While Dario and Sabine were in Chimbarazo, we (Fiona and Eleanor) decided to take a bus from Quito over the Andes to Coca. Our twelve hour journey took us along narrow stony roads through valleys and gorges and over shaky bridges with large drops below. To the Ecuadorians this region is more famous for oil production than the rainforest that we went to see. Along the whole journey the oil pipeline followed the road and the rivers from Lago Agrio and Coca. The pipeline runs northwards to central and north America and although some refining is done in Ecuador most of the oil is exported.
In the 1980