Day 6 Ingapirca, day 7 Cuenca and resting in Cuenca. First milestone

Day 6, Ingapirca. A bit of fun, tough challenge, and a reward at the end

This day starts with a bit of fun. Wilbert who runs the ride, has a tradition. There is a mascot. Surprise surprise, we have a little toy llama. The idea is the mascot is carried by a rider for the day, then handed over to the next rider who had a story to tell. This particular morning, I was given the llama. Fellow rider Harry said my die hard attitude and constant optimism even though I'm clearly finding it very tough, and much slower than the rest, was worth being chosen for. A nice gesture, a few other of the other riders mentioned I'd earned it. I did appreciate the encouragement, as I have a lot of respect for them.

This day on paper looks relatively short and normal. 71km which is OK, however there's 1979 metres of climbing.

By this stage my legs are sore, and the climbs were long and steep. Everyone found this day tough, so I wasn't the only one.

The scenery began to change to being able to see green valleys below. I found it fascinating to look west towards the coast and see the weather down below. Just like being in a plane, yet there's mountains rising on either side of the road as well.

Hard to see in the glare, but you can just make out that in lower altitude they had a cloudy day

This was another day of consistent 6% climbs, which seems to the the Pan Am highway's bread and butter slope. So once again I found myself walking the steeper parts, and eventually exhausting myself after 36km.

I rang ahead to the lunch truck to see how much further ahead they were, as I was also out of water, and I was told I'd be picked up as there was still some climbing to go, and the wind had picked up which I had noticed. I was not going to argue with that given once again I had no reserve.

So Didier picks me up in the truck, hands over some sandwiches and watermelon and we're off. What a relief. I figure I may have another 2 or 3 weeks of occasionally getting in the truck until I have my full strength up. Apparently it also takes up to 3 weeks for acclimatisation to altitude to reach its peak.

So we all arrive at Ingapirca. Its name derives from the meaning of Inca wall. Yes, there's Inca ruins right beside our hostel. The mutters of how hard the ride was with the strong wind, and the tough roads especially for the last 10km drifted away as everyone began to truly take in their surroundings.

Susana guides us through the ruins, describing the Inca culture with how they were organised, along with their sacrificing of young girls. Sometimes the victim was chosen before birth, and waited to around the age of 16 when there was a call for a sacrifice to stop bad weather, or whatever was troubling them. To grow up knowing that even before you become an adult, your sole purpose in life is to have a sharp hit to the head to please a god...I don't know. Apparently it was an honour to the family, but what a waste of potential, a life not lived.

Looking towards the ruins and the sun. Fitting given the builders were sun worshippers

The craftsmanship of the King's residence of how well the stones fit together was excellent.

Day 7. Cuenca and a revelation

A relatively easy day. 78km scheduled, and 1052 metres of climbing.

Ok, I rode a little further after becoming lost...I mean geographically embarrassed and rode 82km and got to the hotel from the wrong side of the city, but I get ahead of myself.

The morning brought the moment where I had to tell a llama story, and pass our mascot on. Our llama and I had plenty of time to admire the scenery the day before. Watch the farmers work, say hello to the school kids who come racing out while they stare at the bike while I catch my breath (my bike is worth an average Ecuadorian's annual income). But where does the llama go next? There's the story of those poor people in the truck with Richard driving, who took some wrong turns and found themselves heading back the way they came. The llama doesn't want to see the same scenery 3 times. The llama wants to feel the wind in his/her fleece. Speed is what's needed. But who? Jonathan? No. In the previous day, James had a broken pedal, yet still managed to leave a still sick yet still capable Lee behind in the distance. Let's face it, the pedals are a pretty important part of the bike! The llama was impressed, and so was passed to James.

The day starts almost immediately with changing scenery, and a 20km long climb. This time I didn't walk at all. I found part of my technique could use some improvement. By stopping my legs moving to the side at all, and dipping my heels at the bottom of the stroke I found the climbs noticeably easier. Ok, there was a 12% slope right near the beginning where I was walking beside Tamsin while she was pedalling away at the same speed. That made me chuckle. Her only comment, for me get on my bike!

So now I find I can ride the Pan Am's bread and butter 6% slope now. A milestone. I still have to stop to catch my breath, but it's progress!

After reaching over 3500m in altitude (11 500 feet), there was a long, long drop on the other side. Not as fast this time as it was windy already in the morning, so only reached 70km/h, but it just kept dropping, and dropping. Nice.

From lunch onwards was a little more descent, then rolling hills into Cuenca. A rather nice cruise, even though the road was busy and narrow after Azogues. There was a detour that blocked my listed way through, so I just followed the signs to Cuenca. I ended up on a highway that was different to the planned route. and I also entered Cuenca from a different side. I eventually found the hotel.

That's 7 days down, and now a rest day.

Cuenca, rest day and some exploring

After a good rest, I noticed in the morning I've definitely lost weight since leaving home almost 2 weeks ago. Not surprising considering I've burnt roughly 20 000 calories in 1 week according to my bike computer! In reality it will be higher as I haven't been wearing my heart rate monitor, and my heart rate has definitely been up there showing I've been working very hard.

Cuenca has a nicer feel to the place than Quito, and enjoyable to explore on foot.

Once I'd gotten past the usual stalls and shops, and began to truly look at Cuenca, it's a nice place.

Not much to say really beyond a great place to rest, some grand old buildings, some convenient scattering of heladarias (ice cream shops). As always we find places that serve excellent food here in Ecuador. We've been told that will change once in Bolivia...

 

Whilst not being a religious person, this photo does not give this Cuencan church justice.

Religion can inspire great beauty