Biking Through Ecuador Day 4: Quilotoa to Riobamba

Dry valley in Ecuador surrounded by towering Andes peaks

There’s a good chance that affiliate links are scattered throughout this post. If you click on one I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you and I’ll definitely be using it to buy bike gear.

This post was written on my previous blog while working on a fleet of National Geographic Ships and before I started Two Wheeled Wanderer, so it’s a bit different than my ‘typical’ posts.

After breakfast at our hostel in Quilotoa, we visited the edge of the crater one more time to see it in the morning light. But since it was so windy and cold we didn’t stay long.

Despite the chill we started biking right from the rim, layering ourselves with shirts, jackets, and windpants to keep ourselves warm for the long descent down to Zumbahua, where the Saturday market is held.

Man bundled up in lots of layers getting ready for cold-weather biking day in Ecuador

We coasted and occasionally pedaled against the wind for 14 or so kilometers, passing beautiful vistas with mountains as the backdrop and field after field of vegetable crops.

Beautiful light over Zumbahua Valley in Ecuador surrounded by tall Andes peaks
Road leading in beautiful Ecuador valley surrounded by tall Andes peaks
Herd of sheep walking down paved road next to lush farm lands in Ecuador
Man with pig on side of road in rural area of Ecuador

When we reached Zumbahua, we loaded the bikes back onto the jeep and set off into the crowd of brightly dressed Indians, tethered sheep, live chickens, and men and women selling every sort of necessity – from shoes to toothpaste to red bananas (of which we bought a few).

C and I wandered around for about an hour and we each purchased a traditional sweater made out of soft alpaca hair. They’re so comfortable!

Town of Zumbahua in Ecuador at base of tall, lush Andes peaks
Ecuadorian in traditional dress at market in Zumbahua in Ecuador
Crowd at Zumbahua Market in Ecuador
Bus in Ecuador with sheep standing on roof

After the market, we drove for about 45 minutes along a winding road that eventually took us back up to the top of a mountain with spectacular views all along the way.

Arie let us out of the car and we mounted the bikes for our second ride of the day.

It began with a 5-kilometer gradual decline and then we climbed for a steady 4 kilometers, but it was nowhere near as difficult as our first ascent on day 1, even with the strong headwind.

At the top, we were rewarded with a 25-kilometer descent into the town of Pujili. The road was being worked on, though, so it was a bit nerve-wracking to have large dump trucks pass us on the switchbacks, but we made it down fine and Arie was waiting for us at the bottom with snacks.

Then it was back into the car for a longish drive to Riobamba where we would be spending the night.

Patchwork green hills with cows in rural area of Ecuador

>> Read next: Biking Through Ecuador Day 5

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