What's it Like to Ride in Ecuador? Marta Ballús - One Day of Your Trip

Ever wanted to cycle in Ecuador - right up to the top of a volcano?

Well in this episode Marta Ballús shares what it was like on one day of her trip doing exactly that. This ended up being a difficult day for Martha - not only was the riding challenging, but then she had a huge mechanical to deal with as well.

I'm excited to say I will soon be featuring Marta for a full legnth feature episode in the week's to come. In the meantime you can follow her here - @MartasWay

Other guests mentioned in today's episode:

Robert Fletcher
Robert Reynolds

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello everyone, it's Bella Molloy here, host of the show. Welcome to another midweek mini episode. I'm about to share what it was like for you, one of our listeners, during one day of your trip. This week I'm going to be featuring Marta Bayouse, who has been on a monumental bike tour through South America, and she's going to transport us to one day of her trip cycling in Ecuador. Now, before we get into Marta's story, I just want to take a quick moment and say a huge heartfelt thank you to all of you who are tuning in right now. Because you are at the very center of the Seek Travel Ride community. If you've been enjoying the podcast and you want to hear more incredible stories from bike travelers all around the world, something I'd really appreciate it is if you could make sure that you are following Seek Travel Ride in your podcast player. Following the show is one of the best ways that you can help me and the podcast to grow. And the best thing is it doesn't cost you anything to do, but it also makes sure that you never miss an episode and it helps me reach more listeners who love bike adventures just as much as you do. Your support means so much to me, so I'm really, really thankful for you all tuning in. Okay, now let's get started with today's episode and hear all about Marta's day in Ecuador. Take it away, Marta.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

