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Published: July 24th 2012
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The bus ride to Otavalo was rather interesting. We stopped to pick up/drop off every local on the side of the road and the driver let every seller onto the bus to try his luck at selling us everything from DVDs, to fruits and chips. Not ideal when you are trying to catch up on sleep! At one point we had a demonstration on how to our brush our teeth, and the option to buy toothpaste and toothbrushes. Then after four hours we were literally dropped off on the side of the Pan-American highway, that was rather unexpected. Apparently we didn’t do our research and later found out that there is only one bus company that will take you to the actual bus terminal in Otavalo. No big deal as the taxi ride to our hostel was only $2USD.
The next morning we woke up early to check out the local markets, but had no water! We were told that the hostel had ran out of gas. A new gas bottle wouldn’t be delivered until the gas man drove past with his siren blaring informing locals that he was ready to sell gas. After two hours of waiting around for
the gas man we headed to the markets where locals dressed in their traditional clothing selling everything imaginable. We could have spent all day looking around and practicing our Spanish. We purchased a few items including key rings, bottle openers and a painting of a traditionally dressed young girl, then made our way to the food market where you can have lunch for basically nothing. I still haven’t got used to food markets. It smells like a heated butchery and the fruit and veges look like the only eatable things. After a quick look around we decided to have lunch at a busy little stall and for $1.50USD we couldn’t complain. Soup, rice, chicken and beans. First up was the soup which was pretty good until we realised sitting at the bottom was a chicken foot, not the kind of soup we were expecting and definitely not something we could stomach! So with hungry stomachs and the image of chicken feet stuck in our heads we did a small walk to a stunning waterfall.
After a few days in Otavalo we were once again on the road. Having heard numerous not so good stories of Quito we decided to
just pass through. We are also enjoying the smaller towns as they are easier to navigate, and the people are much friendlier. You also feel a little safer. To get to Banos we did have to change buses in Quito.
We found a bus company in Quito which we thought would be direct to Banos, but all buses in Ecuador seem to be the same. Direct and non stop isn’t possible.
Banos is the most touristy place we have been so far. There is so much to do and see around Banos that you could stay there for awhile and not get bored. We booked for three nights at Hostel y Plantos.
The hostel we stayed at is famous for its breakfasts; pancakes layered with fruit, yoghurt and a drizzle of syrup. Just what we needed after living off muesli bars for breakfast the past few days and to full our stomachs for the day’s activities. A 22km mountain bike ride around Banos, stopping at several places to see waterfalls, zip lining and a small hike to yet another impressive waterfall. Ecuador is beautiful. The sun was shining, the mountain biking was a lot of fun and
it was great to do a decent amount of exercise again. We were told by the hire company that we could catch a bus with our bikes back to town once we were done, but in Ecuador there is always a catch! We found the bus, but were told that if there weren’t four of us then we had to pay $10USD to get back to town. We decided to wait on the side of the road for about an hour until more riders were ready to head back into town. There was no way we were paying $10USD for a 20 minute ride when we only paid $5USD to hire the bikes for a full day. We are on a backpacker budget remember!
Banos is also well known for its thermal baths and spa treatments. The spa treatments looked amazing, but being on a backpackers budget we opted for the thermal baths the day after the mountain biking. Turns out it wasn’t really our thing. Being a Saturday, the baths were packed. We weren’t that keen to sit in in the baths amongst locals who looked like they were cleaning themselves rather than relaxing. It might be different
during the week, but weekends seem to be the time locals flock in the hundreds to use the baths and we weren’t keen on joining them. Instead we opted to hire a buggy and cruise around town watching the men mould taffy on giant pegs in door ways and stopping to see the San Francisco bridge with a dodgy looking bungee jump that no one seemed to be partaking in.
We had one more place to visit to before we departed Ecuador. Cuenca was our next stop. We took an early bus to Ambato, crossed the road and waited for the next bus to Cuenca where we were approached by a lady selling bus tickets. She informed us that we have to buy tickets from her in order to get on the bus…we were total suckers for this line so brought tickets off her and waited for about 45 minutes for the next bus while other bus companies drove by with signage indicating they were going to Cuenca. With puzzled looks on our faces whenever we saw them drive by the lady told us “no directo, our company directo.” Yeah right….we were sucked into buying tickets for the bus company she worked for which ended up not being direct. The fun of not speaking Spanish and looking like gringos!
Cuenca is a cool city with cafes, bars and museums. We visited a patch of the Inca ruins near the river and the Museo del Banco Central Pumpapungo, a great museum that has the famous ‘shrunken heads’ on display. A visit to Cuenca wouldn’t be complete without a visit to ‘Barranco’ a local seller of the Panama Hats. Our time in Ecuador was up. Next stop Peru!
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