Tuesday June 10, 2008 (Day#21)
50.6 km, 5.5 km/h (9 hours)
This morning is really cold at Jima, it is 6 am and we have to take the horses out from the school facilities. We still have a long ride through the Azuay Province, but the adventure is almost over and I have to plan my return to La Alegria on the 14 to continue with my rides.
We rode through beautiful small villages, Charqui in a pretty valley with a lot of dairy farms. Cochapata, precious style very unique to the southern region of Ecuador. We would love to stay and learn the history of this village, a narrow street with two floor homes made of wood and very few people. We have to keep going and use the last sun rays. We arrive to the village of Ninamarin, everyone offer their “chacras” for our horses to spend the night. We leave them at Jose’s. Then Juan Heredia arrives to pick up our guide Carlos Machuca and also Mariana (Igancio’s wife) wrrives, which made us miss our wives. We fed the horses and went down to Nabon to stay overnight at La Posada Dona Elvira.
A delicious chicken soup, rice, meat and plantains is our reward for a long day. We need to start early tomorrow to be able to arrive to Saraguro at night.
