Ecuador
In contrast to my several of my last posts which are about my travels, this blog covers essentially my life in Ecuador. Without intending it, Quito inadvertently became my home for three months and my home base for several trips inside and outside of the country. I would be welcomed into the home of my new best friend, Santiago (San), and spend my time here with his friends, with the local Land Rover community, working, going to football matches, parties and having a ton of work done on my car.
As I described in an earlier post, we met San when the Expedition Marooned crew (now Expedition Rove) and I met with mechanical problems while four wheel driving around Laguna de Mojanda in northern Ecuador. The failure of their air suspension necessitated a tow truck into Quito for repairs. Our distress message to the Land Rover de las Americas group was answered by San who arranged the tow truck and for the repair shop to receive us that Sunday afternoon, opening up the workshop to let us in and sleep in our tents on the shop floor. I wasn’t aware at the time, but this was to be the beginning of a great friendship and define my time in Ecuador.
After returning from a trip to the Ecuadorian Amazon, San’s place would become my home for the almost three months I was in Ecuador. I would leave and return several times, heading back to the US & Canada to see my family, fly to Bogota to see my girlfriend of the time and take a trip to the Galapagos. But in between times, Quito essentially became the closest thing I’ve had to a home since leaving Melbourne to embark on this journey.
Me and San. In this picture, he’s come to my rescue once again when some electrical work I had down on the car caused me issues and I broke down in central Quito. Yet another occasion for a tow truck but thankfully quite a cheap and easy one in this instance
Me, Ricky & San. These guys, amongst others, would be my closest friends for a few months as I joined their life in Quito
The view of Quito in the foreground and Mount Cotapaxi in the background from the window of my bedroom at San’s place
While it’s a small thing, having the use of a car parking space over three months as I came and went was such a treat
Quito is a beautiful city and has elements of a modern European city mixed with traditional indigenous influence and in a some ways being very third world. Of the months I was there, only a handful of days were ‘touristy’ but I managed to get to some of the key sights as well as experience the broader city as part of my daily errands and life there. Being on the equator more or less, there are several odes to Quito’s equatorial location (three in fact that all disagree on where the zero mark actually is for various reasons). The teleferico to the hill overlooking the city and the Virgin of Quito both offer vantage points to observe the sprawling development of the city as it lays in the valley of the Guayllabamba River.
A monument and museum for the zero latitude
Another (different) monument to the zero latitude
At the top of the teleferico overlooking Quito
The Virgin of Quito
The historic old town
From the top of the teleferico
With so much time in Quito, there was plenty of opportunity to try the various foods of the region. My local favourite was the hornado – roasted pig cooked whole with delicious crispy skin. And while most people know ceviche as a Peruvian dish, the Ecuadorians do just as good, if not a better, job of it in my opinion. Also on the list was paila (a local type of ice cream), yucca bread and arepas. But potentially the funniest food experience was the claims that a couple Ecuadorians made (and specifically San) which was that KFC is better in Ecuador than any other country in the world. He even went on to say that key staff from KFC worldwide are flown to Ecuador each year in order to learn their secrets. I have no idea if this is true or not but I found the claims amusing and it was good chicken.
Hornado
Paila
Far from traditional but San took me to a great sushi restaurant. Something I’m so used to eating often in Australia but haven’t had since leaving there
More hornado
San’s family owns a private box at the local stadium so we’d regularly head along to the local Liga de Quito games (usually bringing along big buckets of KFC and beers). These made for fun evenings with San and his family and friends and I was both amused and pleased to learn that you could still smoke in the stadium.
Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, home of Liga de Quito FC as viewed from our box
The social life of San and his friends in Quito was exceptional so many evenings there were parties, birthdays, and events to go to. The highlight was one going away party at a ranch outside of the city on a private property perched on a hill. The property boasted a purpose-built cabaña just for entertaining and we spent the afternoon playing beer pong, drinking an aguardiente cocktail from a giant party funnel and dancing to reggaeton.
The weekends frequently saw us at a nightclub called Casino – a club repurposed from the building that was previously Quito’s casino before they outlawed casinos and gambling halls. These were messy nights with private tables and bottle service and I struggled to pay for a drink with so many generous friends footing the bills. Many evenings our thoughts went from ‘maybe we’ll go to Casino but I don’t really want to’ to ‘maybe just for an hour or two’ to stumbling out at close late into the night.
