night! ...with a little assistence from proud dad :)

Cyclists passing thru

2010-12-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

It had been about a year since we hosted any adventure cyclists, the last people being www.familyonbikes.org who are now in Mendoza Argentina. The twin 12 year old boys (with the help of mom and dad) are trying to get into the Guiness book of world records for being the youngest to have biked from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

A few weeks ago Mike Shrattner contacted me through my posting on www.warmshowers.org a website dedicated to providing free accomodation to cyclists. This is what someone would see if they clicked on my link:

Steve TOBER
Email: click to email
Username: SteveTober
Quito/Tumbaco, Pichincha Ecuador

I've bike 40,000kms through 40+ countries and would like to return some of the many favors I have recieved in my travels.
We are in the valley below Quito...a 30-40min city bus ride up to Quito from where we are, just out of Tumbaco...in Cununyacu. You can avoid cycling thru the 50km long city of Quito. If coming from the North...go thru Cayambe, El Quinche, Pifo to Tumbaco. From the South...Turn off the Pana at Tambillo, 10k? b/f Quito and down to Valle de los Chillos and then to Cununyacu and Tumbaco. We have a guest house out back with a shower/toilet. Long haul pana cyclists only please. Please email me for 1st contact.

Preferred Notice 1 or 2 weeks
Maximum Guests 2
Nearest hotel/motel/accomodation: 5km
Nearest Campground no idea...can camp in our yard if you want
Nearest Bike Shop 3km
Languages Spoken English Spanish
Services this host may offer:
•Bed
•Food
•Laundry
•Lawn Space (for camping)
•Shower
•Storage
•Use of Kitchen
Members I Recommend and Who Recommend Me
Members Recommending Me

Member Recommendations

mschratter
Dec 2010 I had two wonderful nights staying with Steve and his family. His home is warm and welcoming. Steve is an avid cyclist and when it comes to cycling Steve knows the area very well.

Separate guest apartment and bathroom is a nice touch.

vogel.je@gmail.com
Host
Dec 2009 We had the privilege of staying with Steve and his lovely family for a couple of weeks - and enjoyed our time with them. Steve is a GREAT source of information since he's cycled so much in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Their little house out back is wonderful - we had our own shower and bathroom and could come and go whenever we wanted.

Although they don't live right in Quito, it was an easy bus ride in to town and buses run every few minutes. We foudn it much preferable to stay in Tumbaco and bus into Quito than to have to pedal through the city with all its traffic and narrow roads.

Thanks so much for everything Steve!
Nancy

petervanglabbeek
Host
Feb 2009 I stayed with Steve and has family in Bogota, for more than a week.
It was great, I felt welcome and very comfortable.
Steve has traveled a lot and has lots of stories, books, maps and other info.
The house is easy to find following the bikepaths of Bogota.
Don't worry about the huge city, Steve will give you directions.
I highly recomment this member!

Of course I erased all the negative reviews...ha ha.

Mike is a grade 5 teacher from Vancouver and biked to Quito in only 4 months. He's raising money and awareness for the Canadian Mental Health association and plans on cycling 40,000 in 15 months....around the world. He did a couple of presentations for us here at the school. He just emailed from northern Peru and stated that he thinks he "blew his knee" He's been riding hard and fast and on the edge of his physical limits. He may have to rethink his plans. www.ridedonthide.com to follow his trip.

Pius and Margrit are a Swiss couple in their early 60's and have been biking around the world for 3.5 years, with no plans yet to stop. Their website is titled, "By bicycle into retirement" http://www.joergersvelotour.ch/index_en.html
They stayed with us for 5 days, left their bikes and gear and took off to the Galapagos for 8 days. They should be back tomorrow and will then head north. They are a great inspriation! Lot's of great stories and life experience and Pius is a great cook!
http://www.joergersvelotour.ch/index_en.html

It's great to give something back, as I have experienced so much kindness on my bike adventures over the years. Of course, the time we spend with these adventurous souls, enriches our lives as well.

Who will be next?

Volcan Atacazo 4463m

2010-12-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

Peter in action.

Have you ever seen such an ugly summit?

The views make up for lack of summit asthetics.

Antisana on the far right.

This little guy had just died...old age? He was still warm and rigor mortis had not yet set in.

The obligatory llama shot.

10km SW of Quito is a bump of a volcano, with the largest number of communication towers on a summit than I have ever seen! Nevermind...the views were stunning. One can practically drive to the summit, leaving only 1 hour hike to the top. Peter and I had planned to park further back, so we could walk for 2 or 3 hours and get more exercise. However, we weren't sure were we were until we hit the end of the road!
We chose this lower peak b/c there has been alot of snow lately...yes snow, here on the equator. This morning there is fresh snow at around 4000m....quite low.

Salad

2010-12-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

With special thanx to Al for the gardening inspiration, which led to the colourful, tasty end product!

Camping and "tri"cycling

2010-12-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

The inspiration for this "tricycle" came from this book. Have a look at the cover photo...not sure I'd want to pull them across North Amercia though! Best wait until they get bigger and can both do some of the pedaling!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/1891369652/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Maria pulled Carla 20k and then I decided I would have a go at pulling both of them. Much easier than I thought! Although I wasn't carrying any touring gear such as a tent, stove etc...

Up the old rail bed, turned bike/run trail.

A bit out of focus, but I love the contrasting hair colours :)

And so as promised....dad finally took Ramon camping. Took a taxi about 3 km down the road from our place and walked up part of the volcano for an hour to a flat, grassy, lower peak. No crying for mom and a good solid 8 hours snooze.

Dad's pack and Ramon's pack. Another 15 years and we'll swap :)

Dad's "tricycle"

2010-12-07T05:10:00.000-08:00

Quito Half Marathon

2010-11-23T06:54:00.000-08:00

IAAF/aims certified course. About a 400m drop...with a 2 km uphill at the finish. Starts in Quito at 2800m and finishes on the Equator. Maria ran 1:20:05...good for 4th and 300usd (last year she ran 1:30) Dad and Ramon in the baby jogger, ran 2:07 ish....The grandparents looked after Carla. She's in the terrible 2's at the moment and I didn't think she would handle over 2 hours in the double jogger very well. Last year I ran 2:20 with both kids.
A cool, cloudy 7 degrees at the start. Quito is full of great races if anyone wants to come for a running holiday. Don't know who took the photo....Maria rescuing Ramon from Dad at the finish.

Beds are trampolines

2010-11-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

Carla's racing car

2010-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Papi Ramon and Mami Maruja's 2 week visit

2010-11-22T08:06:00.000-08:00

Papi Mon and Mami Maruja have been with us for 2 weeks. They will go with Maria and the kids to Pasto tomorrow. It's been great having a full house with all the generations!

The kids watched La Mami slaughter a chicken for soup.

Fresh pineapple, mango, and papaya for breaky every morning.

Bull fight...corrida de torros

Changing of the guard at the presidential palace in Quito this morning.

With cousin Sarita.

Bull fight band.

Old railway tunnel...now a bike route!

Chirimoya tree...sweet, custard like fruit.

Playtime with grandparents

2010-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00