Today we woke up in our beautiful tree house hostel on top of a mountain in a town called Ayampe in the south coast of Ecuador.  This cozy abode was our reward at the end of our first official ride day yesterday; approximately 30 km uphill in the Ecuadorian rain!  Although we had arrived wet and muddy, we were incredibly happy and grateful for the exciting start to the adventure we knew we'd be in for when we signed up for this bike tour across Ecuador.

 Part of the fun of participating in a first time tour is that our exact plans and itineraries are not set in stone.  We may run across unforeseen circumstances such as poor road conditions, unpredictable weather, change of accommodations and/or change of destinations and part of our journey as a team would be to keep our plans flexible.  

During this morning's breakfast of Ecuadorian pancakes, home made jams and omelets, the team needed to decide whether we would adjust our riding route to spend one more day drying out from yesterday's ride or continue on to our next destination up the coast.  The decision was split.  On one hand we had a beautiful place to stay that would make for an excellent day of relaxation, surfing, good food and a warm fireplace but on the other hand we would be skipping one day of cycling both cutting some KM of riding from our tour and making for an even longer day of riding the following day.  Ultimately, the deciding factor helped to reconnect us to why we were here in the first place: to ride our bikes across an amazing country not just because it would be a fun adventure with a new group of people, but because we were raising money for Education Generation and their work to give students across the globe access to higher education and create better lives for themselves and communities.  Upon considering this, the group´s decision was made to ride.  The rain was long forgotten, we packed our bags in 30 minutes and hopped on our bikes to cycle to our next destination without looking back.

 The ride itself was as diverse as the rest of Ecuador: micro-climates ranging from humidity at the coast, dry desert as we moved inland and tropical rain forest as we ascended some seemingly never-ending hills.  The ride with my pod of Shaun F, Peter, Lori and Jake was a smooth one and despite one flat tire, one gravel-induced tumble and one b-lining barking dog, we all arrived safe and sound in the sleepy town of Puerto Cayo to our beach side hostel.  From there we headed for a dinner of local specialties such as fish and rice, ceviche and Pilsener (not to be confused with the other "Pilsner" beer) and then to bed to prepare for another day of riding and another day of adventure to unfold.

 So far my favourite part of my experience on this tour is the parallel nature of the challenges and rewards.  The hills that never seem to come to an end when you bike up them reward your hard work with the downhill ride after.  Here many of us are facing challenges with a new language, new food, new culture and new people but each of these challenges are matched with the tremendous reward of new memories, new experiences, new "Spanglish" phrases, new friends and new and revised perspectives on life.

 I am so thrilled to be participating in this journey and I look forward to what will unfold as this all continues.

 Carla

The final two days of our journey around Ecuador were fairly uneventful for most, but a nice relaxing way to end an actioned packed trip. We had a 7 hour bus ride from Canoa up the Andes to Quito yesterday. We left early in order to make it back to Quito in time for Min and Greg's flight so for the first part of the ride most people were sleeping. We stopped at a questionable roadside restaurant for lunch, which was quite the experience, and then blasted up a crazy steep highway into Quito just in time to drop off Min and Greg 2 hours before their flight.

We settled back into the same hostel we stayed in two weeks earlier and then headed to the old town for dinner and drinks. Eileen introduced us to a wonderful drink called Canelazo - a hot sugarcane liquor locally known as fire water! There was some talk of going out after but the gang was pretty tired so we called it a night.

Today was a relaxing souvenir shopping day for most of the team. Most of us were tired of being on the go and were dreading the prospect of getting back into the bus so it was agreed it could be an optional day and most chose stay in Quito and take it easy. A few of the adventurous types took the bus to a town called Mindo and did a little canyoning which was apparently incredible. Their day was highlighted by a 15 meter jump into a river pool. The highlight for the rest of us was not having anything to do but sit and relax!

We are heading out for a final dinner this evening and then almost everyone leaves for home tomorrow. It has been an amazing two weeks and as excited as we are to head home we'll definitely miss our adventures in Ecuador. We have done so much over the past two weeks that it is sometimes hard to remember. A couple nights ago we were sitting around talking about our adventures and one of the riders temporarily forgot all about the whitewater rafting. There are not many trip where you do so much that you forget about whitewater rafting, but this was one of them. It was a one of a kind adventure that will be a highlight for most of us for a long time.

