Happy 20000 km!

Just before arriving to Cuenca the first number on our speedometers changed from 1 to 2. Perfect! A reason for treats and celebration! So since for quite a while we were craving the ordinary apple pie (an apple is an exotic fruit here, so an apple pie is something fancy and not easy to find), rather than buying local cream cakes, we made our own 20000km-pie :)

How was the ride from Banos to here? Beautiful! It was overcasted all the time we stayed in Banos; the day we left I was pretty sure we'll get wet. But, instead the sun was shining, the sky was blue and we finally got to see the Tungurahua volcano. We went towards Chimborazo (6300-and a bit m asl, the highest mountains of Ecuador and apparently - for its proximity to the Equator and the not that perfect spherical shape of our planet - the furthest point from the Earth centre) and we were pretty much climbing for three days straight up to nearly 4500m asl. So high and with the sky clear the views were stunning; sometimes we could see four different volcanoes at the same time, including mighty Chimborazo and perfectly conical Cotopaxi. 

Leaving Chimborazo we decided to cycle on PanAm for a longer time for the first time; and since past Riobamba the official PanAm heads to the coast, the road that keeps going straight South receives very little traffic and actually is very pretty; I can't get enough of Andean patchworked hills. 

Ah! And we got first broken spoke (Marta's rear wheel) :(