A journey down Volcano Alley, to the Holy Waters and the Land of the Condor: Baños de Agua Santa, Tungurahua

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Friday 12^thDecember 2014



On Tuesday morning we left Quito for a five hour bus journey down “Volcano Alley”, to Baños de Agua Santa in the province of Tungurahua, in the central Andes region. It seemed like a longer journey; we are suffering from altitude sickness again, but it is much less severe this time around. After three weeks in Ecuador, we have finally found the “economical Ecuador” that people speak of, because this is a cheap country to travel in, except for the capital and the Galapagos. The first bus, from Quito to the town of Quitumbe, cost $0.12 each, for a one hour journey. The second bus, for a three and a half hour journey, cost just $3.50 each. So for $7.64 (£4.85 or €6.15) we both travelled through the Andes, past volcanoes and mountains, to Tungurahua. All of the provinces inland are named after volcanoes, for example, Cotopaxi volcano, which is the highest and which we passed en route, is in Cotopaxi province. On the coast the provinces are named after the huge rivers that flow down from these mountains to the Pacific Ocean and further inland, in the Amazonas region, similarly, they are named after the rivers that flow the other way, to the Amazon. Sadly, it has to be said, along the volcano route, the stunning scenery is somewhat spoilt by urban spread of the ugliest kind: miles of cement and dark grey breeze block buildings. It seems that since the Spanish left, any sense of architectural style ceased to exist. However, there are some little gems, and Baños de Agua Santa is one of them. There are still a lot of grey breeze blocks, but a lot of charm as well.



Baños is a lovely spa town which sits at the base of Vulcan Tungurahua, an active volcano, 5,016 metre above sea level. It smokes all of the time, and erupts occasionally; the town tourist maps show the evacuation routes! We didn´t get a good photo of Tungurahua, because it has been cloud- bound all of the time we have been here. The Rio Pastaza flows through a deep gorge on the southern edge of town; it is fed by numerous waterfalls which tumble down from the surrounding peaks. It is a stunningly beautiful landscape. Prices in Baños are cheap, despite being an Ecuadorian tourist attraction. People come here from the cities of Cuenca and Quito, as well as the very ugly town of Ambato, which we passed through to get here, for special weekends, notably honeymoons. It is also a mecca for outdoor activities like rafting, bungee jumping, horse riding and of course, mountaineering. One can get a three-course menu here for just $2.50 (£1.58 or €2.00) and we are staying in a double room with bathroom, free Wi-Fi, fresh sheets daily, for $17 a night, just $8.50 each (£5.40 or €6.85). We have been on two “Chiva Tours” the first costing $3 each and the second $5 each. Silly prices! More about the tours later. “Chivas” are brightly painted trucks and they are a common form of public transport in both Columbia and Ecuador. The trucks have wooden frames built on them, with bench seats and ladders to get on the roof, where luggage and even livestock can be transported. Don´t ask how they get a llama up on the roof of a “Chiva”! We didn´t see any animals on “Chivas”, so we don´t know!



Baños town is aglow with Christmas lights down most of the streets. Christmas decorations are everywhere. At last! It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, despite being in the tropics. We even managed to buy two Santa hats today, to take with us to Bolivia, in case they don´t sell them there! The “Belen” (nativity scene) in the main square is beautiful, all white, made of wire and lights and the figures are larger than life-sized. The four large angels (about three metres tall) outside the cathedral, are made in the same way. We spent Wednesday exploring the town, with its beautiful cathedral, elegant plazas, artisan shops and a very pretty waterfall dedicated to “La Virgin del Rosario de Agua Santa”.



Baños is famous for nougat and very sugary sweets. They hang the nougat on wooden hooks in the shop doorways, whack it against the wall to stretch it, then cut and twist it into elaborate shapes. After watching an old man coughing and spitting all over the nougat as he whacked it against the dirty wall, we decided against sampling this delicacy! On Wednesday evening, we paid our $3 each to take a “Chiva” up the mountainside to get a night time view of the town. We got to the pickup point at 9 p.m. as arranged and awaited our “Chiva”. When it came along, with flashing neon lights blazing and loud disco music blaring out from huge speakers, we realised that most of the local young people who clambered up on to the truck were just going along for the crazy ride on a crazy party bus, to eat and drink and shout their way up the twisting road in the dark and to hell with the view! Actually, we rather enjoyed ourselves, although it wasn´t quite what we had in mind! The view made it worthwhile.



Yesterday morning we boarded another one of these trucks, minus the flashing neon, but unfortunately still with the monotonous over-loud music, to follow the “Ruta de las cascadas”, the waterfall route, along the dramatic gorge of the Rio Pastaza. The waterfalls are not at their best at this time of the year, although they still look pretty good; this is the dry season. The scenery is breath-taking. It was a great trip, despite the music, lasting over three hours, for just $5 each with a knowledgeable guide. Viv never saw the last of the six waterfalls that we visited, the Cascada Machay. To get to the Machay, on the Rio Verde, a tributary of the Pastaza, one has to make a very steep descent down a deep granite gorge with some vertical drops. Some of the steps are stone, others are metal ladders and there are also wobbly walkways over little side gorges. After descending for about ten minutes and getting halfway down, Viv felt the vertigo and decided not to go any further. The altitude doesn´t help to lessen feelings of dizziness. She shakily made her way back up to the top. Even from only half way, it was a lung buster and a lonely ascent, which took quite a while. John carried on down with the guide. Many people “chicken out” on this descent, some don´t even begin to attempt it; there are some sane folk in this world! Most of those who reached the bottom to see the waterfall were young athletic males. John sometimes forgets that it is now half a century since he was eighteen, so down he went to the very bottom. When he arrived back up, sometime later, he was soaking with sweat, red in the face and breathing hard; but he got some good photos!



Today we walked around the parts of town that we hadn´t explored before, including the gorge bridge over the Rio Pastaza, where people were bungee jumping. We saw a couple of Condors circling above. This afternoon we went to the hairdressers. We thought it was about time Viv got the dark roots covered up and John had a haircut. Viv´s hair cost only $20, for colour, cut, shampoo and blow dry and John´s cost $3. He looked a bit anxious when the hairdresser came towards him with a cut-throat razor to tackle the sideburns, but he needn´t have worried, she knew what she was doing. Tomorrow, Saturday, we shall catch the bus back to Quitumbe and then another to Quito. We have loved these four days in Baños; it is a great little town, very friendly, and unlike a lot of Ecuador, there is no graffiti, no street dogs, only pets, no litter and it has a low crime rate. Unlike Quito where one has to be most vigilant. Nevertheless, Quito is a great city. If the rest of our travels are as good as this month in Ecuador has been, then we shall be very happy bunnies indeed!

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Photos

Nougat maker
Don't eat it!

Crazy party bus!
Ecuadorian 'Chiva'

Machay waterfall
Rio Verde