The exit Colombia lasted for approximately 10 minutes of queue at the customs and immigration. Approximately 100 meters further away in Ecuador, 5 minutes of queue at immigration then 10 minutes of queue at the customs to obtain the license to circulate with a foreign vehicle, any photocopy is required and nothing to pay. It was 16:00; I did not wish to take the road to find a bivouac. I asked the Ecuadorian police where I could spend the night: "Here beside us on the carpark".
On Saturday, December 12th, first day in Ecuador, was devoted to solve problems creatures of habit. In Ibarra I sought a bank with Carejo Automatico, to take money. In Ecuador the local currency is the US$. Then at the exit the city a supermarket, Super Maxi. The road from the border to Atavalo is under work for its widening with twice two ways. In Atavalo I did not enter the city, I went directly to the Rose Cottage on the heights with a dramatic panorama at 2875 meters high. To rest me and acclimatize me I remained until Monday morning.
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Monday, December 14 I proposed to visit the park Mitad del Mundo (moitié du Monde, half of the World) where Charles-Marie de Condamine made the measures in 1736 showing the passage of the line of the equator. The park is composed of pavilions of themes of which one is that of France. I did not visit all of them. From the top of the tower surmounted by the terrestrial sphere the panoramic view is superb. It is allowed to imagine the titanic work of the scientists to take the measures in 1736. At the entrance of park I became acquainted with a couple of inhabitant of Quebec. I left the park around midday to go to Mercedes-Benz to buy filters, air, oil and diesel fuel. Alas there were no diesel fuel filter, in Colombia neither. Then I moved towards the carpark La Carabelas to bivouac there during two nights, but the height is limited by a cable! The guard indicated another carpark to me 100 meters further away in the same street, Almagro carpark. Whereas I worked on my website a violent storm fell down around 15:00.
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On Tuesday, December 15 I left in taxi to Plaza Grande to visit the historical center of Quito at 2850 meters high. It was a very slow walk under a low sky and a fine rain. As all the colonial cities of the Spanish era the historical center is primarily made up of churches and convents as well as administrative buildings. The entry of the most churches is paying and, No Photo, I flew from there. I traversed three squares. Plaza Grande with the cathedral and its richly equipped museum. Then Compaňia de Jesus, Jesuit church, which is entirely gilded. Plaza San Francisco, the church of the eponymous convent is also richly decorated. On the square the market of Christmas attracts people. Finally Plaza Santo Domingo, the church is opened to the public without untied purse. I returned by taxi to Parqueadero Almagro.
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| Palacio del Gobierno, Plaza Grande |
I with pleasure left Parqueadero Almagro in Quito but I underwent the congestions as of 7:00 a.m. and the pollution by buses of the city. As all the countries in Latin America with a high demography the population are concentrated in great urban areas whose high standard of living involves a plethoric car fleet. Parque Nacional Cotopaxi is to approximately 70 km southwards away from Quito. This volcano of 5897 meters high is in eruption since April 2015. From the northern entrance of the park the track curves on the plateau at the bottom of the volcano of which the partially snow-capped top was discovered between the clouds. The camp-site is not authorized any more in the park from where it is necessary to leave before 15:00. Travellers had the habit of bivouac at the edge of the Lake Limpiopungo which became an ornithological reserve with species in the process of disappearance. The Interpretative center close to the southern entrance of the park at Caspi gives useful information in particular about the consequence of the climate warming which involves the progressive disappearance of the glacier. I bivouacked on the carpark in Caspi at 3320 meters high.
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The first stage on Thursday, December 17th was the visit of the Thursday market in Saquisili primarily attended by natives comming from the mountains. It was a rapture for my eyes.
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Then I continued my way by the Quilotoa Loop of which the first part is a track under widening work from Sigchos to Chugchilan, then a very beautiful tarred road up to Quilotoa. The reports of the preceding travellers mentioned the bivouac closest to the crater. It is not possible any more it is necessary to go in an unspecified carpark. The crater is sublime at an altitude of +3890 meters. It was my highest bivouac at this date. Of course I did not go down at the edge of the lake because it had been necessary to go up! Moreover my road plan laid down the visit of Chimborazo whose bivouac is at +4800 meters of altitude; I gave up it: “The wise man knows his limits”.
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| Des dahus dans les Andes ! |
The time management to be in Cayenne before the end of May 2016 by assuming the potential risks in my way obliged to me to make drastic choices. For that I into practice put the principle of scheduling in management of industrial production: “So that an order is delivered on time, it is necessary that it is in advance”. Thus I did not stop in Riobamba going directly to the INCA site at Ingapirca, the most important in Ecuador. It was built towards the end of the 15th century with the same polished stone technique adjusted without mortar as for the sites in Peru. Admittedly it does not have their magnificence. I bivouac on the carpark of the site.
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| En route to Ingapirca | |
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On Saturday, December 19th I arrived in Cuenca. I sought initially a SuperMaxi to make supply in food and drinking water. Then I drove in the city with the quadrangular streets to find the Parqueadero Mariscal Lamar. Alas the eponymous street was under work for the passage of a tram. I decided to go to pass the weekend in Cabanas Yanuncay at 2592 meters high where I arrived around 11:40. A MAN Spanish truck was already on the site about which the husband of the couple spoke French. At the beginning of afternoon I was going to visit the historical center of the city which is at approximately 40 minutes on foot from Cabanas according to the guard. At this altitude I asked him to call me a taxi to deposit me in Parque Calderon. with the ruta iglesias map I visited, in first, the new cathedral, Catedral de la Inmaculada Conception built in 1885, then the old cathedral, Catedral Vieja dating back to 1557 transform in museum. All the other city museums are closed the weekend. I took care well not to follow the ruta iglesias. I went down towards Rio Tomebamba to walk on along the bank. I gave up it quickly to travel back by a taxi. On Sunday, as of accustomed I did administrative tasks and I prepared the entry Peru.
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