day 1 : Quito - Lasso 74 km
day 2,3,4,5 : attempt to climb Cotopaxi
day 6 : Lasso - Latacunga 20 km
day 7 : Lactacunga - Baños 85 km
day 8 : Baños - Puyo 65 km
day 9 : Puyo - bikebreakdown = bus - Macas 80 km
day 10 : Macas - Mendez 76 km
day 11 : with bus from Macas to Cuenca
day 12 : Cuenca - Pasaje 148 km
day 13 : Pasaje - Tumbes 99 km
2. Specific Country Information
Ecuador has a lot of variety in his landscape, you can cycle from the high Andes to the east Amazonian jungle side or to the west drier sea side. In Peru we only cycled a little part so we can not give good information.
In Ecuador dogs can sometimes be a bit anoying. Yelling and throwing stones to the dogs while stopping your bike is very effective.
Ecuador is very cheap, you can find easily a room for less than a dollar at night. The monetary unit just changed from Sucres to the Dollar. Peru is a bit more expensive, you can compare it to other Central American countries.
Quito can be a dangerous city as well Old Quito as the new part of the town. We met some people who were robbed at daytime in the old part of Quito by really old women. They just cut your pants with sharp styleto knifes trying to grab your wallet. They really do not mind cutting in your body. This Belgian girl had to be stitched 16 stitches ! We also had three months not one problem untill arriving in Quito. A group of 8 youngers robbed as 60 meters from our guesthouse (new part of Quito) at 6.30 p.m . They stabed one of us so a visit to the hospital was necesary and we lost some money and our visacards. These two assaults (and more) happened when there was a 6 days party going on in Quito. That can be a reason for the inrease of assaults a that time. Travelling in Central and South America is quiet safe but watch out and be fucking vigilant in places with bad reputations !
The Pan American highway in Ecuador is not great to cycle on, it has lots of trafic and industry. It is better to avoid it and take quieter roads ore dirtroads.
3. Route Information
The way from Quito to Lasso is, as I already said, not so nice to cycle on but when the weather is good you can have beautifull views on Cotopaxi and other volcanos. Lasso is a nice place to start the climb to the Cotopaxi. In Lasso there is just one inexpensive place to say, Cabañas Luz Elena ( tel . 719262 or 719112 or 719524), 600 meters out of Lasso. Ask for Marcelo, he has also a truck and brings you for a good price to the Cotopaxi National Park. We had no time to cycle in the National Park but the park is really beautifull !
After Latacunga we left the Pan American highway direction Baños. It was really great cycling again on smaller roads. Baños is quiet touristic. Many tourist rent a mountainbike to cycle from Baños to Puyo which is a beautifull downhill traject which brings you in the green jungle passing big waterfalls.
The way from Puyo to Macas is hard and desolate. We had lots of rain all day. You cross a huge river on a typical South American bridge ! Some parts of the dirtroad were soft so hard to cycle. The way goes slowly downhill from Macas to Mendez through jungle forest and little villages. You can find a good tempo on some parts. In all of these villages (Puyo, Macas, Mendez) there are some hostels and hotels.
We took the bus from Mendez to Cuenca because we hadn't many time left but it looked really wothwhile but hard to cycle. From Mendez (Amazone jungle) you will have to conquer a huge elevation to Cuenca (Andes). Cuenca is the righest city in Ecuador, very colonial and a nice atmosphere. We started cycling in Cuenca at 6.00 a.m destination Pasaje. It is more than 2000 meters downhill one day, the changing of the views and landscape is amazing. We arrived in Pasaje at 4.00 p.m, 148 beautifull kilometers in the legs.
When you leave Pasaje you pass through lots of banana fields of the big multinationals (Chiquita, Bonita, Dole,…). Afterwards the road stays close to the sea in a dry hot landscape. You do not have to pay a fee for leaving Ecuador. I think it is only 20 km from the border to Tumbes (Peru).