My name is Marta Bayuz. I'm psyching through South America. I've been psyching for 10 months now. And I'm gonna tell you about one of the hardest days of my trip so far. So I was in Ecuador. It was supposed to be a pretty hard finding day off road and uh unpaved road and a lot of a lot of pushing because it was really steep not unpaved road. So I started the day going downhill and then I saw the immense uphill that was coming. So I knew there was going to be a lot of pushing, so I started pushing, and then I could take a little bit, then I kept pushing, and then just some water kept pushing, just some headwinds kept pushing, like only pushing. So when I was about to get to the finish point, that was going to be in the crater, I don't know if that's the name of a volcano. And I was really excited to go there because it's a really special uh volcano called Kidot, and it has like water inside of it, and I was super excited to get there. And I was two kilometers from getting there and I just heard my tire. It's not that I had a puncture, it's like my tire really ripped along the rim. I obviously didn't have a severe tire. At that point I was desperate, I didn't know what to do, I started crying. And I I was in a road where not many people can pass. Um so yeah, I was tired, I was super tired from that day. And I just thought, okay, crying will not solve the problem. So you gotta put yourself together, toughen up and think about a solution. So I started pushing the bike to a house that was unfortunately empty. And then I thought, okay, the only solution here is so I I'm really looking forward to getting to the volcano. It's late already, I'm super tired. I'm gonna fix however I can. So I changed the tube. I put some black tape inside the tire so the tube would not go outside the hole. And I pushed my bike because it would not hold my weight. So I pushed my bike to the volcano, I camped there and decided to solve the problem the day after. That day was enough for me. I camped there, it was an incredible night and starry night, but it was a really, really, really hard day and long.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Thank you so much, Marta, for taking the time to share your story there. Oh my goodness. I actually can sort of take myself right there to the moment you were describing when you just heard this explosion and your tyre just totally burst open. Because I've personally had that experience myself. And the big difference for me was, well, A, I wasn't somewhere pretty isolated, I wasn't at the edge of a volcano heading up towards the top of the crater, but I was actually at the top of a mountain, and I sort of think I was actually a little bit lucky. Might sound a bit silly listeners thinking that you're lucky when a tire explodes like that, but I was lucky because I was literally about 10 or 15 seconds away from descending down the mountainside. And had I already been descending and that explosion had occurred, which actually was on my front tyre, yeah, I shudder to think how that would have ended up for me. But back to your story, Marta, oh my goodness, what an incredibly hard day that would have been. Something I especially love though was your MacGyver skills, how you just realized the situation wasn't going to get better with you not being able to do something, and you had to somehow make it work, and you did, and you got to the top of that volcano, and I'm sure you were dead tired by the time you got reached the top there, but also now you've got like the best story to tell. How cool's that? And listeners, I'll tell you something else that's pretty cool, and that is that I have since caught up with Marta and heard all about her incredible adventure through South America. And keep your eyes peeled because in the next couple of weeks you too will be able to tune into more of Marta's story, find out how she has made her way there, through so many countries, so many experiences, and what she's learnt as someone who is relatively new to bikepacking as well. Thank you so much, Marta, for sharing your story. Now I would like to continue on with the theme of sharing some of my previous guest stories and sharing what they have decided is the best thing about taking a bike adventure. It was something I asked all of my previous guests when I was celebrating my hundredth episode just a few weeks ago, and it's been a real joy to actually hear back from them and see what they've come up with. This is something I received from guest Robert Fletcher. Robert set the Guinness World record for the longest ride taken on an e-bike. He took his journey from Alaska to Ushuaia, and what I loved about Robert's story was this journey all started as a way of him celebrating his 80th birthday. So he sent me a little letter here, and this is what he said. He said, Hi Bella, congratulations on your hundred interviews. What a marvellous accomplishment, and I'm so happy to have been a tiny part of your success. I'm including a rather long-winded answer to your question. I've always wondered about the difference between a traveller and a tourist. Riding through South America, I really felt like a traveller. And crossing Europe, I felt like a tourist. So I have framed my answer around being a tourist or a traveller. Here's a couple of quotes to give you an idea. The first one is from Aldous Huxley, and he says, To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries. And here's another one from Daniel J. Balston, and he says, The traveller is active. He goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive. He expects interesting things to happen to him. Now Robert goes on to say, I've always wondered about or thought about the difference between a traveller and a tourist, and the two quotes above kind of sum it up for me. I'd also add that if the traveler is on a bicycle, you immerse yourself in the culture of other countries and meet people and break down stereotypes. I also think you have freedom when you travel by bicycle. When I think of freedom, I think of riding alongside the bisons in Alaska or the Juanacos in Terra del Fuego, Argentina. At those times and other times, I felt as free as the animals must have felt. So, to answer your question, the best thing about taking a bike adventure is the freedom and being a traveller. Congratulations once again, and I can't wait to listen to the next hundred episodes. Your friend Robert Fletcher, PS, I've just applied for a one-year visa to cycle around Australia. Robert, thank you so much for that awesome letter, first and foremost, and my goodness, I especially loved your perspective there, sharing the differences between a traveller and a tourist, and also relating it back to your own bike adventure experiences. Listeners, how exciting is it that I first interviewed Robert about his huge trip to celebrate his 80th birthday, which was actually from Alaska to Panama, and then he continued for his 81st birthday, which was Panama to Ushuaia, and then he followed that up with a trip across Europe, and now by the sounds of it, Robert is going to be taking himself around Australia. What a monumental trip, Robert! I cannot wait to see that unfold. I'm gonna have to have you on again as a guest of the podcast for sure. Thanks for sharing your perspective. Now the next response that I have received back is actually from another Robert, and this is Robert Reynolds, and I featured Robert Reynolds' story super early on in the podcast, definitely within the first ten episodes, and this is what Robert has to say. He said, Fella, the best thing about taking a bike adventure is the unknown in the colour of the light. Listeners, I really love hearing Robert's answer here because it really is an homage to his previous career as an artist, painter. And Robert has continued his artistic flair with a lot of his photography now that he does on his tours. If you're not familiar with Robert's story, I would definitely encourage you to listen to his episode and I'll provide a link to it in the show notes. The backstory to how he is taking his bike traveling adventures now is absolutely incredible and definitely well worth listening to. So a big thank you to both Roberts there for sharing your answers. Now, listeners, I especially love taking the time in these midweek episodes to give a shout out to my super fans. Yes, that's you legends who during the week have decided to help support the show and have bought me a coffee. This week I'd like to give a shout out to Richard. He says, Hi Bella, I absolutely love your show and it's become my favorite podcast. You have a real talent for moderating discussions with your wide spectrum of adventurous guests. Very inspiring. I've just downloaded a batch of earlier episodes for our upcoming bikepacking trip through the Philippines. Keep up the excellent work. Oh Richard, thanks firstly for supporting the show and shouting me a few coffees there. But also, oh I especially love knowing that people who are tuning in are also then going out on their own bikepacking adventure. I am super stoked to hear that you're going to be going yourself over to the Philippines and my goodness, please keep in touch with me. Let me know how it all went. Maybe you could even get in touch and share one day of your trip. Next legend to shout out here is Ross Gering, and he says, Enjoyed your chat with Malachi. I'm also hoping to bike pack from the UK to Australia one day. Ross, thank you as well for supporting the show, for shouting me a coffee. I'm really glad you enjoyed the episode with Malachi Francis. Ross, totally keep in touch with me. Let me know how your plans go, and I'd love to hear from you when you eventually get out on the road. Thank you so much, Ross, for supporting the show. Now, listeners, if you too would like to do as the legends Richard and Ross have done and shatter Seek Travel Ride a coffee, feel free to do so. You will find the link to the Buy Me a Coffee page in the show notes. Feel free to shout me a coffee and more importantly, tell me about what you love about the show, which episode's been your favourite, and also are you tuning in to get inspiration for your own bike adventure? Totally tell me where you're going to go. Until the next episode, I'm Bella Malloy. Thanks for listening.