Tulcán is the last Ecuadorian city before Colombia, a high, cold, windswept place at almost 3,000 metres, and it has one of the strangest sights in the Andes: a cemetery where cypress trees have been clipped into elaborate topiary, with figures, arches and geometric shapes, a tradition started by a local gardener in the 1930s. Near the city, the segment of Inca road between Pulcas and Troya is part of the Qhapaq Ñan World Heritage Site, marking the northern reaches of the Inca road system, which extended into what is now southern Colombia.
The Inca conquered this region late, in the early sixteenth century, shortly before the arrival of the Spanish. The Pasto people who lived here resisted fiercely, and the road represented the expansion of Inca power to the very edge of their empire. Today traces of the road can be found in the fields and hills, often used by farmers and herders.
The landscape is high Andean, with green fields, pastures and the páramo, a high-altitude grassland with frailejones, tall plants with woolly leaves that look like something from another planet. The El Ángel Ecological Reserve, south of Tulcán, protects a large area of páramo, and the roads through it offer stunning views. The weather is cold and often wet, with fog and drizzle.
Riding here is cold, high and beautiful. The Pan-American Highway crosses the border at Rumichaca, and the roads around Tulcán are winding and steep, with buses, trucks and border traffic. Across the border in Colombia, the Sanctuary of Las Lajas, a neo-Gothic church built across a gorge, is a spectacular sight and only a short ride away. Bring warm clothes and rain gear.
Tulcán, eight kilometres away, has fuel and everything else a border city offers, and Ipiales on the Colombian side is just as well supplied. Fuel prices differ sharply between the two countries, which explains the jerry cans you will see changing hands. Border crossings require the usual paperwork for vehicles, so make sure your documents are in order before setting out.