Day 13 Catacocha to Macara

This was to be our last full day in Ecuador, and it was another hot one!  The start was a 20K drop down from Catacocha on a road similar to the one that bought us into town the day before, lots of pot-holes and unpaved sections to negotiate.  once the descent was over we proceeded onto lunch over rolling roads until we came to the place Didier had chosen for lunch, right beside a river!  It was a beautiful spot with the river running past us as we ate our lunch.  Some of the riders had a paddle or were brave enough to go in for a complete dip.
Soon after lunch we had the major climb of the day which took us up another 500 metres with gradients varying between 7 & 12%.  The sun was now above us as it was around mid-day, and my legs were really feeling like lead!  Eventually the top was reached and with a few more ups & downs we came to the refreshingly long descent of 700 metres to Macara and an altitude of under 500 metres above sea level.  94K of cloudless sky had bought us to within 3K of Peru, but that was to wait until tomorrow!

Lunch stop from the bridge on the road afterwards!