A few days in Banos

May 16, 2011

I have been a lazy blogger for the past few days.  But you know what, I am perfectly fine with it.  I started this up so that I could enjoy doing it, and I don't want to feel like it is a chore to write every day.  So I'm not going to if I don't want to! <---(this is all justification to myself for not doing it.) 

As the date indicates, it has been 3 days since my last posting.  I officially have a little, but possibly increasing, case of Montezuma's Revenge.  It is not a bad one...I am still mobile and can do things, but the stomach is churning a little bit and the porcelin throne has called my name one too many times today.  With any luck, it will be over in a day or so because I officially have a climbing date with Cotopazi on May 19th. 

I have been in a resort town named Banos for the past 2 and a half days.  The town's motto is "a little piece of heaven," and I would tend to agree.  There is a pretty big tourist infrastructure here, which sometimes deters me from liking a place.  Fortunately, the people here are not so pushy and day excursions are easy and cheap to come by.  I arrived here on the morning of the 14th and headed to a hostelk called CharVic.  I had seen it listed online at hostelbookers, so I figured it was at least decently legit.  WRONG(Buzzer sounding)!! While my room was pretty clean, most everything else wasn't, especially the rastafarian that was staying in the room across the hall.  She smelled like a mangy wet dog.  Not a pleasant scent to walk out into.  The "rooftop terrace" that was touted online was also just a concrete slab with a few plastic patio chairs.  Needless to say, I dropped my stuff and got a daypack ready to hike.

I started out on a steep incline at the beginning of a 4 hour hike that took me to two different outlooks over the town.  My the time I reached the top, I was sweating my balls off.  I was tempted about 3/4 of the way up to stop at the store for a Coke (see sign), but I opted not.  When I got to the top, I spotted a few gringos and asked them to take a picture of me at the overlook.  Michelle, Greg, and I began talking and we found that we were heading around the same path, so we hiked around together.  They are both Canadian teachers (one is an art teacher just like sis), and were taking a sabbatical for a semester.  They have a pretty cool option where they can have around $50 taken out of their paycheck for 3 years and in the fourth they can take off half a year and still get paid for it.  Good if you know you are going to want to travel or have some time off in the future!  They told me about the great hostel they were staying in, so I checked it out, found out it was pretty cheap, and decided to move over there after my one night in the smelly inferno. 

Me at the Bellavista overlook

The next day, I moved my bags over early in the morning and headed out on a walk along a road to a string of waterfalls.  The road is called "the route of waterfalls" because there are so many of them along the road.  Most people bike it, but I decided that I wasn't sure I wanted my first biking experience after the car collision to be on a downhill Andes mountain with crazy bus drivers, so I walked it.  The waterfalls were pretty big and impressive, with a few of them offering cable car (tarabita) rides over top of them.  I took one to get some nice pics, and it was worth the buck I paid.  I also did a pretty awesome zipline.  It was about 1km long and took me over the edge of the cliff along the road and over the river.  It really felt like I was flying, since I was harnessed in with my face and stomach facing the ground.  The feeling was amazing, just like all of the dreams that I used to have about taking off into flight.  I hopped a bus back and read at the hostel on the proper rooftop deck that this one DID have.  The only downside of the day was that I forgot to take sunscreen along, and thus now have the greatest farmers tan known to non-ag men.

Me at a smaller waterfall

Start of the cable car ride

Getting ready to take flight over the river!

Later on in the evening, I met the other guys in my dorm (also Canadiens). Derrick and Ron both were just out of college and travelling a little bit before starting work.  We played a little asshole (type of cardgame) with some of the other people in the hostel until 6PM, when we headed down to the town's famous thermal baths.  The first step into the hottest pool was brutal.  I don't know what temperature the water was, but it felt hot enough to boil off the sunburnt skin on my leg.  I opted for the slightly cooler pool until I shrugged off my weeping vag and went full tilt into the hottest one again.  Once I got settled in, it wasn't too bad.  The baths are supposed to be good for curative cleansing of stomach and liver ailments.  Apparently that does not apply for me seeing as my stomach is gurgling. The dip was relaxing though and probably cleaned at least my pores.

Today, I woke up early and headed to the market for breakfast.  Once again, a delicious choice.  I got llapingauchos, which are fried yucca cakes.  They come with chorizo, a fried egg, rice, salad, and some avocado.  A great deal for $2.  The market also has a long line of booths selling various fruit juices.  I have tried 4 different ones so far (whose names I really can't remember), and they have all been delicious and refreshing 75 cent treats.  Something like that in the US at a health food store would go for a good $4-6 a pop. 

Llapingauchos and a delicious juice.

After breakfast I headed out to do a canyoning tour.  It was a blast.  For those unfamiliar with the sport, it is pretty much rappelling down a canyon-like area with a bunch of waterfalls.  A great adrenaline rush (Andrew would have enjoyed)!  I was with 2 awesome Dutch girls (Melissa and Soraya, thanks again for a great day!) and our guide, Jose.  Like a lot of other Netherlanders, Melissa is very tall and blonde, which makes her one-in-a-million in Ecuador.  Soraya is a tough chick who used to be a military policewoman.  They were great to be around because they are both kind of on the same trip wavelength as me.  They are only on vaca for a few weeks, unlike most everyone else I have met who is gone for months and months.  Both are positive and energetic girls, which made them fun to be around.  During the canyoning, we rappelled down 5 waterfalls ranging anywhere from 15 to 70 feet.  Normally, you go down in a sitting position, but Jose suggested that I go face first on the third one. It was a wild experience staring 60 feet down and realizing all that is keeping you up is a (hopefully) strong rope.  By the last waterfall, I was doing little frog hops down the side of the waterfall!  The experience was exhilerating and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The Dutch girls and I met up again for dinner later on and then shared pictures from the day.  It was a fun and adventurous day, an appropriate end to my Banos excursion.

Rapelling down the waterfall

Rapelling down forward

Melissa, Soraya, and me in front of the one waterfall

Tomorrow, is back to Quito for the first time in 5 years.  I hear a lot has changed since I was there first.  I guess we will see tomorrow!

"I love to wash in your old bathwater." - No Doubt

I thought of this song when we went to the hot springs because there were so many people packed in that it almost felt like sardines.  Hopefully the waters cleanse themselves!