Coasting down from such a height was pretty darn fun. Large trucks must go slowly for safety reasons, so I got to pass a few. And the grade was reasonable and the turns not too sharp, so it was brake-free let ‘er rip!

Then I had to return to Quito and to put my bike back in the box. Getting to the city turned out to be a lot harder than I anticipated. Unfortunately the buses I found that were going to Quito from Pifo did not have room for a bicycle. The buses with room for a bicycle were not going to Quito. I thought I was getting help from a friendly fella at the bus stop, but he just kept telling me which buses were going to Quito and ignoring the problem of the bicycle. He was very keen to show me his social media accounts, with his zillions of followers. Humans puzzle me sometimes.

I was annoyed and decided just to bike the last part. Which turned out to be a rough rough go. I do not recommend this. It got dark and I was on the freeway, and my bike light ran out of battery. About halfway into the city I realized that the most direct route was going to take me through a long no-biking-possible tunnel, so I asked a cabbie for some navigation help (and for a ride, but he explained there are zones for cabs and he’s not allowed to take me where I want to go. Damn.) Off the freeway, it was steep steep cobblestones. And traffic. Too much traffic to be able to make switchbacks, so I was walking and pushing my bike. And having to rest a lot. I also ran out of water but didn’t want to stop as it was dark and getting darker. All in all that 25 kms took about 4 hours. I was totally exhausted by the time I got to the hotel. I wolfed down some Indian food with a friendly tourist from England, dismantled my bicycle, and sorted out logistics with the helpful hotel folks.

F