My impression that Ecuador is much like a smaller, poorer cousin of Peru seems to be becoming more solid. It thrives on tourism fueled by incredible cultural and natural resources, is full of thieves, liars and beggars and retains that charming machoism and sexism I was so fond of in Peru. On the bus from Quito (I`m pretty certain) I had my toiletries bag and floppy hat stolen from my bag between my legs. Basically whatever they could get their hands on. $·%$ers, where am I going to find another Indian tongue-scraper over here¿¿¿!!
Baños is nestled in a valley of steep mountains underneath a (apparently) currently active volcano. It lives on tourism - its original call to fame being hot spring baths, this being currently outpaced by a plethora of adventure tourism companies all offering exactly the same sports like rafting, canyoning, mountain biking and bridge-swinging - kind of like bungee but you swing under a bridge instead of bounce. It is also an ´alternative´ town, with a healthy massage industry and various alternative therapies and treatments. Many bars and cafes have intricate murals with Indian, jungle and general hippy inspirations.
On the first morning I jogged a few k´s out of town to one of the hot spring baths. Absolutely revitalising. Perfectly hot, medium and freezing mini-pools full of elderly Ecuadorians and brown, mineral-rich spring water. Ahhhhh! On the way back I stopped in to get a fresh sugar cane juice - I hadn´t had one of those since Zanzibar. So after a yummy breakfast at our basic hostal, the others took ATVs to explore the many waterfalls on the way down to the Amazon and I decided to hike the steepness surrounding the town after changing hostals. This was excellent exercise, but not that impressive nature-wise. With my paranoia of crime piqued I carried a small throwing rock in my pocket and procured a tree branch to masquerade as a lame-hiker. Really. But nothing happened so I didn´t get to whack anyone... ohhhh. It was quite a climb and the rapid descent challenged my knees considerably. At my new hostal I re-encountered Yves and Helen, two crazy flying Dutchmen whom Michelle and I had met at the start of our journey in Puerto Natales, Chile. Cool! Together we dined at a French restaurant on delicious lamb, vegetables and baby potatoes, compared notes on our respective journeys and planned our following day down the mountain on pushies.
This was a great day. Lots of sunshine, speed, and selva combined with awesome views of the surrounding mountains and valley kept us all quite thrilled. We stopped to watch someone swan...sorry, ugly-duckling-dive on a bridge-swing, swim in some of the many waterfalls and play cat and mouse with local trucks on the steep declines. All good fun - until the uphills started at around the 35km mark. I pushed on ahead to the lowland town of Mera, where I waited for my mates. The had hit a wall however and decided to hitch with a Hilux. Luckily we saw each other and quickly decided to return to Baños by bus.
Baños is nestled in a valley of steep mountains underneath a (apparently) currently active volcano. It lives on tourism - its original call to fame being hot spring baths, this being currently outpaced by a plethora of adventure tourism companies all offering exactly the same sports like rafting, canyoning, mountain biking and bridge-swinging - kind of like bungee but you swing under a bridge instead of bounce. It is also an ´alternative´ town, with a healthy massage industry and various alternative therapies and treatments. Many bars and cafes have intricate murals with Indian, jungle and general hippy inspirations.
On the first morning I jogged a few k´s out of town to one of the hot spring baths. Absolutely revitalising. Perfectly hot, medium and freezing mini-pools full of elderly Ecuadorians and brown, mineral-rich spring water. Ahhhhh! On the way back I stopped in to get a fresh sugar cane juice - I hadn´t had one of those since Zanzibar. So after a yummy breakfast at our basic hostal, the others took ATVs to explore the many waterfalls on the way down to the Amazon and I decided to hike the steepness surrounding the town after changing hostals. This was excellent exercise, but not that impressive nature-wise. With my paranoia of crime piqued I carried a small throwing rock in my pocket and procured a tree branch to masquerade as a lame-hiker. Really. But nothing happened so I didn´t get to whack anyone... ohhhh. It was quite a climb and the rapid descent challenged my knees considerably. At my new hostal I re-encountered Yves and Helen, two crazy flying Dutchmen whom Michelle and I had met at the start of our journey in Puerto Natales, Chile. Cool! Together we dined at a French restaurant on delicious lamb, vegetables and baby potatoes, compared notes on our respective journeys and planned our following day down the mountain on pushies.
This was a great day. Lots of sunshine, speed, and selva combined with awesome views of the surrounding mountains and valley kept us all quite thrilled. We stopped to watch someone swan...sorry, ugly-duckling-dive on a bridge-swing, swim in some of the many waterfalls and play cat and mouse with local trucks on the steep declines. All good fun - until the uphills started at around the 35km mark. I pushed on ahead to the lowland town of Mera, where I waited for my mates. The had hit a wall however and decided to hitch with a Hilux. Luckily we saw each other and quickly decided to return to Baños by bus.
The next day after Yves and Helen joined my ritual early morning visit to the hot springs and sugar cane juice place, we leisurely packed, lunched and jumped on afternoon bus back to Quito. As Yves said Baños is a fantastic and beautiful town, but I couldn`t help but be impressed by just how bored all the locals seemed to be when dealing with us tourists. The town also showed again the total lack of creativity they seem to have - it seems every tour agency offers exactly the same things at the same price; the tens of sweet stores the same; the juice stands the same. It`s like they see one thing being successful so all they do is just carbon copy that formula in the hope of syphoning off some of the bu$iness. Oh well.
We all kept vigilant guard on our things for the uneventful but slower return to Quito`s great heights and impressive mountain setting, and Yves and I swapped Ipods to experience our respective progressive house collections. Yessss! Finally, someone else who actually likes to listen to techno (and my type of techno too), not just put up with it or dance when they`re out on drugs. I guess Eminem was right, Moby, no body listens to techno.
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