Cycling from Quito to Machachi in Ecuador

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After spending a week in Quito, Ecuador, it was time to resume my journey by bicycle. Today's section would take me out of Quito and to Machachi.

How to cycle out of Quito

Blog post written 15 June 2010

During my week off in Quito, I had some concerns as to how I should actually cycle back out of the city again. I knew there was a lot of traffic, and the roads were confusing. I had no GPS for bike touring. Or a map come to think of it. It might be a bit tricky.

In the end, the only danger that Quito presented, was in choking to death on the black fumes pumped out by buses and trucks as I cycled out of the city. Emissions testing is not a number one priority in Ecuador!

The exit from Quito was fairly straight forwards in terms of which road to take, although there was a certain amount of uphill pedalling.

I am never sure if it’s a good thing to take a week or more off from cycling, as although my legs and muscles stop aching, I feel like I lose my edge.

Out of the city

With that in mind, today was only going to be a short one, especially as there were some nasty looking dark clouds lurking around. Just about fifty km saw me into the town of Machachi, where I was more than happy to quit whilst I was ahead.

Related: Cloud Captions For Instagram

My touring bike and trailer in My hotel room in Machachi when cycling in Ecuador

Hotel Estadio Real was super cheap at 7 dollars for the night, and although it had a shared bathroom and no tv, the room was very big. Lovely pink blankets too !

The City of Machachi in Ecuador

Machachi has a beautiful main plaza, and a church right by it.

The City of Machachi in Ecuador

The only other highlight, was a restaurant whose combo ejectivo was the closest thing I’ve had to a mixed grill in months.

A fried chicken leg, dayglo red hotdog, fried beef pate, an egg and chips came to 3 dollars with a drink included. Bloody handsome !

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