Days 57,58,59 & 60 September 8th - 11th Ecuador Quito - Riobamba - Loja

Stupid Ecuador Customs

That is the only title I could come up with.

The flight from Panama City went smooth. Felt kind of special sitting up front in business class, the seat and leg room was great. Arrived in Quito at an altitude close to 2,800 meters and went straight to the hotel to get ready for the motorcycle
release from customs next day.

I will not go into great detail but after paying close to $150 US in fees (Ecuador currency is in US) and taking close to two days to release my bike, all I wanted to do was blow Ecuador off and get to Peru. What a pain in the ass customs made of the release, the whole problem was that the model of the bike (F800gs) was not on any of my documents. This was not a problem in the last 9 countries I entered so they can kiss my ass.

Anyway, into the Andes and some great mountain scenery. Fuel is extremely cheap at about $1.80 US a gallon for super and $1.15 US a gallon for Diesel. The further south I head the worse the roads get and again the towns have no signs so a lot of wrongs turns and u-turns along the way.

Once out of the towns the Andes Mountains really started to hit home. Seem to be coping well with the altitude so far, a lot of the mountains hover between 3,000 and 4,000 meters.

Tried to start out early from Loja to the border with Peru ,about 200km's away, but the hotels owners blocked my bike in, so an early start went down the drain. Had to beep the bike horn to get them off their asses, it worked at 6.00am Sunday morning!

The 200km's to the Peru border would have to rate as the second hardest ride to date behind Guatemala. s***ty roads and towns that should take 5 minutes to
cross instead of 25 minutes, I finally reached the border.

I have noticed some trees that look like Aussie gum trees. Not sure if they are the same but they look and smell the same.

Sorry for all the belly aching but I am having a good time!

Cheers
Greg