TRAVERSE Issue 41 - April 2024 | Page 173

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adventure . Of course you ’ ll stop at the Intiñan Equator Museum , right on the Equator , where you can witness the Coriolis effect of water running down a plug hole and try your hand at standing an egg up on the head of a nail .
Between there and the coast you find fields of cocoa , bananas , citrus and dragon fruits spread over gently rolling hills . In a quaint small town called Mindo is Quinde , a little place where you can learn all about how cocoa beans become chocolate , roasting and peeling the beans yourself and of course tasting plenty of chocolate in all its forms , including fondu .
Tucked away in places you would never find without local knowledge , are clear streams and rushing waterfalls warm enough to swim in . Just follow the welltrodden path under the Jackfruit trees , left under the bamboo arches , across the suspension bridge … luckily the Ecuador Freedom guides know exactly where to go .
Along the coast life takes on a different pace . People mostly live off fishing , their life dictated by the tides . If you time it right and arrive for afternoon low tide , you can ride onto the beach , braaping along the edge of the waves and trying your skills in the soft sand , before settling into your beachside hotel just in time for a sunset swim .
Only a couple of hour ’ s ride inland are glorious gravel and dirt roads up and down steep hills spiced with the odd muddy section . This is where the excellent Motoz Tractionator Adventure tyres Ecuador Freedom equip all their fleet with , come into their element . The
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