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Published: June 23rd 2010
Lava erupting
Tungaruhua, EcuadorHi,
It is
Nitzan, and I am going to write about
Banos.
Banos is a small town and close by is located an active
volcano, called Tungurahua. The volcano is always active but this week it was erupting and spraying lava and not only smoke. When we arrived to Banos we went to an Israeli hostel and there we stayed. On Arrival, we thought of going to a place in Banos to maybe watch the lava but the staff in the hostel said it is too cloudy to see something, so we did not go.
Next morning we ate a yummy pancake breakfast. After breakfast we stayed in the hostel until the afternoon. In the afternoon we went to a bridge in Banos to try and see the volcano erupting, but we did not manage to see lava, we only saw smoke. We went back to the hostel and on the way we stopped at a Tagua shop.
Tagua is a fruit that grows on a kind of a palm tree. The Tagua really looks like ivory but it is much better to use because you don't need to kill the elephants. The Tagua is a seed and it
grows as a cluster of Taguas on the palm tree and the locals collect it and make beautiful artifacts out of it. We stayed in the shop a lot of time, but it was worth it because we got to see how they make from a seed of Tagua a vase, and bought a lot of products. After the “shopping” we went back to the hostel - we did not even enter the hostel and the staff lady told us that there is a lot of lava now so we ran to the bridge, but we did not manage to see because you know it can erupt for hours and then in a second just stops. We waited there for a couple of minuets and then we saw lava! At the bridge were many cars that take tourists to a view point high in the mountains and there you can see much better the lava. We wanted to take one but it was a bit expensive, but then we found 2 Israeli girls that also wanted to come to the mountain but it was expensive for them too, so we looked for another one to share and we found one
soon. He took us a bit higher from the other cars that were there, but it was better. There we stopped to see the lava erupting. We saw some in the beginning,
IT WAS AMAZING! After a while of seeing some small eruptions then came really big ones with a loud noise - and just like in lightning and thunders, first appeared the lava and only then the noise. The noise was a bit scary because it was really loud.
It was AMAZING to see real lava and not only in books, pictures, or movies. At first I was a bit afraid that the lava will get to the mountain we were in but then I stopped worrying. Actually when I saw it was OK I started to like seeing it!
Next morning we rented bikes. We actually started to ride them at noon time. We rode a road called “waterfall trail”. The trail was 22 km long. After riding a few km we got to the first waterfall. There we took a kind of a cable car, in Spanish it is called Tarabita. It was nice, but not more than that. After the waterfall we kept on going
until we got to another waterfall. Again it was nice. After the 2nd waterfall we rode until we reached a point where you can do
bridge jumping There we saw an American group that was doing it. After we watched them doing it, it looked really fun and we wanted to do it as well. Mom and dad asked if we can do it, and the man in charge said that Shachar can do it from the lower bridge and Omer and I can do it from the higher bridge.
So that is what we did - Omer was 1st he wanted to do it from the high bridge. It took him a minute to relax and POOF! He jumped. When he was down he looked like a pendulum clock. When he got back to us he could not stop shouting how fun it was!
Then it was my turn I also did it from the higher bridge. I got ready and then
when I stood at the edge of the bridge I saw how scary it looks from there! I almost jumped but then I got down, I took a deep breath and went up again
I said: 1...2...3 POOF! and jumped, I also swang like a pendulum clock. When I got back to mom and dad I said in one word
INCREDIBLE! and in two words
INCREDIBLY FUN!!! Then the last and youngest Shachar! He did it from the lower bridge but still high bridge. He almost jumped before he was even tied. The guy said I will count until three and then at three jump. 1... 2... 3... POOF! He jumped like nothing. When he came up to us he was crazy laughing and smiling.
After we all jumpped we kept on riding the bikes to another waterfall. When we reached the waterfall we ate there lunch. When we finished our lunch we kept riding until we reached a small town. There we had to walk to see the biggest waterfall that day. The walk was very nice, it was in the forest. The waterfall was quite high and it was very strong. In the cafeteria next to it, my dad drank coffee and we ate cookies - it had a beautiful setting: high above the river and with the forest in the background spread all over. We got back to our bikes, and from the
town we took a truck with our bikes loaded, back to Banos, because it was already late and we were tired of biking. We arrived to Banos at dusk and went to eat dinner.
Next morning we took a bus to a town near Banos, the town is called
Puyo. We took a taxi from Puyo to a
monkeys sanctuary. There were about 5 different species of monkeys (spider monkey, wooly monkey, white-faced capuccin, and squirrel monkey), and there were about 60 monkeys in total. It was a really nice place because it was in the jungle, and there were not only monkeys, but cuatis like in Iguazu Falls, parrots and some more animals. The lady that was working there took us to a small tour in the jungle. We were there for a bout an hour, and the whole hour the monkeys kept on jumping on us on and off on and off, except for my mom, who had the same monkey on her head for the whole time we spent there: it looked like a new hair style... When they jumped on me it hurt a bit but it was fun, except they were a little dirty.
Two monkeys and two brothers
Monkeys Sanctuary, Puyo, Ecuador After visiting there we took a taxi back to Puyo and there we bought lots of wooden stuff made from Balsa - a very light wood that is also used for aeronautic toys. Then we took a bus back to Banos, ate lunch, then back to the hostel watched TV ate dinner again and went to sleep.
Next morning we ate again yummy pancake breakfast. That day we stayed in the hostel and studied, read books, watched TV, played pool, and etc... Only on the next morning we took a bus to a city called Cuenca and from there somebody from my family will tell you about it.
Hope you enjoyed my blog, I enjoyed Banos very much!
Miss you all,
Nitzan!
If you want to see all our photos from Banos and its Volcano or from the Puyo and its monkeys sanctuary, please hit the following links:
Photos from Banos
Photos from Puyo & monkeys sanctuary
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ניצני המתוקה
נהניתי מאוד לקרואאת הבלוג המדים. אילו הרפתקאות. לא פחדתם?גם הר געש מתפרץ, גם קפיצות בנג'י וגם קופים על הראש?כל הכבוד לאומץ. אוהבת ומתגעגעת. סבתא