Crossing the Equator

Heading south of Otavalo we came around a corner on the highway to see a mountain that reminded me of Mount Rainier near Seattle. It is Volcan Cayambe, and at 5790 meters above sea level is the highest mountain closest to the Equator.

Volcan Cayambe (elev. 5790 m)

It's a good thing Neil was paying attention or we would've gone right by the Equator without stopping. (I was busy looking at the map trying to figure out where we turn next.) We talked to a couple of tourist information people at the little park there and apparently where the Equator is marked by the monuments is only a historical reference. The actual Equator is about 150 meters away and even that moves from time to time. Considering the time period when they originally surveyed the location I think they did pretty good.

Neil standing by the Equator.

We left the Pan American Highway just south of the town of Cayambe to head over the Panallacta Pass. This would take us into the Amazon Basin. It was nice and cool going over the pass as it is at 4064 meters above sea level. We stopped at the summit for a photo and to add a layer. Now I've been higher on my bike than in a helicopter (that was Mt. Waddington at 4019 m).

Approaching Papallacta Pass

4064 m ASL in Papallacta Pass

The highway heading down the east side of the Andes from the summit.

 It was a nice long descent (as you can imagine) and the change in vegetation was dramatic. We were getting down into the Amazon jungle. It seemed like we had come a long way down when we came to a roadside stop and our jaws fell open at the vista before us. We couldn't believe it. The photos can't do it justice. All of a sudden we were looking out over the Amazon Basin, or at least a part of it.

Our first real view of the Amazon.

We took a few more photos then headed for Puyo, a small town of 25,000 where we found a room in a hostel for $20. After dinner a young guy from next door to the hostel came over to offer to guide us on a tour the next day. It sounded pretty good so we planned to meet early in the morning for the 90 minute ride back to Misahualli on the Rio Napo. Hector didn't have a vehicle so he rode on the back of my bike. In Misahualli we met another guide who took us downriver in his boat to a couple of small villages. The first village had a bit of a zoo and museum and another guide there showed us around. We were only there about 45 minutes or so which seems ridiculous. It's pretty cursory considering the subject matter. I could spend a week looking around just in that little village. It was still pretty interesting and the guide showed us some of the local wildlife they had there as pets. He also told us a bit about some of the plants they use for medicine and showed us around their museum of native (sorry...indigenous) artifacts. Next, we went back up the river to another village where the locals did a dance for us and the shaman cleansed us. They also  fed us an awesome lunch of fish, rice and some kind of plantain. I felt kind of silly watching the dance and taking the cleansing. It's not like your actually taking part. You're just getting the tourist show.

Our boat on the Rio Napo.

Shooting the rapids.

Neils little buddy.

These were all over the place. Pretty cool.

They said this was a type of jaguar. It was a young one and still wanted to suckle on the guides finger.

A little less cute.

Neils cleansing only took a few minutes. They told me to make another appointment.

Our dance troupe

Yummy lunch.

Hector then had us back on the bikes for another hour ride to the end of a gravel road where he took us to an indigenous reserve that was run like a park. It was an awesome river and we went for a nice swim.

The end of the road.

We even spotted the rare Amazonian Albino Chicken.

Today we left Puyo southbound on highway 45 to head back into the mountains. We don't have the greatest map (hey, it's not like we're going far) and we just ended up following some road signs to Cuenco. What could go wrong? We made a right turn at a little town called Mendez and ended up on this deserted crappy gravel road full of washouts and potholes and clinging to the mountainside thousands of feet above a raging river.
It was perfect.

I actually got butterflies a few times from looking over the side of the road. Holy Crap! It was a long way down.

It amazes me how much of the land is occupied and cultivated.

It doesn't matter where you are, you can still flag down a bus.

Hopefully we'll be in Vilcabamba, south of Loja, tomorrow (Thursday) night.
Bye for now.