Banos, amazing Banos

Decided to cut the Quilitoa Loop short, as it left me time to visit Banos, the playground of Ecuador. What a gorgeous little town, even if as suffers life under an active volcano (Tungurahua). The town is full of ethnic restaurants (I ate Thai, Arabic and Italian while I was there), at minimum 100 hostals and enough action sport shops to fill a big city.

I opted for canyoning (a first), hiking and mountain biking. The company we used (GeoTours) was very professional and we easily got our $$$ worth. The guides were funny, a little crazy and extremely safety conscious. The canyoning involved some tight jumps into little pools (ie 20 ft), then bouldering across to a 40 ft zipline. We also did a number of rappells. It was a great day and we all enjoyed a big group meal after.


Day 2, the volcano was spitting ash like nothing else, so I hiked up the mountain across the way to get some clean air and a better view of the town and volcano. Of course, Banos means baths, so the evenings were spent in the town´s hot spa pools before heading off to some fancy dinner (ie¨$5 meal)




The next day, a few of us took mountains bikes and headed downhill from Banos (went 35 km, by peddaling about 10. Hitch-hiked on a truck to get back. We stopped in at the El Diablo waterfall. It was shocking. The force of the water was truly quite amazing (don´t know if video will show and cafe PC will not run Flash)

Yesterday was a quiet day with some shopping, a nice lunch with Artesia from Thailand and a little hike up the mountain to watch the volcano do it´s thing. Karin has some night pics of the lava flow, which I´ll post in a few day.

Realistically, Banos was like a vacation inside a vacation. Normal backpacking rules did not apply for a few day. Didn´t make any meals, spent money of guides and sports gear and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Stayed in a great hostal (Plantas y Blanco) and made lots of new Facebook buddies. So many people on these long trips. Met a few who have been out there as long as I was...yet they are not run down.

I just may have to attribute my exhaustion in the Spring to an aging body not keeping up with my desire to see new things and meet new people

Canoa, transportation, Quilitoa and Quechuas

CANOA
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After a few days in Quito, it was off on a mountain bus down to the coast. Some corners a little dicey, but not bad. I ended up in Canoa, north of Manta , where daughter Emily had been surfing earlier in the year. The waves were more my size here. Cool little village (6,000 people) with the hostel right on the beach. Swim surf, siesta, drink beer. Mucho fun. I got there by walking from Bahia, cause that{s where the best bus went. 16 kms along the road after a little ferry across the harbour. Hitch-hiked in Bahia in back of a truck. Buddy would not accept money. After this nice vacation, I walked back to Bahia and then bussed back into the mountains



TRANSPORTATION
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The transportation system here is amazing. As long as you can handle an average of 40 kms per hour, it costs $1 an hour to get anywhere. Been on 8-10 buses and have waited at most 20 minutes to get one. Walk out into the big loading area and yell at people where you want to go, and stuff happens. Some buses wont let you on without checking a bag and patting you down (seriously), others just jump on. Been hitch-hiking as well, pay some times, not others, always first vehicle with room (not a seat...room)

QUILITOA
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Arrived in Zumbahua at 830 PM in the dark (sun up at 6, down at 6). Was raining as we climbed from sea-level to over 12,000 ft (probably good to be dark). This is a little Quechua town of 6,000. Had mucho fun trying to get a room and supper (no supper). Did get a beer. Big Saturday morning market the next day. Couple of backpackers and everyone else indigenous. I caused a bit of a stir at one local restaurant. A few people just flat out stared at me. Everyone quite shy, but friendly if you had enough interaction with them. Walked to Quilitoa (the big crater lake volcano). Just made me so happy to see that sight. I had seen it in a photo-op on Ecuador. The village (200-300 people?) I arrived at in a hailstorm. Lodging was a local Quechua family hostal, meals in the big family room, with actual heat (small wood stove). No hot anything else for me for 3 days. Did a big 1/2 day hike around the crater, gasping for air at this elevation, walk for 20 breathes, wait for at least 20 more

QUECHUAS
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The local indigenous group is the Quechuas (your basic South American Indian with the hats) The population in these towns is 98%, even the little 4 year olds have the hats and they all dress the same. Very shy. I got to stay with a family in the village. Lack of local language of even Spanish was again, a real pain. First night we also had a girl with Spanish /English, so things went fine

NY...Sanity...Quito, Ecuador

Been on the road a few weeks, time for an update. I was in New York for a bit, to see the relatives and daughter Emily, who will be there for the next few months. Got to see Reva and Barbara (sushi) and brother-in-law Alex for his birthday (sushi). No opera this time, but lots of pizza and falafels. Emily and I spent the day at the NYC Marathon. What a hoot.

Made it down to Washington for the Restore Sanity rally. Made me very happy. Lots of funky signs, 200,000+ people, all in a good mood. One of the best days of the year. Even found a cheap, direct bus back to NYC for $15 (MegaBus). Made a few museums and memorials (Holocaust, Amer. Indian, Korean and Vietnam memorial)

Next stop was Quito, a place I have dreamed of since I was a teenager. I had this big, old tube radio, with an antennae wire strung around a few neighbours backyards..and I could pickup up Quito on the shortwave. It was my farthest place to acquire. So cool to be here.

Quito is in the Andes, so you land at almost 10,000 feet. It is noticeable, but not too draining. Takes a few days to adjust. Did a little run today and had to stop every few minutes. It is a big, messy, dirty city, but not too noisy. Few people honk horns or scream and yell at other drivers. Most people you meet are quite friendly and honest. If you give the banos attendants .25 to use the loo, they will always hand you back the change as you exit. The bus system is cheap and extensive with a number of lines that have their own lanes. The city runs in a valley North and South, so you can get from one place to another quite quickly. The buses are crowded and someone from my hostel almost lost a camera on the bus (the person was caught, quite an uproar from the other passengers). As well, someone was mugged just outside the hostel. While these events are not that common, it helped me change my setup to handle a basic mugging ($10 or so plus change in my front pocket... everything else locked in various pockets)

The food situation here is ... abundant. Food, of all sorts...everywhere. I do groceries for breakfast, street for mid-day and cheap restaurant for supper. I've kept my suppers at $2-3, so am not making my own. Have eaten in a few hole-in-the-wall places. Roast pork yesterday was delicioso.

People selling everything in the streets, incense burns in many places, hustlers are the politest I've ever dealt with. Only 1 or 2 persistent ones so far. So refreshing.

Been all over the city, great parks, funky old town, caught a few museums and the Botanical Gardens. Time to head out. Off to the coast to a little surfing town (Canoa) then back inland for a volcano hike that runs a loop around 5-6 towns and is about 150 kms. Will do some walking and hitch-hiking if at all possible.

Note the sign below, a warning about robbery on a hike up to the Panecella statue. I got about 1/2 way up and realized i had a camera, passport, bank card $300 and a Visa with me...will return later in the trip and just go with mugger $$$. A taxi up the hill costs $2-3...but I hate taking taxis, especially up hills.