What a beautiful nights sleep, 30 feet from Pacific waves singing their crashing melodies all night. We’re up at 6 and watch the sun rise. Big black pelicans cruise the water while huge prehistoric friggot birds surf the morning thermals amongst the boats bobbing in the harbour. Peru is running out fast. 60 miles along the coast and the temperature is rising with each km as we inch towards the equator. One of the riders has been attacked by midges and has comedy ankles that he can hardly walk on so I have the pleasure of his girlfriends company. I’m getting to like this pillion lark. The heat is too much for her unfortunately (or my riding is too bad) and she takes the support truck after a couple of hours. I think it went over 100 degrees today and very humid, just the conditions you need for crossing borders in a mobile leather solar panel.

Out of Peru is easy peasy. Passport to Ecuador is easy. Bike into Ecuador is like having someone with a tiny pin hammer driving a rusty 6 in nail through your knob. It’s absolutely sweltering and we’ve reached ‘wait central’. This is where I’m going to send my waiting holiday reps for training. It’s so depressing. What ever you do, don’t sell up everything, move to South America and spend all your life savings setting up a clinic specialising in RSI. You’ll get less than one customer…ever. The border has a computer again but it appears to be run on a combination of AAA batteries and a hampster/wheel arrangement. The hamster is on a tea break, sat in his chair watching telly, scratching his balls and belching. You can see a huge queue of people in front of you. You multiply the number of people by the processing time per person and you might well spend the rest of your life here. In fact they have a retirement party for the clark whilst we’re waiting. He was only 17 when we arrived.

Out…eventually… and into Ecuador. It’s immediately different again. I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this. It’s very first world. Lots of lovely houses, affluence, new cars, proper petrol stations with cafes. Ring roads, sign posts, all the things you need and we’ve been missing the last few weeks….and mountains..of course..and heat! Sweaty, close, damp, sunny. Through the mountains…again. Good roads…again.. only with very large areas of piste again on the high (its all relative at this altitude though) roads. Big ‘yomps’ too. One of them launches my topbox off the bike and high into the air like a big aluminium bouncing bomb. It explodes and sends my stuff all over the place. I have to run about picking up my pants as locals look on… oh how embarrassing! Get to Azogues just after dark. I’m just so surprised at this place, its lovely, absolutely fantastic. Big town punched on the side of a hill with a big church at the top. Take a walk around in the dark amongst the old houses and squares. All is quiet here, everyone is in a sports stadium playing crowd noises like a giant concrete loudspeaker. Cross the equator tomorrow.

Up and out of Azogues. Up into the Ecuadorial mountains. Big and beautiful buggers in every shade of green and grey. The first 100 miles is astounding. Clouds sit and lap right up to the roads edges. Perfect morning with the roads sunny side up and cloudy side down which is just how I like them served. The roads are either 100% grade1 tarmac or shitty piste come 300 year old tarmac. They’re working hard on it though and it’s paying off. It reminds me a lot of Croatia/Slovakia, but run down in places but largely up together and very beautiful. As we approach the capital Quito the traffic inevitably gets heavier, much much heavier. You start doing things you’d never do at home.

Overtaking lorries on blind bends, on double white lines, overtaking cars that are overtaking cars. It’s all very aggressive but all the traffic seems to know its place in the pecking order and it works ok I guess, most of the time. I wouldn’t fancy being spread all over the road down here though! Through the capital and it’s nice to see the Pan American signs confirming our route. We end up in the fantastic Hacienda Guachala. Built in 1535 its a beautiful old building with 2 foot thick walls and open fires in every room, two chapels and 500 year old graffiti/murals on the walls