Baños, Ecuador

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¡Buenas tardes!

After sitting in the internet café to upload some photos instead of being outside in the sun I decided to write anyway some lines here. I know I should upload some photos finally but I'm not sure if I will be able to do it..so little time :-(

Today is already the last day in Baños again after arriving here on Wednesday night. As usual not everything went smoothly on my way from Machachi (close to the Cotopaxi National Park where I left the Secret Garden) to Baños. The busdrivers (it's not that easy to catch a bus when standing at the Panamericana, which is just the big road through the country and you have to stop them..also while carriying this monster of a bagpack!!) told me the bus would go directly to Baños (which wasn´t true) so that I was almost in Riobamba when I felt something is wrong..they had forgotten me - but at least the people are really helpful here so he organised another bus on the other side so that I only had to go back for about 1,5 hours :-S Anyway, Cotopaxi National Park and the Secret Garden was amazing and absolutely recommendable. After we arrived there we went to a waterfall where at least Kathi and me jumped down in the water which was definitely the coldest water I´ve ever been in :-) The "hostal"( is definitely the wrong word) is absolutely beautiful, we even had a stove in our room, and people, food and the animals were awesome too. On the other day we climbed up the Cotopaxi (halfway we went up with the jeep) until the refuge but even those 35min were breathtaking - 4.810 m are just a little bit too high for my untrained lungs :-D.
Baños in comparison is a relaxed place in the center of Ecuador in the middle of green mountains and close to the Tungurahua, one of the very active volcanoes. You can do rafting, canopying, mountainbiking, rent squads or other kinds of motorised things, see waterfalls or relax in the hot springs which are directly in the center of Baños. The weather is like spring in Germany and today it´s also very sunny. For them it´s winter and nearly all of them are wearing clothes I would wear in our winter ;-)
Tomorrow or tonight I'm heading to Montañita as my "family" is expecting me already tomorrow. I will also start on Monday to work as a volunteer in an Aquarium to work with animals and children - very excited :-) What else? Yesterday I found the best (I´m sure it´s extraordinairy good) restaurant and had (for the first time in weeks) a salad - but not just a normal salad..a combination of lettuce with caramalizes apples, chicken, olives, avocado, carrots, tomatoes etc. etc.. That was almost haute cuisine and one of the best salads I ever had...didn´t expect that here in the country of rice and beans :-)

Ok - off for a coffee..hope everyone is fine - Hasta luego! :-)
xx Janine

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Comments

[Uwe]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch
Hallo Ninni, alles Gute und Liebe zu Deinem Geburtstag. Weiterhin viel Spaß und Erfolg bei Deinen Spanish Lessons und Abenteuern. Pass gut auf Dich auf und denk daran, uns mit Nachrichten zu versorgen.