Day 148 – Banos, EC to Loja, EC
January 19, 2011 17 Comments
Day 148 – Banos, EC to Loja, EC 01/16/11 Mileage: 382
My hotel room overlooked the Sunday local market, so before I hit the road I went over to have a look around. Even though I’ve been to many of these local markets now, I’m still always amazed by the quantity, quality and variety of the fresh produce.
Fresh whole pig…it’s whats for breakfast…
I bought one of those delicious croissant like rolls….the price, 12 cents.
After my walk around the market I packed the bike and split town. It was basically a straight bomb down the Pan American, which I often try to avoid in lieu of for more interesting roads. But much of this section of the Pan American was supposed to be a very scenic and fun to ride, and it was! The only thing slowing me down was the pea soup fog I was in and out of all day long. The following 6 helmet cam shots were taken at 1 minute intervals…
Thick…
Thicker….
Thickest!
So when the fog wasn’t blocking the scenery, here’s what the view from the road looked like….
After pulling into Loja I found a room, for $8, and then went out for some dinner. Being Sunday night, it seemed there was only fast food joints open, so instead I went to the market for some groceries and went back to the room. I also stumbled on an blue law in Ecuador…and that is you can’t buy beer, wine or booze after 4pm on Sunday. I tried to buy a few beers at the market, but got the wave off by the cashier. WTF…are they trying to make sure everyone get’s to work on Monday? Luckily though, I carry a bottle of Jack D for just such an emergency… 😉
Parting Shot: A heavenly day of riding….
From Deadhorse Down 
The market looks wonderful. I love shopping in a farmer’s market. Especially loved the bread and fruits….
Me too Carla, I love farmer’s markets! Morristown had a small farmers market on Sundays in the summer….it was great…
Lenny –
I can’t tell you how jealous I am. I sit here in my office everyday and drool over the photos and wonder how the hell I can take a year off of work and do what you are doing.
Glad to see the KLR is holding up. By the looks of its popularity down there It seems like you made the right choice. I would have packed up my GS Adventure and probably been stuck back in Mexico waiting for parts.
Are you shooting any video down there or just still shots? And how are you dealing with storage of these photos? I shot 200 gigs of photos and video in just 2 weeks in the alps this summer. I was using the GoPro HD and had great results. What are you using?
Ride Safe,
Tim
Hey Tim…great to hear from you! So far the ´ol KLR has been good to me…I can´t complain. That GSA you have a is a sweet rig bro…there´d be one in my stable if I had a spare 25k laying around!
I do have the Hero HD wide, but the video is too painful to work with on my netbook, so I use it for stills mostly. I changed the resolution to VGA and its better, so I might try and suck it up and put some time into a video.
Come on down to Chile and `git some!! Rent a GS in Santiago and ride the Carretera Austral through Patagonia…just thowing it out there!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carretera_Austral
Cheers!
-Lenny
Hey Lenny- Great pictures! I loved the shots of the market. What a great way to shop for groceries. Your parting shot does look like a slice of heaven. Have fun and stay safe! ~Dori
Thanks Dori! The local markets down here are awesome…I still can`t beleive the variety of produce they have. I can walk around for hours…
Stay warm up there! 🙂
I was just checking out your tracker…that is so cool! I see you will be in Peru soon. It’s so beautiful!
My father traveled to both Peru and Brazil often…and took me to both. Have fun 🙂
It´s like Where´s Waldo…only I`m much easier to find! lol
What a beautiful post and the open market was full of nice looking stuff….I would of bought a few of those crescent rolls….boy did they look good. So does all the fruits and veggies but the PIG..not for me.
I couldn’t believe the fog you ride through…….I am glad there doesn’t seem to be too many other cars or trucks on the road but then again, how do you know what is ahead.
We just got home and I see that you are on way south. I hope you got the package before you left.
Be well and be safe. Love, Mom
Wednesday evening………Thank God you got your maps. Hoping you get through the border of Peru without problems and you can catch up some of the time you lost waiting for UPS to deliver the package. We really both did it………..be well and safe, Mom
God Bless Jack Daniels and forward thinking…..He’s always there when you need him….even on Sunday’s. Last thing you need is the shakes and sweats on a Sunday evening…..alone in your motel room…. in a town unknown…..things might go south…..in a hurry.
You said it my friend!
Welcome to Peru. Enjoy all the places you plan on going. You did a lot of riding today and I am sure you are glad you have your Ricor shocks, etc.
Be well and be safe. Love, Mom.
I´m enjoying northern Peru a lot….I was really looking forward to riding the roads here……so far so good!
Friday night and I see that you stopped riding about 8pm. Looks like you were looking for a place to stay, I guess. The pictures on the internet of the area look breathtaking. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Hoping the road conditions have been good. Love, Mom
Lenny,
My name is Pete and I am one of Chad Roseman and Mic Schiebels friends. We even stayed at Mics Killington house together with a large group of people. Anyway, Chad told me about your amazing trip idea before you started and gave me the deadhorse link.
I have been following your blog from the beginning when you left Jersey and every morning while laying in bed before I actaully get out of bed I read your blog. It has been amazing to see all the different parts of the world and I wanted to tell you that you have done an outstanding job with the blog, with mind blowing pics, and full stories of your adventures. Please keep up the phenomenal work and know the joy and inspiration you are brining other people.
Be safe on the remainder of your adventure! Make sure you try to ski in Chili!
By the way, you took one of the most amazing pictures I have ever seen it was in Alaska and it was of this reflective mirror like lake bouncing the image perfectly of the overlooking mountain range onto the water, which made it possible to rotate the picture upside down and I was unable to tell which was the reflection! ! And the blue Alaska lakes were sick too!!
Pete
Thanks Pete!! It was been a blast so far….thnks for following along! I thnk I know which picture you´re talking about….I´m a sucker for those water reflection pictures. I took a some really good ones in Canada also on the Icefields Parkway north of Banff. It´s hard to take a bad picture up there and in Alaska! Enjoy the winter…I´m missing a good one up there!