Pan-American Highway road trip memories 9

Team 68
In a land of lush, green hills. Unbelievable – what a feast this is for my starved senses. In the final hours before reaching Ecuador, the landscape had already become greener and we were climbing quite steeply again. The shades of green that appeared before my eyes were overwhelming. We saw very strange trees with bottle-shaped, bright green trunks. We drove over high mountain passes with panoramas so beautiful they made your mouth water. And those houses! They were proper houses, for sure. In colours that would give our planning committee diarrhoea. The best comparison I can think of is that of little cakes, complete with turrets, little balconies and verandas.

Everyone is wearing hats. The women often wear velvet skirts with intricate embroidery. The children are carried in slings on their parents’ backs. I couldn’t get enough of the clotheslines laden with washing; we hadn’t seen anything like that for weeks. We climbed steeply and found ourselves deep in the clouds – another real treat. We were given a festive welcome in Loja yesterday. Along the route into the town, people were standing by the roadside, waving flags to show us the way. We rode through a beautifully painted city gate with a distinctly Sissy feel to it. Along the roadside, we saw smiling, waving people giving us the thumbs-up. But I could hardly believe what was happening in the town square. Hundreds of people were applauding. I actually found myself getting a bit teary-eyed with emotion. We could hardly park because they were all taking photos. Once we’d stopped, Jennie suggested we open the bonnet. They were practically climbing inside. The car was no longer visible.

Team 68
Quito is the capital of Ecuador and has a population of 1.8 million. The city lies in a valley between two volcanic ridges, most of which are still active. The last eruption was in 1999, during which Quito was buried under a layer of ash. The city stretches 55 kilometres in length and boasts an extraordinary number of churches. This was one of the reasons why, in 1978, Quito became the first city to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. For example, there is a street with seven churches. We visit the richest church on this street: the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús, a Jesuit church, which features 280 tonnes of gold leaf. Much of the money was raised by convincing people of their sinfulness. This could be atoned for with money, so that by paying, they were assured of a good place in heaven.

On 21 June, the sun shines on a statue of the infant Jesus high up in the church. Symbolically, the god of the Incas bestows light upon the infant Jesus. When the Spaniards had overpowered the Inca king, he tried to save his life by giving the Spaniards a great deal of gold. This was deemed insufficient; they also wanted to convert the good man. However, he considered his own god – the sun – far more important than a fictional god whom one could not see, and so, despite all the gold, he was murdered. The commander-in-chief of Quito also wanted to ransom the king with gold but heard just in time that it was no longer of any use, as the Inca king was already dead. The commander-in-chief is said to have then set off into the Amazon with all the gold. Nobody knows where the gold ended up; this is said to be the Eldorado that people have been searching for for ages.

Team 26
Today’s journey takes us from Quito in Ecuador to Pasto in Colombia. Just 360 kilometres. A breeze, but it turned out to be more of a struggle than expected. Colombia is the last country we’re visiting. This region has a humid climate. This is thought to be caused by the warm El Niño current colliding with the cold Humboldt Current off the coast of Ecuador. As a result, a great deal of moisture is drawn into the country. We set off in mist, so once again we could see very little of the volcanoes. The volcanoes in this area do not have the characteristic conical shape. This is due to the way in which they erupt. Fortunately, the weather cleared up quickly, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the snow-capped peaks of the Cayambe and Imbaburra volcanoes through the delicate white clouds. A little later, we passed a car park with an awful lot of Volvos and realised we’d just crossed the equator. You simply can’t let that go unnoticed, so we turned round and parked alongside all the other Volvos. For a dollar, we crossed the equator on foot. The exact location has been determined using GPS, and a monument has been erected at this spot. It is said that over 2,000 years ago, the Quito Indians had already pinpointed this spot with great precision.