banos

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Well after a horrible night bus journey after a mind numbingly boring wait in Lago Agrio. we arrived in Banos. The bus seats recline but by doing so one uses up all the leg room...and they are deinitely not gringa sized
!!
Its pretty impossible to sleep, especially as they filled the aisle with people on stools who seemed to use the bus as a hop on and off service. However I was just drowsing off when the bus stopped for a military check . It is because we are on route to colombia, but waht followed was so inefficient I could have smuggled all the cocaine I wanted. They get you to queue up, tell them your passport mumber while they half heartedly peer into one of your bags (the others stay on the coach) and are so uninterested in its contents I am sure you would have to tell them that you were smuggling for them to notice..
Then back on the bus which says it goes to Banos and then stops two hours away in ambato making for a delightful 5 am change..
Arrival in Banos was not as great as I expected. I am not convinced ecuador lives up to expectations.. Perus scenery is actually much more pleasing.. but I guess ecuador has the equator volcanoes and animals going for it. Anyway Banos is situated in a green lush valley with steep mountains on either side. Every thrid buildiong is a hostel one other is a tour operator and the other is somewhere to eat. The whole town exists on tourism. There are also lots of polaces selling handicrafts and sweets which they make by stretching out toffee like sugar with long sticks.
Here people dress much ,more traditionally with the hats and long skirts.
Our hostel is so much nicer than Quito..clean and tidy and non rickety beds and the promise of hot showers..and there are 5 of us together at the moment so we practicvally fill the dorm. Maria and I spent the morning enquiring about tours to Chimbarazo which is an extinct volcanoe whose summit is the furthest point from the earths centre..however although the tour guides say it is possible we went with the guide books advice and decided its down right dangerous to attemp a 6300 m ice climb with out any aclimatisation. I may try cotopaxi later on in my trip.
Banos is an outdoor pursuits fdrean. At first we were going to just hire bikes and go out for the day, but Romano a boy we a re with persuaded us to try canyoning...
The bike ride was extremely arduous. Again in true Ecuadorian style the guide gave us a totally opposite impression to what we actually got. The bikes are one dollar an hour and the set you off along the route of wateralls...which is in faxct an extremely difficult and dangerous main road! As soon as we set off the cloudy sky parted and the sun started beating down and our sun cream was at the hostel..needless to say I am a bit red. It was down hill on the way on tweo just passable mountain bikes but we soon realised the scale of the map was entirely misleading and ewe only made it as for as a hydro electric dam, wqhich although is impressive is not what we were expecting.
The way back is then all up hill while the ecuadoreans pass y

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