We woke up early on day 9 in the hopes of beating the heat but we were delayed a couple hours due to the unbelievable large amount of laundry we had placed in the hands of our wonderful hostel staff. It must have taken them hours to wash the night before and it just didn't have time to dry overnight. To kill time we decided to have a really good chat about Education Generation and the funds that we raised before the tour.

After collecting our laundry we embarked for the town of Montecristi, about 25km from Manta. Montecristi is where the Panama Hat was originally from and is the birth place of Eloy Alfaro Delgado, former president of Ecuador and major player in the nationalization of Ecuador. It was a super hot day and the cycling was tough. We battled traffic, poor road conditions, and horrible smells pretty much the entire way so when we finally reached Montecristi we took a welcome refuge in the Eloy Delgado museum for about an hour. Although the entire exhibit was in Spanish this was a neat opportunity for many of us to learn about a key part of Ecuador's history.

Following the museum the entire team when hat shopping. This was our first opportunity to see quality panama hats and pretty much everyone bought something. At one point we had about 12 riders in a small little store. Our luggage almost doubled in size after this stop.

From Montecristi we made a group decision to jump in the bus and head to the town of Bahia. It was getting late, the road conditions were poor, and we had limited directions so for safety reasons it made sense to blast ahead by bus. We got into Bahia, Ecuador's eco city, at about 9pm, just in time for a pizza dinner (not very Ecuadorian but a nice change) and a round of heated games - Jenga, Checkers, Chess, and Travel Scrabble...   

Day 10 was highlighted by a tour of the local mangrove forests in Bahia. The morning was spent at the market, and then in the afternoon we loaded up in boats and had a great afternoon out on the water. An area only accessible at high tide, it was absolutely gorgeous and we learned lots about local mangrove conservation and a little too much private information about our guides sex life.

The fun day was capped off with another meal at the pizza parlour and another rounds of games!  

Looking forward to our ride to Canoa and our final stop on the west coast.

We sit in Canoa tonight, sad that this was our last day on Ecuador's gorgeous west coast. We leave for Quito tomorrow and the tour is almost over :( But these last two days in Canoa have been a great way to cap off an amazing trip cycling up the coast.

Yesterday, Day 11, we left Bahia at about 9:30am after a wonderful breakfast spread of eggs, bread, cheese, juice, and fruit and we made our way up the coast to this small beach town of Canoa. We rolled into town and found our hostel to be one of the nicest ones we've stayed in yet. Beautiful rooms, hammocks on the roof, fancy restaurant, great location, we couldn't have asked for more. 

The team was anxious to get to the beach so after unloading our gear and storing our bikes almost everyone heading down to rent surfboards. The surf was powerful and by the later evening it was beating the heck out of everyone, but it seemed like we were all gluttons for punishment because we stayed in that water until sundown! 

After surfing we all converged on the hostel restaurant and had a wonderful meal prepared by the staff. Our experience at restaurants in Ecuador thus far has been that timely service isn't as big a priority as it is in North America, but these two young Ecuadorians had skills like non-other and they whipped together 16 quality meals in no-time flat and pretty much all at the same time which has been rare.

...Today, day 12, was another beach day, and this time the weather was absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately we have been unlucky with weather up until this point as most days have been overcast. This has been great for cycling but not so great on our days off. Today however was beautiful hot sunshine and boy did we take advantage. There are a few folks nursing sunburns tonight!

The day included surfing of course, beach soccer, volleyball, ecuavolley (an Ecuadorian version of volleyball), sun tanning, and paragliding! It couldn't have been a better day!

Right now we are back at the hostel restaurant playing our favourite games - Jenga, Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, and waiting for what will likely be another great dinner. The team's sad to be leaving the ocean tomorrow, but we've had a wonderful time and we look forward to being back in Quito tomorrow night!     

So far on this tour Eileen has done an awesome job picking out the gems in the hostel world of Ecuador. We have had some amazing locations thus far. In fact, I would venture to say that some of the locations here rival the nicest hostels in North America or Europe, and the tree house hostel was definitely tops in what we have seen. Imagine paradise and you will likely find that at Punta Finca. Amazing hosts, great food, beautiful surroundings, and just an overall super relazing atmosphere.

The morning after whale watching presented us with our first team challenge, do we leave paradise for a day of biking or do we stay? It was suprisingly difficult to decide on, but after much debate around the team's preferences and priorities we decided it was best to continue on and not take a day off so early into the cycling... so off we road (very late in the day mind you)!

