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Published: June 15th 2008
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Banos
Tea Time My second time in Ecuador was unfortunately rushed, like the first time. My only objective was to spend my birthday in Banos, hopefully rock climbing. So I went straight from the border to Quito, arriving late in Quito I found a cheap hotel by the bus terminal and got some rest. The following morning I caught an early bus to Banos and met a group of Americans and a Canadian on the bus to Banos. They were all studying in Quito and had a week break were they could travel a bit. So we all decided in Banos to find a cheap Hostel, which we did, and thus I had new friends to spend my days in Banos with and give my Spanish a little rest. That day we managed to do a little hike and enjoyed a nice tea and fresh milk with a nice farmer living at the highest point of our hike. This proved to be very random for this group of fresh travelers, so I gladly put forth a little extra Spanish and we had a nice chat with our new friend.
The next day we started early with the idea of renting mountain bikes and
Banos
Nixon??? doing a well-known circuit from Banos to Puyo. So after a nice breakfast, we got suited up, got some rough instructions, and got out of Banos. Luckily this agency was fairly good and gave us all of the gear to fix a flat, as we started out with a nail in a tire. After our pit stop we enjoyed a day of beautiful mountain views, some amazing waterfalls, lots of biking, and some rain to help encourage us to end the day. That night we all ordered some pizza, which tasted like one of those meals you always remember, well deserved and well prepared. Afterwards we visited one of the hot springs in town, which is what gives Banos its name. This was nice and relaxing and I slept hard.
The next day was my 25 birthday, I was treated to an awesome breakfast as most of the group was to head on to Cuenca. I however went for days climb, and was happy to get back on the rock, as well as frustrated with how much I had lost in 4 months without climbing. Afterwards I hung out with Megan, the lone Canadian from the group who had
Banos
The Crew other plans for her vacation. We ate some Mexican of all things and then had some drinks with an American girl that was also staying in our hostel. Thus was my birthday, a good solid day, but not too crazy. The next day we visited a Hip Hop festival in Banos and started the road to Salinas, which would put us one night in uneventful Riobamba.
The next day we got the bus to Guaranda and explored what turns out to be a very sleepy little town on Sundays. On Monday morning we left super early to catch one of the few buses to Salinas, as it is a long dirt road and out of the way. We actually had to get off of the bus near Salinas as a landslide had made the road impassable, so I got some good hard exercise carrying my full backpack to the city and our next Hostel. Now the reason to come to Salinas is for the different things that the community makes there. Some excellent cheeses, chocolates, and other crafted goods are produced here and sold all around Ecuador. Also it is a beautiful spot and there is some good trekking
Banos
Another Garganta del Diablo to be done. So we sampled the goods, did some exploring, and enjoyed a night in Salinas. The next day would be a half-day of exploring and waiting for transport, as there were no buses returning to Guaranda, just small trucks. This was of course due to another landslide, which we got to see as we skirted around it in the back of a small pickup for one more bumpy ride. This was the beginning of a very large amount of buses to try to reach my destination of choice, Huaraz, in order to get ready to work in the mountains. So I took a bus from Guaranda to Riobamaba, Riobamaba to Cuenca, Cuenca to Loja, Loja to Macara (at 4 in the morning), and I arrived at the border in Macara early in the morning. In Macara I had to wait until one in the afternoon to catch a bus. I must say that some times it is interesting to be somewhere that tourists never spend anytime. The locals seemed extra attentive, the kids even funnier. I actually had three small children ask me if I was from the US, I said ‘maybe’, and then two of them wanted
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Climbing Around the Waterfall to shake my hand, however the smallest was to scared to shake my hand. Then they ran off excited and laughing. I also hand some policia asking me a lot of random questions, but nothing to crazy and then an old women telling me how the policia are bored and shouldn’t hassle the tourists. Either way I was happy to catch my bus into Peru and to start the last leg before Huaraz.
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