Travelogue 2: September 16, 2019
We are now in Ecuador and tomorrow we will cross the border to Peru.
We have driven 4500 km.
And a trip on the Rio Solimoes made to Manaus (4 days with a boat).
Flew back, picked up the motorbike at Linda’s and then left on our journey south.
The first stop was the Tatacoa dessert. Very impressive and fun arrive, via an offroad track over 25 km.
The dessert was created by overgrazing caused by the Jesuits.
Then on to Ecuador. The border crossing ran very smoothly. In Tulcán we also tried to buy an SOAT ( third party liability insurance ), but unfortunately it is not for sale to foreigners. The coverage is also not special.
We have already crossed several mountain ridges and ridges in Colombia over 60 km offroad, was difficult but went well. In Ecuador it is mainly about high-up in the mountains and down, where we sometimes drive up in the clouds (fog) and in the valley it is very hot.
Driving and traveling are going great. Depending on the quality of the road, we can cover around 300 km per day and are often at the destination early in the afternoon, so we can still walk around and eat quietly. We try to be in 1 place about once a week for 2 days.
We have now had one border crossing, and it went smoothly, including (police) checks along the way, are no obstacle for us, they always let us drive on.
In Ecuador we followed most of the E35 (Pan Americana Sur). That is at times a real highway (3 lanes ) and whole pieces of an ordinary provincial road. The traffic seems a lot quieter here than in Colombia. The people are also calmer. It seems as if the differences between rich and poor are somewhat smaller here. And a little more attention is paid to the details during construction.
Tomorrow we will continue to Peru. We take the least known border crossing for this. Probably over 60 km off road to La Balsa.
The day stage to Jaén, the first larger city with a hotel on booking, is approximately 300 km.
The rest days in Vilcabamba we have used to define the trip through Peru and it goes from Jaén again to the coast and there we take the Pan Americana again.
Reflections:
I am very worried about sustainability here, the awareness is certainly there among individual people, but the big common denominator doesn’t care. How should this society get rid of fossil fuels, CO2 emissions and agricultural land managed responsibly?
Because even the traditional working method is too intense for the steep slopes on which they work. The (over) population problem is clearly visible here, the migration to the cities, the overpopulation of the cities and the enormous differences between poor and rich. You actually don’t know where to start. And that was also striking, in Colombia there are elections again in the fall and everyone just talks openly that they are all corrupt politicians. So trusting there is a solution is not possible either.
Ps More than 75% of the electricity supply in all these countries is hydro-electricity, so that is already very nice, and where we go there is always a connection to the national network.
But the transport (?), The air pollution in the valleys in the Andes (larger cities, there is a lot of smog) and congestion.
In short, I still have a few km to think about solutions and enjoy the space (because there is also), the people, nature.