Ibarra is called the White City, and on a clear morning with the Imbabura volcano standing behind its low roofs you can see why. It lies in a wide northern Andean valley at around 2,200 metres, the capital of Imbabura province and a city of about a hundred and thirty thousand. Its colonial centre was founded in the early seventeenth century and rebuilt after a severe earthquake in 1868, which is why the streets run in neat lines and the squares feel calm and open.
The sweet tooth is the thing to know about. Ibarra is famous for helado de paila, ice cream made by hand in a copper pan set over a bowl of ice, usually from fruit juice and a little sugar, and sold from a few old shops near the main park. There are also nogadas, walnut sweets, and arrope de mora, a thick blackberry syrup. After a few hours on the road, a scoop of something sharp and fruity is more welcome than it has any right to be.
Riding in, you come along the Pan-American Highway from Otavalo and Atuntaqui through a fertile basin of cornfields, eucalyptus and small farms, passing the lake of Yahuarcocha, whose name means Lake of Blood in Kichwa and recalls a battle between Inca and local forces in which, so the story goes, thousands died. A motor-racing circuit runs around the water, which you may see used on race weekends. The traffic on the main road is steady but the surface is good, with long straights, and the best views come early, before haze gathers around the peaks.
Ibarra is also the start of the railway that once ran down toward the Pacific coast at San Lorenzo, a long-neglected line that survives in short tourist stretches. From the city, side roads climb into the hills toward Angochagua and La Esperanza with old haciendas, indigenous villages and a view back over the lake.
Practicalities are easy in a city this size: fuel stations on the way in, parts shops, and cheap, filling meals at the market. Nights can be cool, so carry a layer, and watch for cobbles in the older streets, which are slick in the rain.