Day 2 of cycling was fairly uneventful. It was a beautiful ride along the coast that was pretty hilly but nothing we couldn't handle. At lunch half the team stopped at a neat little road-side restaurant where we indulged in shrimp, fish, and coconut juice straight out of huge coconuts. The other half of the team were fortunate enough to find their way to a gorgeous beach in a nearby national park. From what they have told us it reminded them of the beaches in Thailand, with white sand in a cool enclosed bay.

It was getting pretty late in the day so after lunch both teams busted their butts to get to the next town before dark. We rolled into Puerto Cayo at about 6:30pm to find our hostel, which could only be described as an unbelievably awesome, spanish villa type mansion, that was most likely haunted... lots of ghost stories were told that night.

Day 8 (Day 3 of cycling) was a little more eventful in the cycling department. The day started out with rolling hills and long flat straight stretches along the ocean's edge to the town of San Lorenzo, where we all stopped for lunch. As soon as we hit the road again we were rudely hit with an epic hill climb. For you Pacific Coast riders, imagine a smaller Leggett Hill with full-on mountain bikes. After battling the endless mountain climb we were fortunate enough to be given a wonderful 15 km gradual downhill into our final destination of Manta, where the sun was finally shining! Ice cream, dancing, laundry, and a wonderful dinner were welcome rewards after toughest ride day yet!

We sit in Manta tonight and are looking forward to riding to Monticristi tomorrow!

After a late beachside bonfire, we awoke to the start of our first ride day. When we gathered at breakfast we were happy that the whole team was feeling well since the lucky few had contracted the Ecuadorian 24 hour stommach bug.

Before we set off on the journey for the day, Jake briefed us on road safety and bike repairs. We broke off into three groups of bikers to ride together throughout the day. These groups were otherwise known as `pods`. As our pods headed out, the rain intesified and so did the terrain. We`ve never eaten so much mud on the ride, but on the bright side the mud mask was free! By the end of the journey we were all soaked to the bone.

When we arrived in Ayampe we went straight to the hostel, ``Finca de Puta`` aka the luxury tree house resort. The owner made us a quick and delicious lunch before we headed out to Porto Lopez for an afternoon of whale watcting.

Heidi our whale watching guide informed us that humpback whales come to Ecuador to do two things: to have babies and to fall in love (not necessarily in that order). The whale watching was absolutely amazing (pictures to come). This was followed by a few brave souls who went snorkeling in the cold water.

After a long full day of activities we were excited to go back to the tree house and relax by the fire. My roomie Carla and I got to share a beautiful oceanview suite. The only downside was that we didn`t have an enclosed roof, so what seemed to be an innocent move to turn on the light lead to a bat-sized moth entering the room. Once the chaos subsided and we crawled into our beds which were protected by mosquito nets, Carla yells out ``Do you see what I see``...

Hi all, Sean here.

After our adventures on the first few days, day four was spent on a 12 hour bus ride as we made our way south to the start of our ride.Some of us slept on the bus, and there were lots of good conversations, games of big 2, and political debate to go around.Charles picked up a children's set of watercolour paints (no, really) and took up painting - and he was actually pretty great at it. I guess you find your own fun when you're on a bus for 12 hours, eh?At the end of day 4 we pulled into our destination at Monta Nita, grabbed a quick bite of cerviche (`mucho delicioso`as Carla would say), and fell asleep

Day 5 was spent lazily exploring Monta Nita, and was our last rest day before we began the main bike-riding portion of the trip.Monta Nita is a beautiful coastal surfing villiage that is exactly as you would picture a coastal surfing town. Its filled with surfer hippies and  travelers from all over south america, and has lots of little streets full of hemp bracelets and little restaurants. Most of us spent the day surfing, which was lots of fun depsite some scrapes as we battled the waves. After surfing, we went out for dinner as a group to a little restaurant in town. In Ecuador it is really common for musicians to come around to the different restaurants in a town, and tonight we were treated to a group from Argentina who played some amazing tunes. They were called LOSMALOS, and they`re a really soulful indy band who were on a road trip through Ecuador and were trying to make a few bucks while on the road. Good food and good tunes capped off a perfect rest day. <<

Tomorrow we start our first day of serious riding - I`m sure we`ll be appreciating the down time as we battle the open road!

