Biking the Chaquiñan

Over the past month, I’ve developed a new favorite Saturday morning activity.  A few minutes from my house there is a 20 kilometer bike trail called “The Chaquinan” that leads from Cumbayá (the suburb where I live) to Puembo (a rural community that produces strawberries and other fruit to sell in Quito).  I originally began biking the trail in order to train for a triathlon that is planned for April, but I keep biking each Saturday in part because I love the amazing scenery along the trail.  After spending the week on buses and in office buildings and walking between skyscrapers in the capital city, it is refreshing to coast down a dirt trail along the side of a canyon and see a crashing river ribbon its way along the bottom of the canyon.  It reminds me of a quote from Gerald Blidstein, who once said, “Man must live the rhythms of nature, despite his obvious ability and duty to circumvent them; he must live the rhythms of the countryside despite the city in which he dwells.”  So much of my time is in a sterile environment, and I don’t know exactly where the food I eat comes from, but riding through the countryside where some of my food is probably produced brings me closer to the “rhythms of the countryside” and awes me time and again with the beauty of God’s creation.

Although pictures can never do justice to the beauty of God’s handiwork, here are a few photos to give you a glimpse of where I spend my Saturday mornings.

At the start of the trail in Cumbayá.

The trail weaves down one side of the canyon...

  ...crosses the river...

...and climbs the other side.

There are some tunnels carved into the side of the canyon.

And in Puembo the trail rides along fields.

Two hours later, I return to Cumbayá, exhausted but content.