Jake and Meg, sittin´ in a tree

Tough. Really F*** tough. Those are my thoughts surrounding my first day biking in the Andes. Though, at the end, Jake was gettign pretty excited, I think. I stopped at this hostel (not the one I intended I dont think) about 1.5 miles down a dirt, or sand, more accurately, path off the road. The cross tires worked infinately better than the road tires i had on it during the "trial" run. I think it is Jake´s way of telling me that he can handle stone road blocks and sand just fine, and that is what he wants. And that I need to buy a road bike. The hotel where i stayed was pretty remote -- though i couldnt get food when i got there, so i walked back down a different trail to the main road and tried to find some, but to no avail. This led to an EXTREMELY un-energetic meg for the rest of the night. I had skipped breakfast (dumb) in my idea to get an early start. I think this thourgh me off all day. At 10 I stopped at a vendor on the side of the road for some sweet potatoes, and at 1 or so i stopped at Mariachi for lunch, though i couldnt really eat much once it was in front of me! Mariachi is a cute town -- also all cobblestone. The most surprising thing to me was that they had two chinese restraurants! I talked to one of the women selling fruit for awhile, and then a columbian boy (18) who just got here about 6 months ago from Columbia, where his family still is. He lives in Quito but commutes to Machinachi every day to sell artifcial flowers from a cart he pulls on his bike. -- he says he likes being otu of the city which i more than understand. I still found it surprising however that he could fine a job easier in Machiachi than Quito!! d started biking at 6:30 or so, and arrived at the hostel at 3 somethign or other. It started pouring rain at some point, but then lifted pretty quickly. I am not sure how far i went (computer is not working), becuase i did this outside loop from Quito, which was less traffic-y and had better views. I, of course, got lost to some degreee. But all is well that ends well, and the only other place i think that i could have problems is past riobamba, where the PA splits a couple of times. Really really hard though. But i just had to think that tommorrow is another day. With breakfast.