In Chachapoyas, we now wandered the beautiful streets. It’s a nice, small, clean, safe town with narrow streets.



We took a bus (what we were now resigned to) to see Kuelap (a pre-Inca ‘fortress’ atop a stunning mountain). Check out the size of the walls; the most awesome defensive position.



There are high walls surrounding the entire fortress, with only two narrow and long entrances.



They were clever too. In this picture, you will see a ‘gutter’ above the wall. They used these as they understood that if the foundation got wet, the structure would fall sooner.



Me and the guys going in the ‘rear’ entrance (insert innuendo here). Long and thin (insert innuendo here…….).



Their buildings were round too. Apparently because they’re easy to make, and have better earthquake resistance.



Inside the round homes are holes, as below.



To remember their dead, they buried them under their house and slept just above them…..

So many bricks made……..



This one is inside the ‘fortress’.*Who’s going to climb this sucker?
Staggering workmanship, how did they build this?



Some homes had decorations, to show rank or something similar.



Other entrance.



From this vantage is where the occupiers could stone any unwelcome visitors, and the blood could just drain down outside……nifty, huh?



This is the road we didn’t get to go on because we sold our bikes (it’s the road to Kuelap).



I just looked at that road, with the same longing look as this dog (I had food).

We awkwardly bused it to Ecuador, and stopped in Loja. Buses are cheap, but you miss everything. I say awkwardly because of the amount of gear we had (we could barely walk 20 metres without having to put our stuff down).

Loja had a great brewery, where we watched an Ecuador World Cup game. Not a massive soccer fan, but the excitement is infectious.



*
Ecuador won, and we walked the streets hoping to see crazy excitement, but the streets were unfortunately very tame.



I liked their ‘cards’, when you order a they tick it off on your card, and the staff have a card too. That way, come bill time, there are no disagreements. Years ago I worked in a bar and this was a common occurrence. Guys would say they haven’t had that much, unless a female was nearby and they would often say, with a little extra volume, ‘Jeez, we drank X s? Wow/huh, didn’t realise that’. Not once did I see a lady impressed. But, I digress……
*
Next, bus to Quito. A city we quite enjoyed, for a city.



Impressive buildings/churches.



I couldn’t help feeling a little awkward when looking in some of the many ridiculously overdone expensive churches….



Then walking outside and seeing many people financially struggling. This lady shines every single apple, before carefully placing them in a bag to try to sell for $1.



But, then you see something cool like this and mood is lifted. Spot the jealous dog?



We stayed at a cheap hotel (16 USD a night) with lovely owners. They took us to the equator one day, just because they wanted to show us some of the city. It really would have been cool to ride there, to have a ‘final destination point’, but it just didn’t work out life that.
Apparently it’s the only place you can balance an egg on a nail, but my bullshit sensor got tingly.





Lovely people.



We were trying to get an interview at the US embassy, to extend our stay but couldn’t get an appointment for days…..so itchy feet had to be scratched. We hired bikes/scooters.

Great trip. Thanks for sharing with us. I loved my Honda CG 125 too
http://motorradtouren-suedamerika.de/?report=suedamerika

Reminds me of the mechanic in India who tried to pay partially in obviously fake 100 rupee notes.

PS Rob,

Is there not an option of selling to foreigner? my XR is registered in Chile and I often flirt with the idea of riding to Colombia, but I`m worried about losing too much of its value due to having to flog it to similar drunk unpunctual men.

After getting out of the city (which was far better than expected; Ecuadorians are far more sedate than Peruvians), we hit lovely country. Gas here folks is $1.50 a gallon, and diesel $1 a gallon.



Great to be back on the road!



Everything is green and awesome.







Then, I got a flat. They gave me a snot-on-a-string to fix it, and a compressor.



Problem was, we couldn’t run the compressor as they didn’t provide the tools to access the battery…..So, with no cars where we were, we had to walk/idle back to a tiny town and ask around. There were two cars, and the legend who owned this one let me use his battery.



We arrived in town (Mindo) in the dark, but had a mean burger and found great accommodation.

Frog in room found an ant.



Hardcore motorcyclists like us, like to do hardcore things. So, we visited a butterfly farm.







They liked banana.



Heaps of furniture was made of bamboo. I wish this kind of stuff lived near us. We asked about it and once you have good sized roots, you can just cut them off at the stem, and 5 years later you’ll have another one to cut.

We lounged around, watched more soccer, drank and swam in the accommodation’s pool. I could retire there, everything is green. The town is neat, has no crime and costs $0.06 per square foot of jungle/rainforest land. Apparently many foreigners are starting to buy large chunks of it.
We were going to hire the bikes for 3 days, but if we got them back within 48 hours, we would only get charged for two. So, we got up early and, after spending half an hour looking for toucans unsuccessfully, headed back.





10 inch wheels on dirt roads were some kind of slow, but still fun.



Back to Quito…….



Made it back in 48 hours – woohoo! We weren’t entirely happy with the overall rental experience there, but it sure beat hanging around in the city.
*
So, we were down to 48 hours until we flew out to the USA, and had our interview. A good bearded man conducted it, for 3 minutes, and the US embassy were kind and issued us visas in 24 hours. We picked them up less than 24 hours before we flew out. We were excited.



Had we not received them, our US trip would have to be rushed (something Rob doesn’t do well) and cut shorter than planned. Nongs got lucky again.

USA, here we come!