NONO - MINDO with the Biking Dutchman

I really wanted to post about this bike ride I took with the Biking Dutchman on Monday but it has been a hectic week which has leveled out today and I have some time to post to my beloved blog.

The day started off early (6:30 am) in the morning I made my way on my bike to the Mariscal area to find the meeting point : Magic Bean. Magic Bean is a great restaurant that serves great international mostly american cuisine and has pretty great coffee to go. There is a Magic Bean close to my work on Portugal and Republica del Salvador but Ive always preferred the one in the Mariscal.

Anyways enough plug-ins, Once everyone was there we hopped on the Landcruiser and were off to Nono. Nono is a rural town which is part of Quito, its complete name is San Miguel de Nono. It was founded by the Jesuits who baptized the town as San Miguel de Nono since Nono comes from the latin 9th and Nono was the ninth town the Jesuits created here. Its a nice oldish looking town with strange weather conditions (always cloudy) but it has a slight cloudforest feel, especially as you descend toward Tandayapa.

View going up to Nono

Once in Nono we got off the car and hopped on our bikes for our descent to Tandayapa. We used a route called the Ruta del Quinde which according to our guide used to be the old road to the coast. Now its an eco bike route which takes you to Tandayapa on a dirt road, full of dips and holes and at times covered in stones... quite a task to not fall. The bumpy ride has your hands and arms acting as suspension and you have to open and close your hands every now and then to relieve the "claw hands". Awesome downhill, very fast and the scenery is spectacular. After biking for about 10 km we found this hidden waterfall and took some pics.

The group
you can see the rock climbing equipment behind us
SO COOL

We kept on going and ended up at a trout or tilipia farm where we found this huge rock that had a rope tied to it and we climbed all the way to the top. (that was the easy part) but then coming down was rather tricky and somewhat nerve wrecking but really fun. For a moment there I was totally horizontal just sliding down the rope.

We kept going and came to the Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge:

Bellavista CloudForest Lodge Entrance

 In the 10 minutes were stopped at Bellavista I was able to spot 2 squirrels (which I thought were long extinct in Ecuador) beautiful reddish hair, fluffy tails which they move in circles as they jump from tree to tree and seem to fly. Regarding hummingbirds I was able to see hundreds of them hovering all around, probably 20 distinct types of hummingbirds. Again all this was seen in 10 min.

After the Bellavista visit we kept on trucking and finally hit Tandayapa. Tandayapa is located in a beautiful area of the cloudforest, here they had some waterfall water faucet of sorts where we cooled off and drank some pure water. Nobody in the group wanted to do the 8 km uphill to the road to mindo so we jumped back on the Landcruiser and our driver/guide/owner of Biking Dutchman drove us all the way up to the main road.

This is the first time Ive biked on a main road, the asphalt felt great, and we biked the remaining 10 km to Mindo with the Landcruiser behind us keeping us safe. We quickly arrived to the Mindo exit and did the downhill on asphalt to Mindo. This was a lot of fun.

Once in Mindo it was really hot, no clouds could be seen and we were tired and sweating buckets.
My suggestion was to go get some ice cream at my favorite small restaurant in Mindo:

Mishqui Quinde
Great place for ice cream, and quinoa burgers, soup and pudding
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
https://www.facebook.com/mishquimindo?ref=nf

Once done with the ice cream and a little cooled down we headed towards the Chocolate Tour/Chocolate Store. There are two or three choco tours in Mindo, but I like this one since its short and sweet and its just more quaint. Pic below. 

Landcruiser at lesser known choco tour in Mindo.
How cool is this car 

 Loved this bike ride, Highly Recommended!

My Schwinn looking tough

ANTISANA with the Biking Dutchman

So, since I work in tourism, I was invited to do a bike tour of the Antisana with the Biking Dutchman. The Biking Dutchman are a very well respected company that offers various exciting bike tours all around Ecuador.  www.bikingdutchman.com

I was very excited about this tour and felt more than ready since I have been commuting to work on a bike since February 2015 and I do weekend rides to random sites. But alas, some of my friends and family kind of made me rethink if i could actually do this bike ride.

The tour started at the Mariscal area at 7 am. I had to wake up rather early and make my way there. The guides and driver were there on time with their Land Cruisers ready to take us to the Antisana.
*I used to have a red Land Cruiser 1988. Loved that car!!

The ride was short we got to the Antisana reserve pretty quickly and started the tour.

