Just off centre!
We spent a few days in Quito running around trying to get parts for the bike. For once, the BMW is proving easier to fix than the KLR, despite having a Kawasaki dealer in town. No air filters, no brake pads, no rear shock and no womens motorcycle clothing. They do have a front sproket but can't get the old one off to change it. Word of advide for Kawasaki riders in Quito, don't bother with the really nice, but somewhat inept guys at Kawasaki in Quito.
Two days later, we've sorted all but a new jacket, with ventilation, for me. I've a new rear shock on it's way to Colombia from the US and Mike found a German guy who loves KLRs to fix all the bits that need fixing.
A bit of sightseeing in the old town and we're out of there. We've decided to skip the Galapagos Islands due to a lack of funds and an ever diminishing amount of time. So it's up to the middle of the world - the equator - for a quick photo and then Tulcan, our last night before crossing into Colombia. The thing is, the toursity middle of the world, isn't quite in the middle. It's about 240m off centre. Some French blokes used astromony to set out where they thought the equator was, several years ago. About 5 years ago, some clever people with their GPS discovered that the French had got it wrong. In fact, some pre-Inca indians had built some temples exactly on the equator, on top of a hill and lined up the soltices and equinoxs. Seems the French had been a little lazy and only studdied the site for three months before thinking, 'nobody will notice if it isn't exact'. So we stopped for the obligatory photos but didn't get refund on our entry fee for 'false advertising'. We did carry on and find the correct equator on Mike's GPS though.
Two days later, we've sorted all but a new jacket, with ventilation, for me. I've a new rear shock on it's way to Colombia from the US and Mike found a German guy who loves KLRs to fix all the bits that need fixing.
A bit of sightseeing in the old town and we're out of there. We've decided to skip the Galapagos Islands due to a lack of funds and an ever diminishing amount of time. So it's up to the middle of the world - the equator - for a quick photo and then Tulcan, our last night before crossing into Colombia. The thing is, the toursity middle of the world, isn't quite in the middle. It's about 240m off centre. Some French blokes used astromony to set out where they thought the equator was, several years ago. About 5 years ago, some clever people with their GPS discovered that the French had got it wrong. In fact, some pre-Inca indians had built some temples exactly on the equator, on top of a hill and lined up the soltices and equinoxs. Seems the French had been a little lazy and only studdied the site for three months before thinking, 'nobody will notice if it isn't exact'. So we stopped for the obligatory photos but didn't get refund on our entry fee for 'false advertising'. We did carry on and find the correct equator on Mike's GPS though.
The obligatory photo, depsite the false advertising!
The real equator!
It was then a rather hairy ride on a gravelly/sandy road north to Ottavalo. This was in fact due to Mike loosing his back brakes - not good on down hill sections. Pretty scenery though.
Then on to Ibarra where we took Mark and Diasy's suggestion of having an icecream - best ron y pasas (That'd be rum and raison) we'd had in the entire South America. Highly reccommended.
We made it into Tulcan at night fall. Full of nervous aniticpation about the 4 hour border crossing and 'guerilla' infested jungles of Colombia that we would face tomorrow.
posted by Michelle at 9:33 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home