Saturday we did laundry (Yay clean clothes), bought our bus ticket to Guayaquil (7 hours from Banos), and our tickets to the Galapagos (So exciting). We also went on a little walk to the Banos Zoo. It was quite different from anything I’ve seen in Canada. The Zoo was scattered on the side of a pretty steep hill. The Jaguars closure shocked us, it had a tall fence on the front side then a brick wall on the far side with relatively small side walls and no roof. He could have jumped out easily if he wanted so we didn’t linger long enough to become a meal (I guess he was too busy chewing on a bone, perhaps from the last zoo-goer he ate). The animals were sad looking like any other zoo but the setting was pretty. The walk to and around the zoo was beautiful, large hills to our sides with a river washing quickly through down below.
We had met some really interesting people in the hostel and enjoyed listening to their travelling stories so we decided to stay a few more nights (6 in total). Even though it was clouded over on Friday morning Andrew and I headed out on a 3 hour hike in the hillside behind our hostel. The hike started out with a very steep climb up a set of stairs leading to a statue of the Virgin Mary where people in Banos go to pray. Let me tell you… they must really feel her presence because wow what a climb! The trail then continued up and across the mountain range towards Run Tun overlooking the city. We climbed above the clouds so there wasn’t much for views but it was really fun walking into what we were calling the abyss. Cloudy moist air filled the trail leaving us with minimal visibility at points! At one point we ran into a family who couldn’t move further down the trail because horses were blocking their way, with a couple of kisses the horses moved and we continued on. The trail was mostly well beaten except for one section where the bush had grown over the top giving it a tunnel feel. It was great slipping down the hills while hearing the bugs and cows. After approximately 2.5 hours of hiking up or slipping down the mud the trail opened to the point we had climbed a few days earlier. By now the clouds had lifted a bit so we had another great view of the city. Andrew and I made nachos for dinner and a few drinks then headed to the bar district. We felt safe as we were going with a guy from Chile and a couple who could speak Spanish. The bar scene in Banos is pretty great. It was really busy, people were dancing and the music was booming. We sat in this nice outdoor covered area with a huge bon fire in the center where all the other gringo’s hung out while the locals danced inside. We each had a Caipirinha and chatted away the night. Saturday we did laundry (Yay clean clothes), bought our bus ticket to Guayaquil (7 hours from Banos), and our tickets to the Galapagos (So exciting). We also went on a little walk to the Banos Zoo. It was quite different from anything I’ve seen in Canada. The Zoo was scattered on the side of a pretty steep hill. The Jaguars closure shocked us, it had a tall fence on the front side then a brick wall on the far side with relatively small side walls and no roof. He could have jumped out easily if he wanted so we didn’t linger long enough to become a meal (I guess he was too busy chewing on a bone, perhaps from the last zoo-goer he ate). The animals were sad looking like any other zoo but the setting was pretty. The walk to and around the zoo was beautiful, large hills to our sides with a river washing quickly through down below. Later on that evening we had a big ol’ fashioned South American BBQ with a bunch of our hostel buddies. We had steaks, pork ribs, chicken thighs, potato salad, green peppers on the BBQ with an egg cracked in them, zucchini, damper (an aussy bread), peach daquiries and plenty of tall Pilseners. We ate and drank as we cooked and everyone had a little bit of everything. It was an absolute blast! Speaking of blasts, while we were BBQing we were shocked when the neighboring volcano, Tungurahua, let out a massive belch! It shook the ground and left everyone speechless and staring at one another. Luckily the ash did not fall on Banos but we weren’t lucky enough to see the glow of lava on horizon that is characteristically associated with these releases of pressure. The evening lasted late and we had to catch a 6am bus the next day to Guayaquil, our staging point for the Galapagos Islands!
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We left Otavalo en route to Banos, a small tourist town known for it’s thermal baths, amazon access, downhill mountain biking, trekking trails and spas! We took a bus from Otavalo to Quito (2 hrs) then jumped on a second bus that would take us across the city from the north to the south bus terminal. A very friendly young Ecuadorian man gave us some advice and told us it would take us an hour and that it should only cost $1. The south terminal (Quitumbe) was brand new and very well laid out; it actually felt more like an airport rather than bus terminal. After finding our way through the terminal we got onto a third bus that took us from Quito to Banos (3.5 hrs) for a cost of $3.50. The last bus ride seemed to take forever as we kept having to stop to pick up and drop off people along the way. The weather was miserable so some of the sights that we might have seen along that route (like the Cotopaxi Volcano) were hidden from view by thick rain clouds. We finally arrived in Banos at around 5:00pm. Banos is a great little town, set deep in a valley surrounded by mountains and volcanoes of the Andes. We went out for a great dinner at a neat restaurant called Café Hood. I was really happy as it had vegetarian food, a great atmosphere, and wine! Andrew also enjoyed his Enchiladas and cerveza! We had originally planned to visit the hot baths early in the morning but after waking up and seeing low clouds and drizzle we decided to head out and track down some groceries. Eating out every meal gets sort of old and expensive so we were really happy to have a hostel with a kitchen. We went to the market and bought some fruit and veggies, then headed across the street to the supermarket. We also found a bakery and bought a loaf of Freshly baked bread for 50 cents then headed to a chocolate and coffee store and bought freshly ground coffee. Finally… we could start making our own coffee using this neat MSR filter we bought from MEC. We made eggs and toast and lots of coffee Yay!!!!! Later on in the day, once our breakfast had digested, we headed up out of the town on a little hiking route that took us to a lookout called Bellavista. When we emerged from the trail we were blown away by the view of the valley and town of Banos that was laid out before us. We could see that the town has reached its physical limit since it doesn’t have any space left to sprawl out. We’ve also learned that Banos is at the mercy of the neighboring Volcano Tungurahua, which in 1999 erupted and wiped out several small settlements on its direct slopes. Banos was spared that year. That night we had dinner with two guys who were also staying at our hostel, Sam and Visentay. Sam has spent many years in south America travelling and living and he experienced Tungurahua’s power firsthand in 2009 when large eruptions started to occur again. He said the volcanos eruptions would literally shake his hostel in the middle of the night. The next day we woke up and got off to a nice and slow start. The weather was rainy so we didn’t rush anywhere (plus travelling is real tiring hehe). After a delicious hearty breakfast of eggs, toast, yogurt, coffee and a fresh fruit smoothie we spent some time listening to the two parrots that live at our hostel squawk ‘Hola!’ to passersby. We walked to one edge of the town to check out a really nice waterfall and then headed to the opposite side of town to check out the view. When we arrived back at our hostel, the elderly man who manages the place was trying to get his parrots into their cages for the night. His trick was to slowly sneak up on them while saying, “parakeeta, parakeeta, parakeeta,” and he would use a long stick to force them off their branch in the tree. Once they were basically falling off the tree branch they would be forced to grab his stick and he would bring them down to their cages. Today we got up and went to the hot springs which was a 35 minute walk from town. It was really nice, there was a good selection of pools to choose from. We started at the coldest and worked our way to a hot bath. One local lady in the baths with us was very entertaining, she was between 60-70 yrs old and did little flips in the water and handstands. Everyone was very friendly and laughed when the Gringo's tried to go from the hottest bath into the coldest. :) On our way home we went through a short cut and got to cross this stream. The crossing looks scarier than it was but this is what is normal for the locals to cross (as we know because we followed one). For the rest of the day we lounged around watching and listening to the Parrots then made a nacho dinner and had some drinks with other travelers in the hostel. Four of us were chatting late into the night and noticed someone peeking through the window...
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