Top of Mica Loma great view of Mica Lake

The first thing we did was circle around MicaLoma which is a small hill next to the Mica Lake. where you can hike up on foot to the top take pictures and take in some amazing Paramo views. The paramo always has this mysticism to it that I love. Ive been visiting the Paramo (mostly Papallacta) with my father ever since i was a toddler. I'm going to look for that picture and post it on here. My father taught me to deal with the Paramo cold and to fish in the ice cold rivers that flow along the mountains.Such a great dad! Next year when my Father comes to visit Ill take him on this tour and have a great time!


It was really cold with strong winds slapping your face.

All geared up for the bike ride !

After this short hike we jumped on the bikes and started to ride. It was pretty high altitude and the first 2 kms. were uphill, incredibly tough but got through it like a champ and then enjoyed the amazing downhills. 

The downhills were awesome, all asphalt and the views and fresh air was incredible. 

The end of the ride:

End of the ride what a view!
Trek bike lent to me. 

And at the end of it all i got to see a Paramo chicken check it out. Oh and some Caracaras and a Paramo mouse. 

Paramo Chicken.. adapted for the cold. 

GREAT TOUR, GREAT RIDE, GREAT EXPERIENCE!! 

Carolina Park

It was Sunday afternoon and I had not been for a ride for days...was feeling lazy and decided to go for a quick ride in Carolina Park before sun down. The park is looking rather nice and the bike routes are great!  The remodeling is on its way!

 Love just hanging out near water even though its an artificial greenish lagoon it's refreshing to be around it. It was fun to go in the "olla" old skate and bike park and see the new skate park that was built less than a year ago. Looks great. Was able to take some nice pics.. Nice ride !

The NEW Carolina

This is a remodeled area of the Carolina park, you can see the new paths. Looking Nice!

La "Olla"

This is the "Olla", I was a little hesitant about going in but its looking good, a little littered and tons of Graffitti, but its been there for years. I remember going there back in the day when I was an avid rollerblader. The Bike people would call us "Rollers" and would always want us out of "their" park. When I went there on Sunday there was no one there really... just some girls rollerblading with their mother. Most of the skaters and bikers are congragating at the new bike park, which is looking quite pimp.

Laguna Carolina Park

I love the Laguna at the Carolina Park. Im glad I was able to get this picture. I think the short time before sunset is the most magical time of the day in Quito. You get a strange weird light which illuminates everything in a beautiful manner. 

Its really fun to go on the little row boats, but I chose to circle around the lagoon and just catch some nice views, a beautiful sunset and just a sense of tranquility in the midst of the city.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 

El Churo de la Alameda

On my way back from the Historic Center and Corvinas de Don Jimmy (post 1-2), I decided to make my way through the Alameda Park. A lot of people say that Quito is getting more dangerous by the minute, but I dont agree. Back in the day when I was graduating from High School (1998) I would have never in a million years tried to go to the Historic center on my bike (it wouldve been stolen as soon as I set foot there) or worse go to the Mercado Central (like I said in post #2 you do have to be extra careful and have your spidey sense on high). But what takes the cake is my ride through the Alameda park and up to El Churo. 

Why you might ask? 

Well, I remember the Churo quite fondly since when we had to do something in that part of town my mom and I would go up to El Churo and take in some great views of the city. This was a tradition we had and I really liked it. But alas, everything changes and the Alameda Park became a beacon and a restpoint for burglars, thieves, drunks, etc. It was no longer advisable to go up El Churo since on the way down you could get robbed blind. And on top of all this nonsense, the park became heavily loitered and a restroom for all the aforementioned. Instead of remembering this park and El Churo fondly I used to get flashbacks of being disgusted and frightened from what me and my mom saw the last time we tried to go there. 

So I entered the park a little overzealous but determined to cross it as quickly as possible. But to my surprise....it was lovely. The artificial lake is looking great with countless people renting small paddle boats to sail across it. There are some really cool fountains and people hanging out having picnics, ice-cream or just walking around the park with their family. BEAUTIFUL! 

And then I saw it.... EL CHURO. I do have to say that it was bigger in my mind but it still has that   je ne sais quoi that makes it very attractive. I went all the way up carrying my bike with me and took in some great sights of Quito. 

You can take some selfies at the top.. I did! 

Chaquiñan Like a Boss!

I have been trying to do the Chaquiñan bike route for quite a while now. How long is quite a while?

Well, ever since it started being built. I lived all of my childhood in Cumbaya, before it was CumbaYork or whatever they are calling it now. There used to be very few houses, a very old looking and gloomy town and a lot of construction sites, empty lots, creeks, two rivers, a reservoir, and a  ritzy country club  for me and my friends to explore, This was probably the best time of my life, a lot of people dont look back fondly on their childhood but I do, I loved it, and miss it everyday. But Im going on a tangent here.

