Riobamba (lots of pics today)

Riobamba Ecuador is nothing more than pass through town on the Panamericana. A clean town of 125k people nestled in a valley surrounded by volcanoes (or so I’ve been told it’s pretty much been raining since I got here and I haven’t seen a thing) has turned out to be an excellent stop along my way to Ushuaia. After my wheeling trip in Bogota. I guess I haven’t got that far yet. Well after the trip I noticed some fluid coming out of the breather hose on the front axle. Looked like a mix of diff fluid, grease and water. I decided the next chance I got I’d get the fluid drained and the knuckles repacked. I’m pretty sure I have blown inner axle seal but in the short term this would work until I have a chance to tear into it.

As you would expect I skipped a few towns and kept thinking I’d do it in the next town. Then the next town. As I was descending hill after hill after hill a vibration in my breaking began to get worse. As I rolled into Riobamba on Monday the plan was to get gas, grab some food and head south for a few hours then find a place to hotel. I stumbled across a Toyota dealership. I pulled into the parking lot and tracked down the service manager. I told him what I needed done. Which was a challenge since I don’t know ANY Spanish words to describe a vehicle. I did manage to schedule an appointment and got permission to watch/help the tech to make sure the issues weren’t lost in translation.

I found a hotel and checked in. As I was walking back to my car to pull into the secure parking lot there was a local taking pics of my Cruiser with his camera phone. To make a long story short he is the president of the Riobamba 4x4 club and invited me to go wheeling while I was here. I agreed, got a phone number and had a crappy dinner in the hotel restaurant.

Morning came and off to the dealership I went. We got the truck up on the lift and the vibration ended up being a bad tie rod end. Thanks to my boy Eric V. I had 2 spares and we swapped them out. The service was great, the price was right and off I went.

Yesterday morning I woke up and got ready to hit the road with the Ernan and the Riobamba 4x4 club. Which being a weds I was shocked. Well the club ended up being one truck and two people. We set off into the hills toward Volcan Chimborazo. The wheeling was mellow, muddy and muddy. Black thick gloppy volcanic mud but not hard. We passed an Incan Ruin and a natural spring where I filled up my nalgenes and continued climbing. Eventually we entered the clouds. Surprise surprise more rain on my truck. We stumbled across a wild version of a alpaca. Ernan told me the name but my attempt to spell it would be beyond embarrassing. So how about feral alpaca? Just look at the pic.

We finally reached the high point of the road. 15,900 feet. I got out and walked to about 17k. Oh and I finally found my first snow for the North American winter. We came back down, my breaking vibration was gone and I bought lunch, said goodbye and came back to the hotel. I called a few friends on Skype and went out for a walk and dinner. Pizza was the choice and it was damn good. One of the best meals I’ve had on the trip. Yep pizza was that good. And per instruction from guide book I did NOT use my hands in order to not offend.

My 3 days in Riobamba is a town I would have passed right through but the hospitality of locals, the scenery, the lack of sunshine, oh wait that is a bad thing, and a great pizza made it a great stop.

Time for lunch then back on the road toward Peru. Okay a few more stops but Peru by the weekend. Unless another town reaches up and grabs me like Riobamba has.