Day 6 Saturday

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After a terrible night sleep (noise neighbors partying all night) I woke up at 8:30 on a mission. I grabbed some pastries and a bottle of water and had to hotel call a cab for me. I packed all my bags and jumped in the cab to the main bus station at the South end of town. After a 40 minute cab ride and $11 cab fair I was at the bus station Quitumbe. A little overwhelmed at first, I collected myself and found the correct ticket counter for the one of the buses to Banos de Agua Santa (Baths of the holy water).



It was a beautiful day to travel as the weather was clear and sunny. Once out of the city the landscape of the Andes Mountains was breathtaking. The highway cut through the mountains as there was beautiful peaks, farms, small towns, and huge mountains surrounding the highway. The bus ride was interesting in itself, bands would jump on and play for a half an hour until the next stop selling CDs and collecting tips. Food vendors would do the same. The bus would stop in small cities and towns to pick up people and occasionally it would stop on the side of the highway to do the same. After a little over 4 hours we arrived in Banos.



After getting off the bus I was starving for food as I did not really eat a normal breakfast. I stopped at one of the first restaurants I saw and had a good lunch for $3.50. Then I wanted to find the hostel I read about. After wandering around the small town for 30 minutes, I asked a cab driver where the hostel was and it was a 4 minute walk up the hill to the little hostel Princess Maria. I did not have reservations but there was rooms open. I was greeted by a nice gentleman Victor who showed me around and got me set up. I then took a shower (the best one I had since arriving in the country with hot water and amazing water pressure).



After getting dressed I hit the town. It was very happening being a Saturday night. I ended up eating some a little meal and proceeded to explore the town. I walked almost the whole town in 30-45 minutes and came upon a very crowded street. They were having a downhill mountain/urban bike contest/event. The riders would come out of a hiking trail in the woods and into the street. There was 3 huge jumps down the main hill where people were packed to watch the event. People were on the roofs, balconies, and in the street watching these riders fly across these jumps (approx 20 feet from take off to landing) and the crowds would go crazy as the riders went by. Most of the riders would land safe although I saw three crashes that were very brutal (the riders seemed to get very injured being immediately rushed to the hospital. After the even there was music through the night as people were partying and getting wild. I eventually headed back to my hostel around 1 am and the party probably did not stop until close to sunrise.



Banos de Agua Santa - baths of the holy water - is named after the natural hot springs in the town, 2 of them. It sits at the bottom of an active Valcano (last major eruption in 1999 had to evacuate the whole city).

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