So, when I lived in Cumbaya they announced the Chaquiñan, said it was going to be a bike route from Cumbaya to Tumbaco. I saw the construction of the first portal in Cumbaya next to the traintracks and was excited, couldnt wait for it to be inaugurated... and nothing happened. They built the first portal, left it there and never touched it for years to come. Everytime I came back from the States while I was in college I would ask about the Chaquiñan and would never get a good answer. In the end my parents moved from Cumbaya and I forgot all about it. Until recently (5 years ago)  when I started to hear about the Chaquiñan and how it had been finished and how so many people were biking and running on it and having a great time. I was curious. Then I did a short stint with the Peace Corps and they had their offices in Tumbaco right next to a section of the Chaquiñan. Again I reminsced on it and wondered what it would be like to ride on it. I didnt have a bike back then (I bought my Schwinn Voyageur February 2015) so again I couldnt do the Chaquiñan.

I had just returned from my bike ride to the Historic Center on Saturday (1st post) and was feeling good and ready to take on the Chaquiñan. The only problem now was that I didnt have a bike carrier for my car, and I didnt want to fork out $80 USD for a carrier. So, I decided to disassemble my bike and stick it in the trunk of my car. It worked out perfectly and I was tre-happy about this. I had saved some money and was able to buy some snacks for the ride (A banana, some Beef Jerky and some Powerade)

Lets sidestep to make a plug-in:

I found this at the store next to the first portal of the Chaquiñan. That store used to be a video club called VIDEO DRILO. just a random Cumbaya fact.

Beef Jerky locally made 

This was a great snack for the road and a great find. Beef Jerky is seldom found in Ecuador ever since the tax rise on imported goods hit us. This is a decent substitute good.

So now I had a banana, some jerky and water and was ready to go. 

This is the route: 

I went from Cumbaya to about km.12 and back. I didnt want to go all the way to Portal La Lomita since I didnt know how tough it was. Next time Im doing it all. It wasnt too tough, there are some parts that are uphill but they have done a good job with the route since there really is no insane uphill to tackle. Maybe if I had gone all the way I would have had to do the uphill from the Chiche Bridge to Tumbaco which seems tough.

Loved the ride, really nice, you go up and down hills, find some great look-out points, many portals that have hydration points and bathrooms. Very well organized and a great experience all together.

 This is my favorite spot of the entire ride:

Such a cool place, if you stand beneath the bridge you hear an echo as you speak. Really old looking and just a great spot to stop, take a break and a take in the views.

THE CHAQUIÑAN : Tons of fun and great exercise. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 

Detour to Las Corvinas de Don Jimmy

I had my pound of ground Aguila de Oro coffee, and biking to the Historic Center had sparked my apetite. I was in dire need of a refueling. So I decided to head down to El Mercado Central, a traditional market in Quito. This is a great market but you must have you spidey sense on high to avoid any problems.

So I circled the market trying to find a parking spot for my bike, finally found a spot on the railing of the stairs to the second floor of the Northern side of the market where a food court is located. Here you will find an array of traditional Ecuadorian cousine, but I head straight to Corvinas de Don Jimmy, a decades old spot where they serve the best fried corvina Ive had in Quito hands down!
They add a bonus of Ceviche mixto but I ordered only Shrimp Ceviche. The potatoes are perfect and the ambiance (a fight broke out in the far side of the market) is quite entertaining and down to earth.

Highly recommended spot, the Corvina Tradicional costs $5 USD.

Coffee Run on a bike to Historic Center Quito

I had just ran out of coffee.. yikes! And so it was the perfect excuse to go for a coffee run to the Historic Center.

I commute to work on my bike everyday, but this week I had to drive to work for whatever reason and boy did I feel it when I started to bike this morning.

But nevertheless I got through it and was able to have a nice ride to the Historic Center.

Quito's Historic Center is always filled with energy and people. As soon as I get there I buy myself a fresh squeezed orange and carrot juice to re-energize as I try to capture all the hustle and bustle of the people in the Plaza de la Independencia.

Having finished my refreshment I make my way up to Benalcazar St. and before I make it there I can already smell the coffee, luring me to my favorite coffee shop in Quito- The Cafe Aguila de Oro- a traditional Quito Coffee shop; where you can buy premium roasted Ecuadorian Coffee ground or whole bean. No coffee tasting here, they only sell coffee and have for decades.

Its great coffee with lots of character and a bold roasted taste to it. I brew it in my French Press and it is simply delicious!

A great day of exercise and a fun adventure in Quito.

A pound of coffee ground or whole bean costs $6 USD

The spoils !