Rented a Quad bike today and took it up the mountains of "lluchi baja and lluchi alta" which lie on the opposite side of Baños city to Volcan Tungurahua. they bring you up from 1800metres to about 3500 metres give or take, which (on a clear day) provides a fantastic opportunity to see the size of the massive volcano which dwarfs all around it.i passed a few exhausted hikers on the way (and the same ones again on the way back) , i admire their determination hehehe.
the buggy that i had yesterday doesnt go up moutains, but the quads are a far more capable vehicle. a bit jumpy to use at first, instead of a foot pedal, you use a thumb lever to accelerate which can be tiresome after the first while.
i could really notice the changes in temperature on the way up, stepping down several degrees in sudden jumps.
likewise on the way down, the dip back into the lukewarm air of banos was a very welcoming feeling.
Chain came off about half way up, i thought i was doomed to pedestrianism for a second when the bike wasnt moving. putting the chain back on is actually easier than a bicycle but just as greasy!.. it came off two more times after that.
what is the deal with having no hand-brake on these things? makes life a bit tricky.
a farm house way up in the mountain.
it might have been a nice idea to bring some lunch.
heres my proof that i got to the antenna at the top. and in the background is the best i could get of the volcano given the conditions, i think you can see almost to the top of it there.
la poderosa! hehe
a random sign in the middle of nowhere. entitled "sayings of Baños" and it goes on about getting drunk & stuff.
i cant fully translate this yet.. will get back to you on it.
it had to happen. hehe
i think i was getting over confident on the way back down, and i confess i was starting to enjoy the slight skids the bike does when you use the brakes. on approach to a relativly safe corner (ie. one that doesnt have a drop of several hundred metres) i just didnt realise that the ground was soft.i went in too fast and on using the brakes the bike just kept going. same speed: same direction. leaving me wanting to jump off it before it hits the side.
as soon as the bike made contact with the hedge i flew over the handle bars into the gutter somehow managing to break my fall whilst keeping a limb or two stretched out to stay in front of the tumbling bike which stopped just short of pounding on top of me.
you dont want one of these things landing on you.
i immediatly jumped to my feet, threw my helmet to the ground and paced up and down for a minute aftrwards with a mixture of laughter and shock that I , the bike and even my clothes had come out undamaged. lucky one!! i did have a sore ankle for a while though.
there was a guy going around the hostel with his arm in a sling, i now know how he got that. on one of these things. broke his collar bone.
nothing like a good fry up!
1 comment:
uy te caistes..!! wow.. espero estes bien y q solo tengas algunos rasgunos...!!! eso es parte de la experiencia my friend..!! :)
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