I found today’s cycling much tougher. A combination of 1300 metres of height gained, with the accumulation of the last few days cycling was taking its toll. It all seemed a grind, and when I eventually peaked at 3000 metres, it couldn’t have come soon enough.
My shorts and top were wet with sweat, which wasn’t ideal, as it was quite cold, with my misty breath adding to the clouds drifting across the road. Into Ipiales, and I found a cheap hotel on the main plaza for 12,000 a night. My room was very small, so I had to put my bike into the bedroom of the hotel owners bed ridden wife. Random. Being this high up, and cold with it, gives me problems with washing my clothes. Normally, I hand wash my clothes when I am in a hotel, and they dry out over the afternoon and night. This works perfectly in the hot lowlands, but up in the mountains, my clothes are still damp the next day, which isn’t great, as putting on damp clothes in the morning is not exactly pleasant. Ipiales was far colder, and I knew I had no chance in getting clothes dry after washing. I can only hope that the days sweat dries out overnight, so at least my clothes are just smelly in the morning, as opposed to damp and smelly. On a positive note, I have made the border before my visa expires, and will be crossing into Ecuador tomorrow.
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