We hung around the hostel most of the morning before making our way back to the Tiger at the parquedero and getting underway.

Nina found us a very successful route out of Quito. From the intersection with Orillana we headed north along 6th December for two transit stops and took a right turn (East) towards the tunnel (cannot remember the name of the street); there after just followed the signs that said Panamericana Sur. Much better than our last effort.

It seemed strange to be back on the road after nearly 3 weeks of other stuff. However for much of the day the road was familiar territory and it did not take long to become reacquainted with Ecuadorian driving practices.

South of Riabamba we turned west towards Guayaquil. In typical Ecuadorian fashion, after the turn, the road climbed steeply to 12,600 as we crossed out of the valley. By this time it was 4:30 so we picked the first place we could get off the road without being in some ones back yard, as our camping spot for the night.

After stopping I spent an hour working on the propane system now that I have all those parts purchased in the US. I am pleased to report that I now have connected up our Ecuadorian bought propane tank and it seems to work perfectly. Though I did notice that we seem to have left the hot water system on during the week that I was in the US and the new gas tank is down to 1/4 full.

I am sure that the propane story is not complete, but I won't go into that here. I will shortly start a new section in the prep part of the website on that topic.