Pichincha / Imbabura  
    Ibike Ecuador  
     

 

 Dispatch 8 - Nanegal
  Rio Apuela Ironically, this area has some of the most beautiful scenery in Ecuador -- a generally very scenic country -- but I have very few pictures, which may be connected to the difficulty of the cycling.
  Rio Apuela valley Donkey bringing sugar cane down the mountain
  Sugar cane being crushed into juice Most flat fields and even some steep slopes in this area are covered with sugar cane.  Several of the farms had small factory's that crushed the sugar cane being into juice.. Sugar cane being crushed into juice
boiling sugar cane juice down to blocks of brown sugar On the same site the sugar cane juice Rural factory boiling sugar cane juice down to blocks of brown sugar. boiling sugar cane juice down to blocks of brown sugar
  Young girls with their dolls Left: A couple young girls in a village with their dolls.

A family in a villageRight: A family in a village.

 
  Uplands area of the Rio Guayllabamba valley Left: Uplands area of the Rio Guayllabamba valley.  Sugar cane was the main crop in the valley for a long time, but there is now no profit in it.  People are trying to diversify into other agricultural products and businesses like tourism.

Right: Chatting with a local shop keeper.

  

Chatting with a local shop keeper

  Rio Santa Rosa Rio Santa Rosa (left).  Rio Guayllabamba, at 800 meters above sea level, some 60 kilometers by road and 1000 meters lower vertically than Apuela. Rio Guayllabamba
Nanegal town square and church Nanegal town squareThe ride is best described as crossing two mountain ranges.  It was great to get to the pleasant town of Nanegal while the was still plenty of sunshine. Nanegal; Marielita hotel
 

Previous dispatchNext dispatch

MainAbout this tourMapJoin this tour