Vilcabamba and Peru Border

After Cuenca, I decided it was time to head for the border and get out of Ecuador. I hadn't planned on spending that much time in the country, as much as I enjoyed it, and I was itching to move. Funny how quick that itch can disappear if you put me in the right place though...

The border was still a couple days' worth of riding, so I headed for the last star on my map between me and the border: Vilcabamba.

Cuenca

Cuenca was hardly on my list of things to see, it was just a city on the way to where I wanted to go. I planned on taking a single day to relax and get some errands done, and ended up staying a few more days than planned (like usual, at this point).

Baños

After staying in Quito longer than I planned, I was ready to make some ground and stay places a bit less time. I managed that in a few places, and not so much in others, but either way I finished up Ecuador with some pretty cool activities and some nice relaxing as well. My first stop ending up being Baños.

Quito

I've been doing a lot of adventuring on this trip, but sometimes I just want to hang around and pretend like I live in the city and have a few days off. Quito was a perfect place to do that, especially since the altitude prevented me from doing the adventuring I'd planned when I got into town.

Otavalo

I crossed over the Ecuadorian border and started south on the Pan American. While I'd heard great things about many of the places I'd been before, I really didn't have much intel on things to do or see in Ecuador. But with a little hunting around as well as scooping some info from the ride reports of a couple guys ahead of me on their motorcycles, I found my way around just fine.

Colombia to Ecuador

After finally escaping from Salento, it was time to make my way to the Ecuadorian border. I had a few towns left to stop at on the way, but no big plans in any of them, so I was mostly eager to finally move into another country - at this point I'd been in Colombia for 35 days, almost as long as I'd spent in Mexico. Fortunately, the roads were good and kept me entertained on my way out.

Salento

I had been staying places longer than I originally planned, and I felt like I really needed to start moving a little faster. With that in mind, I planned one night in Salento. As I was checking into the hostel, I heard the woman at the desk tell another guest who had only booked one night but who "might stay longer," that everyone says that, and everyone ends up staying longer. Turns out that would be me as well.