Going away party at the ranch
Beer pong in front of the cabana
Guaranteed way to get any party going - aguardiente through a funnel
Drinking, reggaeton and dancing
Nights at Casino
A blurry photo to match the blurry memories. A typical scene at Casino as friends walk around with bottles of aguardiente pouring directly from bottle to throat
While in Quito, I really fell into the Land Rover community and it was here that I really solidified my passion for the brand and my affinity with the dedicated community of fanatics that exist around the world. San’s family loves Land Rovers and his friends love Land Rovers. When we weren’t at Land Rover workshops or Land Rover parts stores, we were driving in convoys with other Land Rover owners and going to parties with Land Rover birthday cakes. It bordered on the ridiculous but I was like a pig in shit in these circles and more than happy to hang out, drink beers and talk cars all day long.
My Disco and San’s family collection of Defenders
We went to a 40th birthday party for Hernan, one of the guys in the local Land Rover community. This was the cake. Kind of says it all
Evidence that my friends had passed through here. The Barnsley’s were friends from Panama and Colombia who crossed around the Darien Gap at the same time / same boat as me. Expedition Marooned (now renamed Expedition Rove) I met and travelled with in Colombia and are to be my companions across Africa
San’s Defender 90 on the left and San Senior’s Defender 110 on the right
Getting some work done on the 110 at Javier’s workshop. This has to be one of the best kitted out overland vehicles I’ve ever seen in person
Parts heaven
Sometimes we’d hang out at non-Land Rover workshops too
Otherwise, my time in Quito had me spending a lot of time on my car. By virtue of some crazy import restrictions (you can’t import second hand parts for example) and import taxes in Ecuador, many products are either unavailable or too expensive. The upshot of this is that there are many locals who are skilled fabricators owing to the fact it’s often cheaper to build something than to buy it. San introduced me to a metalworker who could build pretty much anything I could think of or show him a picture of. So I commissioned him to build me some gull wings, under armour for the car, a rear bumper, install a bunch of chequer plate and a ton of other minor tweaks and improvements.
I had a few improvements done at the very competent local Land Rover service centre – Alex’s Talleres Faconza – who installed a bunch of parts I brought with me back from the US. And otherwise I would spend my days bouncing between the tint shop, auto electricians, hardware stores and car washes in order to implement a fairly major wave of improvements to the car.
Javier’s workshop. This is the guy who fabricated most of the new kit for my car. He built everything from scratch from pictures I showed him that I had pulled off the internet. The finished product looked like they’d just been unboxed from a 4WD store
How many Ecuadorian’s does it take to change a car battery? Turns out the answer is 5. And they’ll also accidentally mess up your wiring so that a few hours later you’ll be calling a tow truck to get the car back to the mechanic to fix what they broke
I spent a considerable amount of time here at Talleres Faconza (including sleeping here one night). The owner Alex looks knows his stuff and has looked after many of my overlanding friends
Thought it was really cool that one day in Alex’s workshop, there was an identical car to mine but completely stock. So cool to look at them side-by-side and see how much mine has transformed from the factory form
Turns out the gull wings were quite a complicated project. It came out perfectly in the end but not without its challenges. I have a fair few ‘practice holes’ in my bodywork after we had to experiment with location for the gas struts
Project complete
Very happy with the side routed exhaust, Devon 4x4 fascia and custom rear bumper thanks to Javier
Gull wings done
The tail gate got a bit of attention. Now features a drop down cooking table, bottle opener and fire extinguisher mount on chequer plate as well as security mesh over the window ready for Africa
Carrs 4x4 coolant expansion tank and ARB compressor now mounted in the engine bay
Lots of work over three months and very happy with the result. Ready for the road
Eventually the car was ready and my 90-day temporary import permit for Ecuador was almost about to expire and it was time to continue on with the travels south. It was late May that I arrived in Quito and late August that I was leaving. And even though I had spent so much time in Ecuador, nearly the entirety of it was in Quito and a little bit of Galapagos and the Amazon.
Leaving was so much harder than I thought it might be. What I hadn’t counted on when San, a stranger at the time who was helping us with some mechanical issues and sorting out a workshop for us, I didn’t expect that that he would invite me into his home, into his family, his circle of friends, perform countless acts of generosity and become a friend for life.
