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Published: August 11th 2006
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Heaven is a Playgound
No caption needed. Just look at this place. Ever play ball in such beauty? Hey everyone, Sorry for such a large gap in between entries but i've been extremely busy the past week since I went to banos, and the other is before Banos there was nothing exciting to talk about.
My first weekend away from the farm was freakin rockin! I hopped on a bus thursday night and rode three hours south to the turist city of banos, Yes the same city that nearly got eaten alive by a volcano only a few weeks back. Banos is in a valley surrounded by lush mountain side all the way around. People come here for the adventure sports they offer and the fine international cuisine, I for one was no different. I wanted to do some rafting, biking etc. while eating pizza and a good burger at night.
I arrived to my hostel on thursday night with no problems. It was a nice, quiet hostel at the end of the main drag owned by a really sweet old couple. Once the lady showed me my room, i dropped all my stuff off and immediately went out for dinner and a beer, which happened to be the best fajitas and corona i've had in my life
waterfall
one of the waterfalls ( they probably weren't that good, but after rice/eggs for a month that marinated meat w/ hot sauce was godly ). Thursday night in banos was lacking activity so I called it an early night by watching "According to Jim". my first tv program since leaving ecuador.
Friday morning I woke up early, ate a wonderful breakfast of croissants, eggs, fresh strawberry juice, and a strong coffee all for 1$ then went down to one of the 100 adventure travel agencies advertising activities from whitewater rafting to repelling down waterfalls. GeoTours was recommended in the Lonely Planet we have so I gave them a whirl. 5 bucks later I had an all steel mountain bike rented for the entire day and a map to guide myself along, considering I am TERRIBLE with directions, this map did me no good. I got lost a few times before I headed in the right direction and was on my way. The journey I planned on making was about 70K away, mostly downhill to the jungle port city of Puyo. Along the way there are literally hundreds of waterfalls and amazing mountain views, as well as a few really long, dark and wet
Montanas
Mountains surrounding Banos tunnels through mountains which they say not to bike through. The first tunnell came up and a slow ass turist bus went through the tunnel, so i followed into the pitch dark ( there's no light whatsoever, so it's really really dark). The bus continued to perch along the single lane road and left no space for passing on the sides so I had to crawl behind this bus for about 10 minutes. Not knowing there was a turn around point just ahead I was getting really pissed off while the people on top of the bus hooted, hollered, laughed, and took pictures of me slowly pedalling behind them. After a few more mintues of this non-sense, 2 ecuadorians pulled up next to me and started to chat about how shitty this bus was., but they calmed me down quickly because they informed me of the god sent turnaround point. It turns out the 2 guys are whitewater rafting guides with another company in Banos and they were doing the same trek as me that day. They also knew the owner of the bungee jumping operation that just so happened to be right after the bus turnaround. I knew I
Getting Ready
Maybe just a tad scared at this point wanted to go jumping before I came to ecuador but didn't know it would be so cheap. When i say cheap, I really mean free. Apparently the spanish classes i've taken helped me negotiate with the locals when it comes to booking tours. I told the guys I was going rafting with GeoTours, the same company as the bike, and I was only thinking of bungee jumping. They told me I could jump for free and go on the same white water rafting tour but for cheaper, chalk one up for the good guys.
As I approached the bridge with my harness and helmet on, I took a quiick peak below me and notcied some gushing rapids and razor sharp rocks roughly 200 yds below me, this didn't even scare me, kind of gave a jolt of adenaline. The guy hooked the carabiners to my harness and helped me stand on top of the bridge. Roughly three seconds later I gave my best leap off the bridge and was free falling towards that really sharp rock I saw earlier. A few really loud screams and a little girlish squeak later, I was floating above the river and being appluaded by
The River
Birds eye view before the jump those damn people who were on the bus, now watching me jump from bridges. Bungee jumping is very fun, however the harness needs to go though your legs like a huge diaper. After free falling, the bungee tightens as well as the harness...only the harness tightens around the family jewels, which is where the girlish yelp came from. I'd much rather do skydiving again than bungee jumping only for the sake of my two loved ones.
Once the feeling came back to friends, i got back on the bike and headed downwards toward Puyo once again, but without the two guides. They didn't want to make the trek that far and thought I was nuts for doing so. I got the info about there rafting agency and told them i'd stop by in the morning to do the whitewater rafting with them. All was good for the next 10 minutes or so, because Newtons's law of gravity is full of shit. In my world, or atleast in Ecuador it's the opposite. Whatever goes down, definitely needs to go back up. The next 4.5 hours were spent battling massive climbs accompanied by tiny downhill descents. There was no way I was turning back howeever, I needed to get to Puyo and catch a bus back to banos.
I got back into banos really really tired, sore, hungry, and thirsty. I was on my way to the municpal hot baths when i passed a group of guys playin hoops so I stopped and played a bit, a lil' rusty but didn't have any trouble handling the south american ballers. By now the sun began to set and my legs began to cramp so i brought the bike back and headed for a shower, another beer, and a delicious pizza topped w/ onions, mushromms, peppers, ham,pineapple, and sausage...mmm mm good. my first pizza since leaving the good ole' P Murfs.
Saturday started off well a group of 3 others plus a guide loaded the truck with the raft and all the gear and headed towards rio pastaza, which contains class 3 and 4 rapids. 30 minutes into the drive we were halted on the highway by a traffic jam. The rain from the night before caused a freakin avalanche and the highway was blocked with boulders and mud. Lots of bulldozers were busy clearing the way and about 45 minutes later we were off again. We got to the river, hopped in our wetsuits, were briefed on how to ride in the raft, and were on our way. I got appointed captain of our boat so i got to sit in the very front and help guide the raft.
After one trip down the river, i'm totally hooked on rafting. It's so much fun being at the mercy of the river and going thru those rapids getting smashed by waves. The same company offers a kayak version of the river and whitewater kayaking seems to be my next big goal. Hopefull sometime soon I can take the 3 day training course and kayak the same river.
After the rafting we ate at a restuarant overlooking the river we just conquered and headed back to banos to rest, shower, eat and party. The guides also worked at a bar so we got lots of free drinks and also introduced to many of their pretty friends. After drinking and dancing the night away, my money was all gone and i had to wake up early to catch a bus back to the farm for a days work.
Banos was so much fun, I'm looking into finding a place i can work/volunteer for a bit while I do the kayaking trip. We'll see what happens, no plan is the best plan.
This weekend is my bday and we're throwing a party in our disco with a big BBQ then we're all heading into Machachi to dance the night away. It should be a good time.
Happy Birthday Nicole, we're getting really old. Mid twenties and thirties now, yikes!
Also, Happy Birthday nales...always fun partying for our dual bdays, hope yours is good.
I'll try to post more often, so for the long the read.
I miss everyone, be well, keep groovin, spread love..I'm Out
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Juice
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Happy Birthday Ivy!! I hope you have an awesome weekend and get good and wasted for me as I know you will. It sounds like you had alot of fun last weekend, cant do that shit in Wisco thats for sure...Be safe, miss ya buddy!! Peace out