We had an early start, and again we had fantastic riding days on our way to Cuenca. The road crosses the Sangay NP. The scenery is fantastic, great views into the lower valleys, the vegetation still being incredibly rich. The air gets cooler and the landscape seems to change with every 15 minutes of riding. As we reached the highest point of the road the landscape reminds me a lot of Scotland, a mere 2 hour ride away from the deepest rainforest you can imagine.

Due to the cloudy sky we were not lucky enough to see the Sangay mountain itself, a 5300m glacier covered volcano which arises from the jungle.

There are very few cars and almost no trucks on the road. The riding itself is fantastic, new tarmac on perfect curves that makes every motorbiker smile. It was a nice and smooth riding today even though we hit some heavy rain as we covered the last couple of kilometers on our way to Alausi where we stayed for the night.

We kept following the Panamericana which at this stage is a very beautiful road winding through the mountains. Christy is improving a lot on her riding, and it is fantastic to see how much she is gaining confidence with all these curves and steep slopes.

We stopped at Ingapirca, the most important Inca ruins in Ecuador. The precision of how they put together the rocks to build their walls is stunning. I have heard of it before, but seeing it with our own eyes was very special and quite impressive.

Typical Ecuadorian Village

Fruit market

Ecuadorian dog transport (isn’t that a cute dog?)

On the way to Cuenca

Incapirca suntemple

amazing how they built the walls

This is the most import an Inca ruins in Ecuador

You don’t get a fingernail between these stones

Its a nice site, with only few people

An amazing achritecture

The lowlands are covered in clouds as we travel constantly over 3000m

The landscape around Alausi.

Alausi, a small town where we stopped for the night.

The time seemed to have stopped here. Farmers bring in their goods to the market by foot.

That reminded me so much of Scotland, very close to the rich vegetation of the rainforest.

Road through Sangay NP

Sangay NP

Sangay NP

Rainforest in the lower Sangay NP

Nice riding since the road is brand-new.

We approach Cuenca pretty early and find a fantastic hotel where we plan to stay for a couple of days to get some Spanish lessons.