Ride on,

Sean

(This was written a few days ago.  Internet access has been sparse and there have been many distractions that have taken away from my blogging. I apologize.)

Wow.  What a day today was.  So far I think Eileen´s only goal in planning this Ecuadorian tour is to wear everyone out to the point of exhaustion.  I will need a holiday to recover from the gauntlet of adventure based activities she has run us through so far.  And we are only on day three.  Yikes.

Today started off unfortunately with a couple of rowdy roosters.  A few ambitious folks awoke early to visit the local hot springs and a little later, a chipper flash mob session of yoga occurred outside the hostel rooms.  We had breakfast and immediately headed out on our bikes to get fitted for our white water rafting adventure.  After that we continued off on about a 20 kms ride through a river valley blanketed in lush jungle flora.  Shortly after we got out of town, the group got distracted by what I can only describe as the longest zip line I have ever seen.  Aside from Eileen and Carla, everyone immediately dropped everything and started getting suited up.  The line started high up in the valley, just off the highway and stretched far down going over the river until it finally ended at the bottom of the valley, at least a kilometer and a half later.  The entire ride lasted just under a minute and, speaking from experience, was incredibly exhilarating.  Once the final rider had zipped down, we all loaded up into a pick drove back to the starting point and hopped on our bikes.

We stopped for lunch at a great little place and had the traditional Ecuadorian meal of your choice of chicken, seafood, or beef with rice and beans.  It was very good.  (When we get back to Quito I will be looking for a cookbook to take home). We then continued on to the spot in the river where the rafting occurred.  The rafting was amazing!  I had done river rafting before but not on rapids like this. there were two small boats with 5 and 6 people and one big boat with 6 people in it.  We had a grand time trying to make it down the river.  We stopped half way and floated down a smaller river in our life jackets.  All in a ll it was a tremendous experience. 

When we had finished rafting we headed back to Banos and some went to the hot springs while others chilled at what was a very comfortable hostel.  Then we went for dinner.  It was a pretty epic day. 

A couple days late but better late then never right!

Sunday was officially the first day of the first RTBTC Ecuador. After 5 years of tours in Europe, Asia, and North America we are very excited to be able to pilot a fourth tour on a fourth continent, and if the first two days were any indication this may be the most exciting tour yet.

Sunday morning we starting things off with a bike fitting and a quick ride around the city of Quito. Quito is the capital city of Ecuador and on Sunday they shut down one of the major streets and open it up to cyclist and rollerbladers. This was a neat way for a lot of us to see some of the city before we headed out on our tour of the country. After the bike fitting we hopped into cabs and headed to a visit with the Concord Trust Foundation, an Ecuadorian based foundation that provides educational support for highly motivated and dedicated highschool and university students. We had a chance to meet with a handful of their students to learn about the foundation and each of their individual stories. I believe I can speak for all the riders when I say we were all super inspired and impressed by the dedication and drive of these students. They encounter some major obsticals here in Ecuador but these students have a drive like non-other. Hopefully we'll have an opportunity to support these students in the years to come.

After the foundation was a tour of the city with some of the student and then off to bed!

Monday we were on the road with the whole team finally. Pretty eventful day with the highlight being the hike of cotopaxia... a 4600 meter high volcano trek. This is higher than most of us have ever climed so the altitude made things shockily difficult. Following the hike came a crazy 14km mountain bike adventure down the volcano, a stop off at Ecuador's most famous icecream shop, and then the final drive to Banos where we sit tonight!

Looking forward to tomorrow's whitewater rafting adventure!

- Agent Jake

It's been four years since we first started "Riding the Break the Cycle" and here we are again launching our very first bicycle adventure in South America. Beginning this Sunday, August 21 and for the next two weeks, follow the 16 of us as we bike, hike, surf and white water raft our way across Ecuador! This time our fundraising goes towards an amazing organization, Education Generation, a platform that invests in the future of students across the globe through education scholarships.

As our first ride day approaches, we are also coming close to some important scholarship deadlines for a few more students. Instead of getting your sunscreen and helmet on, take a moment to invest $20 (or more!) in the education of these inspiring young leaders by visiting here: http://www.educationgeneration.org/view-students.

Have a look at our ride itinerary to see where we're at, and remember to bookmark this blog to follow our journey! Thanks everyone! 

Christina aka "Agent Stina"