Volcanoes valley

Equator - Posted On

Objective Quito, here again we are on a tight schedule.

Nadège gets her plane back to France in a few days. We will do everything to get on time by bike.

First challenge: going back up to the Andes highland, at 4000m high.

We already know what it is as we have done it quite a few times before. And we also know it is never an easy task. Three days of climbing, and the last minute at the “final” pass is a relief.

That was a challenge of being patient and persistent.

Now we are entering the famous “Valley of the great volcanoes”.

Here appears something quite hilarious. After having fought so much in this challenging country, we will not be able to see none of the most beautiful volcanoes of the Andes, due to bad weather. Travelling is definitely about what’s on the way and not how the destination is like.

This gives to our adventure a purely stupid sportive side, going up and down at high altitude with loaded bikes, another exhaustive part.

Final day, Nadège is really fed up and wants to have some time in Quito before taking her plane. She grabs a bus.

By doing this, she puts a strong challenge on me: to see her again the same evening in Quito, 150kms further, passing by one of the hardest road I have taken so far.

I have passed 11 months alone but now it’s too hard to pass one night without her… Let’s call that love, attachment, whatever, I don’t really care, I ride my bike for it and I don’t wait a minute for that!

I don’t really know how I made it, but I remember cold rain, big never-ending hills, fast, dangerous and wet highways, and then entering the huge deadly maze of Quito’s avenues.

But I see her late afternoon as I wanted to.