Monday 28th April 2025 Puerto Inca to Chongon
Not much going on in Puerto Inca on a Sunday night, had a meal in the bus station restaurant / cafe, quite busy as a bus had just arrived, got served ok, just had the refried beans and rice, Bingo had the same with chicken, nothing exciting, but least it filled us up, then got some pudding from a little shop, had to make do with a Kit Kat and Milky bar, quite nice in a bowl topped up with peach yogurt, living the dream again.

Rest of the yogurt with the porridge in the morning 5 star living, set off just after 6 in light rain, just as it was getting light, heading to the big city of Guayaquil, need to call in to a bike shop Bingo’s bottom bracket is not good & I may change my front drive over, see if the guy has time, Bingo has been in contact with a few shops and got a reply from one, so we will head there first. Also have a contact that our good friend Ray Skelton gave us, Neils, he works in Guayaquil exporting bananas to the UK, emailed him last night and got a reply, so will see how that goes.

Steady ride, all on a highway, sometimes a nice clear hard shoulder, sometimes not! First bit in open pastures, with rice fields and banana plantations, Bingo managed to spot three new bird species today, namely: Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga); Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) and Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana), well pleased with his mornings work

The closer we got to Guayaquil the busier it got, which is understandable, as it is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation’s economic capital and main port, the gateway to the surf beaches and the Galapagos Islands. So once again it was just hang on and pedal. To be fair the drivers in Ecuador are so much more patient, it was not to bad, just crossing lanes on a 6 lane road is leary, but we managed it.

Made excellent time got to the bike shop just after 11, aptly named HotBikes, the mechanic was outside fettering with a lovely old classic Rayleigh bike with a rod brakes and sprung saddle. Unfortunately he had no idea what Bingo was on about, re a new bottom bracket for his bikes, finally got him to understand when we went in the shop and the part was on the counter, he just got straight on with doing the repair, not to be outdone I showed him my front chain ring, he said no problem will look at that too. We went over the road for a coffee as he got to work, good lad he had Bingo’s completed by the time we got back and mine in bits. Ended up changing the whole crankset and bottom bracket on mine for the one Rylan brought out to us, far better quality. While the mechanic was busy working away, the shops owner came back with a few friends, they was all over us about the trip, very interested and very helpful. All done I took the bike around the block, seemed great, the whole lot cost us $30, including a tip for the mechanic, great service, lots of pictures and they started to follow us on social media. Great shop and lovely people credit to the biking fraternity.

So all the works done by 1 o’clock, little chat, both not city lovers, so decided to get out of the bright lights and head towards the beaches, more like our style surfer dudes, managed to navigate out of the city, then hit the road for another 10ish miles, to the small town of Chongon, got booked into a little pension place, all good. Contacted Rays mate, just said thanks for the offer to meet up, but pressed on to get out of the congested city. Need to sort out some more routes for the next couple of days, before we head back into the mountains and up to Quito to meet all the family that are coming over.

Time for a beer I think, hard work all this writing stuff.