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Published: October 25th 2007
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With our great experience on Cotopaxi behind us, we headed South-East from Latacunga towards the town of Baños, famous for its hot baths. The volcano theme to Ecuador continues however, as Baños´hot baths are warmed by the fact it is perched on a massive smouldering volcano. Considering that it errupted only last year doesn´t seem to put off its inhabitants, so being intrepid as we are, we decided a couple of nights there would be a good stop-off. The bus journey was spectaucular if a bit death-defying. Kate´s decision to try and sleep was the better one. I just sat staring with glazed eyes as the driver pelted it around blind bends on the wrong side of the road with a 300m drop to our left, thinking to myself "He thinks this is just a game, he has no fear..." As we neared Baños many of the roads that had been cut into the hillside were covered in landslides, and new routes had been made through.
We indeed arrived alive, which i for one was a little surprised with, yet content. Another lovely hostel awaited us, called "Plants & White" in Spanish. False advertising it was not. White walls, complimented
with plants in the room, happy days. They had a lovely roof terrace also, where delicious breakfasts were served, which overlooked the streets below.
In the habit of arising early to tackle volcanoes, we decided to get up at 7am to go to the hot baths. Those who know me will be fearing for my mental health, as this behaviour is understatedly uncommon. Perhaps the altitude sickness had me in its iron claw. Anyways, off we trotted, and very pleasant it was too, situated at the base of a waterfall, which it used for the cold showers. There were 2 pools, hot and "see what being a lobster is like". The second could only be attempted after freezing yourself in waterfall water, to convince yourself that you needed a good par-boiling. After a mountainous breakfast, I decided to splash out and go quad biking. 4 hours later, a numb backside, sunburnt hands and knees, and all but a Peruvian stamp in my passport, i was back. I was convinced they were taking me to the border to deport me, but alas the good trails were far from Baños it appears. It was really good fun, and at only $10
an hour didn´t break the bank.
In my absence Kate was stalked by a traditional band on the back if a Hi-Ace truck as she planned our next moves in Peru. 10 hours later they were still tooting away, driving around the town in the name of some unknown festivity. Manys a good meal was had in Baños too, with the cool mountain air keeping our apetitite up. Oh how we were about to miss that air....
The next day we took a bus to Tena, which i am informed by my travel agent is the defacto white water rafting capital of Ecuador. The journey there was also another amazing bus journey, but this time we descended into the jungle. As the only gringos on the bus this was an amazing experience as schoolkids hopped on and off in the middle of nowhere, living deep in the jungle, yet living a seemingly normal school life. God knows what Irish kids´ teeth would be like if they sold what they do here on the buses at home! People here lead such hard lives, as they mainly just grow to eat. There are no corner shops. The houses are poorly
built from poor materials on poor land. There is little machinery to help them yield their crops, it is all back breaking. The little schoolgirls on the bus were loving it when Kate freaked out at an insect beside her on the window. They couldn´t believe her reaction to the tiny creature!
In the spirit of non-censorship, i feel i have to mention that in the back row of the bus behind us there was a particularly visually unpleasant young couple, who found each other irresistable. What they lacked in looks, they made up for in passion, and i will leave it at this to say we both had our eyes fixed firmly straight head for a large part of the journey. Mentally scarred.
Tena, god love it, is only really a stopover town, so its a bit more grotty and run down looking than the glitzy Baños. No traditional bands driving around on the back of trucks here, its all business. We checked into a lovely hostel that was run by an amazingly unfriendly and unlikable German, who i can only assume thought we were Brits, so spoke to us curtly in Spanish with a German accent:
Banos
Our lovely room in Plantos y Blanco hotel "Ze habitacion aki, ze bano aki" Maybe the map of Germany on the wall was an indicator that he was a little homesick. Without our aryan looks bringing so much as a wry smile to his face, we went and fed ourselves well yet again. The evening was spent in hammocks overlooking Tena, sipping beer, swaying gently from side to side.
The next day we were off again, like Escape From Colditz, onto the bus for another dramatic and lengthy trip through the jungle, alot of which was only on bad gravel roads. Too bumpy to sleep or read, the time passed slowly. We finally arrived in Coca, which is an industrial kind of a place, inhabited by oil workers. Booked into Hotel El Auca we were pleasantly surprised by a lovely room with en suite, a/c and a big garden with Macaws and other inhabitants. Things are a bit pricier in Coca due to more money flowing around with all the oil, but at $25 each for the room it was still pretty cheap. Nice to see a tv too!
The next stop is the Rio Napo and Sani Lodge, where our real jungle adventure begins!
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bob
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Happy faces
How is it that Mark always looks at his happiest when pictured hovering over a huge plate of food? Compared with his unsure expression in the Huorarani pose.... Wonderfully atmospheric words and pictures - there has to be a book in this!