Day 1.001 – Riobamba -> Ambato (hotel) (UK)
Riobamba -> Ambato (hotel)
Distance (km) : 59
Time on bike : 3h 31m
Brutto time: 09.00 – 14.00
Avg : 16.6 km/h
Max.speed: 66.8
Total (km) : 39.946
Altitude: 2.577 m
Difficulty: 2½ of 5
There are eucalyptus friends, pine trees and other aromatic seductions on today’s stage to Ambato.
The first 2½ hours are hard climbing up to a ridge (ca. 3.300 m) that constitutes the provincial border between the Chimba and Turungua Provinces. Then it’s time for a reward. From the top it’s almost all down to Ambato some 25 km down the valley.
The weather is overcast, gloves, rain gear and woolen cap’s on, and my bike odometer informs that the temperature is around 15C but it makes for a nice cycling weather nonetheless. Impressive views of the mountains all around me.
“God, this is so easy”, I say to myself when I’ve found Hotel Nürnberg smack in the centre of Ambato, first try and at just 7 USD for a clean, cable-TV room with private hot shower and the usual little touches like towel, miniture soap and poo paper. Staff’s friendly. I feel like i heaven.
My guidebook was wrong (again, dare we) in stating that: Ambato’s biggest drawback is its choice of hotels. There are a couple of exceptions, but overall it’s a dismal, overpriced lot, and comfort rarely seems to correlate with price.
Ambato is a surprisingly nice acquaintance. The provincial capital city has a population of around 160.000 inhab., but this Sunday afternoon the street are almost empty. Everything’s closed apart from numerous mobile ice-cream vendors that all seem to make pretty good money today, coz all there is to do, so it seems, is to sit in one of the many shady parks and kick back with your kids and an ice-cream.
The (relative) silence, the green parks, the colonial buildings and churches, the Rio Ambato that cuts through the city (and the generous sunshine) all make Ambato an instant favourite Ecuadorian city of mine. Doesn’t take a lot, does it?
On this day..
Day 1.366 - A Night With The Homeless (UK) Dag 1.366 - En nat med de hjemløse (UK) - 2010Day 636 - A Splash in the Yarra River Dag 636 - På weekendtur op langs Yarra-floden - 2008The WT Photo Calendar 2008 is finally out! WT-fotokalenderen 2008 er endelig ude! - 2008Day 270 - Cat Tien National Park Dag 270 - Villa Villekulla i Cat Tien Nationalpark - 2007Profile update under "Who Are We?" Profil opdateret under "Hvem er vi?" - 2006
