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We decided to go back down to the Amazon region and checked out the various adventure parks on the road back to Puyo. One had a 400 metre long suspension bridge across a canyon which you could walk along for $7 per person. Or get a $30 package that included the bridge, a bungee jump from it and ziplining. It was only opened last year. It gets packed at weekends but we were there mid week so it was empty. The lady we spoke to told us that the road tunnels we have driven through on this road are new additions. They certainly weren't there 20 years ago when we drove along this stretch.
Our second stop was for a photo of a Baños sign and waterfall and the last stop was to watch some zipliners going across the canyon at another waterfall. We returned to the car park at Pailón del Diablo for the night and this time it was empty and all the shops and restaurants were closed at 4-50pm when we arrived. Such a difference mid week. Unbelievable!
From our parking spot at the waterfall we drove back down to Puyo. After a short stop to do shopping and renew our Claro card, we headed south along good roads to the bustling city of Macas. We thought it would just be a small town in the jungle so its size and noise level surprised us. We made a short stop at a supermarket to check for cheese and then drove out, further south and stopped at a 24 hour petrol station.
We parked under a corrugated roof at the back and we could even plug in using a socket in a workshop area. Superb! We were just getting out our transformer and plugging in when it started raining!! Maybe we celebrated our luck too soon because several negative things happened: our water pump didn't work and we had to pull out our 40 litre container to get to our drinking water (repairs would have to wait until tomorrow);the humidity went up to almost 100% and when we cooked cauliflower with a cheese sauce and potatoes it sent our indoor temperature soaring; a truck pulled up and parked next to us and started unloading everything - they made so much noise we couldn't here the news on our computer and had to switch off and wait until they'd finished!!
What topped it all was that at 1am in the morning a car with large boombaster speakers tried to squeeze under the roof between us and the truck! They even pushed our mirror in but there wasn't enough space. I heard our mirror and got up to see if I needed to make any arrests!! There were six twenty somethings in the car and they got out and stood under the roof and partied for over an hour. The boombaster blasted out noise - I wouldn't class it as music. The noise level was horrendous. Everything was vibrating!! There were lots of trucks parked here so they must have known people are asleep but they obviously didn't care! Maybe it was good that the rain didn't stop because they finally left at 2-15 am so everyone on the car park could get back to sleep.
We didn't get much though because we were up at 7-20am the next morning to watch our football team play miserably. We were lucky to get an equaliser right at the end and come away with a point. It was still bucketing down with rain which didn't help our mood!! We waited out the rain but it didn't stop until 3-30pm so there was no point leaving and we stayed another night. At least we had an extra water pump (thanks to previous owner Steffen and family!) and used it to replace the old one so we can pump out our drinking water again. We also used the extra time to check out roads in Ecuador - there has been so much rain that it's caused several landslides and lots of road damage. The roads around Cuenca had been particularly hit and might cause us a problem trying to get out of the country next month!
The same trucks arrived for a second night so it got noisy for an hour or two but at least that was early evening and there were no more parties that night!
The next morning we added some coolant, topped up our oil and checked our tyre pressures then drove south for a further 11km to a viewpoint. The view was just jungle so not really worth it but this was our turnaround point anyway as the tarmac finishes a bit further south and landslides have caused problems with the roads.
We returned north and turned off at Macas and headed west into the mountains. This road had also been damaged and there were several gravel sections with potholes but we knew from the internet that it was passable. There were several places where the road had slipped and two cars had bumped into each other. It looked like they were travelling too fast, the car in front braked because of road damage, and the following car was too close to stop! Have I already mentioned that the Ecuadorians can't drive?
But the drive through the Sangay National Park was superb - we went up and over 3,200 metres and were still in the rain forest. We stopped at a viewpoint for coffee and then continued into a completely different landscape. It looked alpine with various lakes on a plateau at around 3,500 metres. We had superb weather for the drive but we could see heavy rain clouds ahead. It was 4-30pm when we hit them so the final 2 hours into Riobamba were in the rain. We stopped at a KFC for a takeaway just as it got dark. Afterwards we drove 8km out of town to a petrol station with a security guard and police vehicles where we could stop for the night. It was already after 8pm by the time we parked up but we had really enjoyed the superb drive today. We were up at 2,750 metres and it was cold! We needed our fleece blanket for the first time in ages!
It was 17°C inside our motorhome when we got up because we're well insulated and it takes our vehicle such a long time to cool down. But it was still cold for us!! Next problem - Kirsten's phone battery ran out even though it had been plugged in! We need a new battery. I suggested we go back to Ambato to the place where we got our computer fixed as it was on our route north to Quito. So we reprogrammed the GPS.
We drove north of Riobamaba on a good dual carriageway in rain and through clouds. We passed Chimborazo which we couldn't see and then into Ambato. After filling up with drinking water we went back to the repair shop but they don't do smartphones and their recommended phone repair shop told us they'd need to order a battery which would take days! Hmm! Not good. We didn't want to hang around Ambato waiting for a phone battery so we'll have to make do until we get back to Germany.
It was after 4pm by the time we left and continued north through rain on a dual carriageway. At 5-30pm we hit traffic jams even though we were at least 50km south of Quito. We turned off to head to our overnight stop near the airport but the road was closed. We got back into heavy traffic on a detour and our petrol gauge light came on even though we have at least 200km left in our tank! It was still raining but we took a detour to get to a petrol station and filled up. We could only get in 56 litres when our tank holds 80 litres! Our gauge must be wrong! Oh well, at least we didn't run out of diesel!
I had to drive 90 minutes in the dark and we got to our spot just after 8pm. The weather had been miserable and we missed out on all the views on this lovely stretch to Quito through the mountain area but at least we'd already driven this stretch over 2 years ago on our way north to Colombia so we've seen it before.
