Equador

What an ordeal I’ve had in the town of Quito, Equador. I got to town early enough to find a hotel room, but after two and a half hours of searching every hotel and hostel that I asked at was full. It turns out that there was a large conference in town and all the hotels were booked.

While I was asking at another hotel, I man on a motorcycle said to not bother with this one as it wasn’t safe. He helped me look for a hotel but to no avail.

So he invited me home to stay with his family. We all had a great time and I was glad to have the night turn out this way. His children were excited to meet an American and were excited by the motorcycle. His name is Elvis and he has a construction and repair business. We talked for quite a bit about this and I talked to him a bit about solar electric systems. He installs solar hot water systems which I’m interested in. I told him that I’d mail him some catalogs or manuals of solar systems.

In the morning I showed everybody pictures of Maine, Alaska and home.

I left when Elivis left and went on a search for a new rear tire. It took all day, but I finally walked into a shop and saw a tire that looked like the right size. I read the number and it matched! The price included installing the tire which was great. It is a Pirelli tire that seems similar to the Avon tire that I previously had on the bike. We’ll see how it performs.

I was going to look for a better map of Equador, but I’m not sure I want the ordeal of the search. I think I’ll go exploring now.