We arrived in Banos to find it a very appealing town. The bus trip from Quito was uneventful, but we continue to hear stories of people meeting with misfortune, so we really are aware of our belongings and the time of day we are about.
Two Swiss women on the bus put us onto Isla de Banos and it has been a lovely place to call home while we are here.The mountains are all around and we see one of the waterfalls from our window.
We have met up with our Irish friends and our American friends.
This is an adventure town so even though we are in our middle years we have had some thrills.
The first was our ride out on the mountain road to see the series of waterfalls that are about the town. The scenery is magnificent.We went in what is called a chiba, which is a very good truck, but the tray is fitted with bench seats and it is brightly coloured and they play very loud Latin music as it goes along. I guess they like people to think the louder the music, the more fun people are having!We had a group of 4 young ones from Esmeralda, an area north in Ecuador. At first I thought this is going to be an awful afternoon, as they were loud and ditzy. However they were a lot of fun and we had a great time. We, would you believe it,as the pair who are terrifed of heights, not only rode on the top deck sometimes....which is pretty thrilling as the truck travels along the mountain side, but also took a ride across the canyon,ravine in a small metal basket thing. Peter said that workplace health and safety would have a field day, but we made it! For this thrill you pay the huge sum of US$1.00. Somehow, it felt like they should be paying you for the risk! Would we do it again? YES! The tour takes you through some narrow one way tunnels and the driver turns on flashing lights as it pitch dark and the young ones scream in the general carry on. We were rather proud of ourselves, that we beat the young ones easily in the demanding walk back up the mountain, for the only waterfall you had to walk to.It is undeniably fantastic scenery.
However, we were nearly undone the next day when we took on the walk, should really say, 45degree climb to the active volcano,Tungurahua, here.3hours of gruelling climbing up through the forest and clouds and 2 hours down. It would have been very easy to give up and we think the guide wanted us to , but I thought of the Anzacs and that it would be dreadful to give up after coming all this way.It had been raining the night before and it was a boggy trail and often we went ankle deep in mud on a track that sometimes took only one foot at a time.Sometimes we were below the tree level in what must be deep furrows from rain, that have been utilised into a walking track.It was very heavy going and we also thought of John Beumer and his Kokoda Trail adventure.Actually we don't know how we made it. The views were wonderful as we were up 3400m but had been dropped off at 2800m, so you can imagine the steepness as it took all that time to climb 600m and the air gets pretty thin.There was a group of Germans, also in their middle years doing this, so I wasn't going to give in.The volcano rumbles now and then and lets you know it is there.The walk is on the safer side so you don't see any action, only hear it.You eat a sandwich lunch at the refuge, you call it, and have wonderful views with the top of the volcano further up.We might make a night trip to a spot where you see the lava etc. It last erupted in August,2006. We had made the mistake of saying we would return to town on bikes. I did nearly got unstuck at that point, as we were exhausted, and then had to tackle the road down which was steep and windy. But made it! Peter will probably tell a more detailed version of that part of things one day!
We have rewarded ourselves with lovely meals at the end of these days, as there are many good restaurants.
We have just returned from doing the Quilotoa Loop.We went with a guide, as really we feel much safer doing things like that with them.We had a rather interesting trip to say the least. I would say it is a must, but NOT with the company we dealt with, Rainbow Expeditions.
Firstly, the funny things we saw. Three goats all set up in a cart, driven by a motorbike. The woman milks a goat into a plastic cup, for a 50 c drink of fresh goats milk.We passed through an isolated village where there had been a wedding and the guests were in the street dancing to a band...trumpets, trombones, and they were so drunk on corn wine they were in lala land.The crater lake at Quilotoa is unbelieveable and you will have to wait to see photos of it.The mountain ranges are more spectacular than those we saw on our way to Otovalo.Along the way we would stop and give lollies to the children in the remote little houses or who were working in the fields or beside the road with their parents.The so called hostel the guide took us to was actually more like a homestay and while the family was lovely,the place was not clean or maintained. There was one toilet for all guests and we were not given a towel. The beds were in one big earthen floored room with a fireplace that was was very smokey. All this was added to by the arrival of a lovely group of Italians on tour whose driver got lost and they needed a place to lay their heads.The camera flashes were going off at speed at the novelty of the situationat first , but it got worse as time went on and there were so many for one toilet. No one braved a shower as the whole bathroom needed a really good clean. Worse was still to come as I got so sick from altitude sickness again as this was the highest we have been . It is not nice and it was the longest night for all of us as no one got any sleep....coughing in the smoke,and for the brave or desperate,toilet going now and then .The day dawned glorious, and the lake made you forget the night from hell.
I forgot to mention that the guide said, in the first town we stopped in on the way,he had forgotten his credit card and had no money to finance our fully paid excursion. Peter gave him $20 and I guess he got the rest from the driver and the other young guy from the agency that came along.He certainly didn't spend much on accomodation and food! Will we see the $20 again....additional note,we did but it took a wait of 2 hours the next day.A later note....we have since read of another warningon someone's blog to avoid Rainbow Expeditions. It is probably wiser to organise such trips through your hotel.
But it was worth it for the scenery! And I guess the story of a dreadful accomodation experience.
I taught two of the little girls in the family there a few songs while we waited for the others to get back from a trip to "town".We were not sure of what was going on,but couldn't do much about it, so stayed calm. They loved the hokey pokey and wanted to do it again and again.In the thin mountain air, I was had it in a short while!
I guess we have learned to be more careful with whom we deal and to be really specific with details. In Vietnam the homestay arrangements were great.
Our American friend was telling us he had his wallet stolen from his buttoned pocket. They undid the button, took the wallet and rebuttoned his pocket and he wasn't aware of a thing! We have heard also of a group of young people who were robbed at gun and machete point at the TeleferiQo in Quito. Good advice is to keep on the main track, and we like to have a guide if we go to quieter places.Another story that surfaced here, was an Australian girl had her bag stolen by a vendor who came onto the bus. As the bus pulled away, he grabbed it and took off. Her boyfriend gave chase, but the bus was not going to wait, and he had to get on the bus. She lost her camera and all her photos of Machu Pichu.We now make sure we clip our bags to something.Peter keeps his backpack locked and I have a raincoat behind the zippers of mine. I have noticed the zipper on my backpack has moved a few times.