I now count him and his family as my own and know that I’ll always be welcome back any time I should want to return (and I will). Similarly, his friends that became mine as well, I know that many I will see again in the future (Laura, Ricky, Chester, Cruz, Bernarda, Sebastian, Mena & everyone - I’ll be back, I promise!) I can’t thank San, his family and friends and everyone I met in Ecuador enough for making my experience there so incredible. Ecuador now holds a very special place in my heart.
On the day that I left, we lined up the family’s three Defenders and my Discovery outside for a photo to commemorate the occasion. I thought it was lovely send off. But when I went to drive off San said that he would give me an escort out of the city and we drove together until we crossed out of the city limits and eventually pulling over at a gas station to say our goodbyes. But I don’t think it’s going to be long until we see each other again – I have a hope that San will be joining us in Africa, at least for a short while, to carry on the adventure.
The send off party
San giving me a personal escort out of the city
Bye mate. Thanks for everything! And see you in Africa ;)
Back on the road, the logical place to start was Mount Cotapaxi given it’s only a couple hours drive from Quito. I’d literally been staring at it out of the window of my room at San’s place for three months so it was time to finally check it out. It felt good to be behind the wheel again and making progress south. It felt even better when I crossed off the bitumen and onto a dirt road again – it had been too long and the car with all its upgrades was ready to go.
The drive through Cotapaxi National Park was a real treat as the road weaved its way through a landscape scattered with rocks and boulders. Cotapaxi itself is almost 6,000m high and the car park to the trail that leads to the refugio and then the peak is over 4,600m high. The car struggled the final part of the climb with the added weight and thin oxygen and I had to drop it into low gear just to keep momentum up the gentle slope.
The wind was howling and it was freezing cold. I hiked as far as the refugio but didn’t feel as though I needed to prove anything to myself by going further. I just wanted to be in my car again, keep exploring and headed for the southern border.
Cotapaxi National Park
Staring up at Mount Cotapaxi as it breaks through the clouds. It’s nearly always completely cloud covered but I managed to arrive on a day with nice streaks of blue sky
The car having a rest after a tough climb above 4,600m in low gear
A scramble up the volcanic ash to the refugio
Leaving Cotapaxi, I wasn’t wasting any time. I had most of the country to cover and only a handful of days before my permit expired so I headed south. I detoured via Lake Quilotoa but merely stopped for a handful of photos before heading to Latacunga for the night.
The next day was a long one, driving from Latacunga to Riombamba and all the way through to Cuenca. It has to have been one of my top five drive days in the trip so far. The landscapes, traditional villages and people and winding mountainous road were gorgeous. The drive took longer than I thought because I was constantly stopping for photos.
Lake Quilotoa
The agriculture of the area gives the rolling hills an interesting mix of patterns and colors
Passing through a small town, I noticed a big gathering of people. When I got out to see what was happening, I saw that most of the town was watching these kids play musical chairs
The last couple days were split between Cuenca and Cajas National Park. I definitely could have given Cuenca more time – my first impressions were that it’s a city well worth a visit and some time but I didn’t hang around long enough to verify that. While I was in a rush to cross the border, I wanted to be out of the cities and sleeping in the rooftop tent again and had heard about Cajas National Park just outside of Cuenca.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on my side and the park itself didn’t hold a candle to some of the other parks I’d seen during the year. The tyranny of having seen so much in the trip so far is that you develop very high standards and can’t help but compare one national park to the others. Cajas was nice but small and the campsite was a parking lot. And in the near freezing rain and with hiking off the agenda, it was relatively forgettable.
Cajas National Park
That awkward temperature where it’s so cold it’s almost freezing but not enough to turn the rain to snow
Unfortunately the best campsite I could find in Cajas National Park - the parking lot outside of the ranger station
After the cold night in Cajas, it felt right that the next day I was going to cross the border into Peru and head down from the high altitude to sea level and spend a couple days in the beachside surf town of Mancora. As I turned the key in the morning, waited for the heater to kick in and set the coordinates on my GPS for the beach, it felt good to heading towards a new country and be back on the road. And in a few short days I would be meeting up with my Dutch friends from the Galapagos cruise ready for the next adventure.
