Baños

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After a few uneventful and dull days in Cuenca and Riobamba we headed east to Baños. That was what it looked like on a map anyway, unfortunately the eruption of a volcano a few years ago means we had to head north first and then east as a landslide had destroyed the road.

We arrived to find the town quite quiet and after checking into the hotel we had a chat with the hotel manager who told us their hotel was empty as the guests had left as they were scared of the volcano erupting as its been playing up recently (not the exact scientific term). They put us at ease by informing us of the evacuation procedures though, if it kicks off they would knock on our door and we would all run down the hill. This helpful reassurance combined with massive blasts in the early morning meant we didn´t get the best of sleep. The noises were in fact nothing to do with the volcano but instead another religious festival that for some reason they feel necessary to celebrate by setting off firecrackers at dawn. I got back to sleep easily enough but woke up a few hours later to find a rigid wide-eyed stress ball lying next to me who had not slept a wink and had spent the last few hours in a state of panic.

Despite all this I had a great couple of days in Baños, Lucy less so as she wasn´t feeling so great. We walked up the hill for a better view of the puffing volcano which was impressive and later I went on a solo mountain bike ride down the hill to see a series of waterfalls whilst Lucy rested in the hotel. I think Lucy was relieved though when we left town and was able to catch up on some sleep on the bus to Quito. We celebrated our safe arrival in Quito by getting drunk.

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Comments

[Jim Anderson]

volcano
was it Cotopaxi, or are there lots of volcanoes around there? Chimborazo is somewhere there as well, isn't it? Gracias por guardarnos informó y el reír - is babelfish any good?