All the way down to Riobamba

Today I am tired but I promise some pictures for tomorrow...

From Armenia we had a long drive South until Pasto. Part of the road we already knew from our previous trip to Popayan. We read that Pasto was a place to be avoided but we found that it was a nice and neat place, so the last night in Colombia was very good.

In the morning we drove to Ipiales and crossed in Ecuador. This was by far the best of all our border crossing. The people in Colombia and Ecuador were very professional so we crossed very quickly and moved to the city of Ibarra, the largest city in Northern Ecuador.

The landscape changes slowly once we drove into Ecuador. The land is also labored to the top of the mountains, using up the smallest plots to grow something. However, little by little the mountains become more arid and taller, so agriculture gets limited to the valleys. The same as in Colombia, it is amazing the amount of effort required by the farmers to make a living in such conditions.

 

From Ibarra we went to Otavalo and then to Quito. Cities in Ecuador are old, made in a colonial style, and full of churches. Otavalo is a smaller city, with narrow streets, but very colorful and clean. In contrast, Quito is a large city, also very clean, but not as appealing as Otavalo.

We spent the night in an hotel relatively close to the airport. Once again, people and nature conspired against our deserved sleep, so we will move out after breakfast.

 

Today we went to visit the city called Mitad Del Mundo (Half of the World), some 12 miles north of Quito. There is a monument showing the location of Latitude Zero, inside of which functions an Etnological Museum showing the different people composing Ecuador's population. Next to the monument there is a museum describing the work made back in the 18th century by Fench, Spanish, and Ecuadoran scientists to determine the shape of the Earth using Ecuador as a baseline.

 

In Ecuador, the same as in Colombia, there are three regions neatly differentiated: The coast, the mountains, and the flat lands east of the mountains. Each of these regions include different ethnic groups, in many cases with a completely different degree of development, and using different languages. As an example, In Ecuador there is very modern people living together with indian communities that practice agriculture using the old "slash and burn" techniques, and with other groups that still live out of hunting, fishing, and collecting fruits and grains. One cannot less than wonder the magnitude of the effort by the central government to administer policies that satisfy the needs of such diverse people. The current government recently recognized the existence of 13 different indian communities, and is working hard to recover from the neglect of previous administrations. Still, it will be hard to make everybody happy.

 

From Mitad Del Mundo we drove to Riobamba, another neat and clean Ecuadorian city, and tomorrow we will move to Cuenca, a little further South.

 

Soon we will need to speed up in order to get to Argentina in time to legalize our car, so I foresee longer drives from now on.