Blogs from Baños, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 39

After a few too many Mojito cocktails the night before we all got up and Andrea and me went for a steam bath in the hostel. Basically, you sit in a wooden box and turn up the steam until you can take no more! Several of these sessions interspersed with being towelled and hosed down with cold water is supposed to help your skin and detox you - don´t know if it did that but it was damn nice anyway and the guy jet washed some on my bruises which I am covered in at the moment and they are disappearing now! We then had breakfast and were chatting to Jen and Kevin an Irish couple we had met the night before. We decided to attempt the Baños to Puyo bike ride - 60km of supposedly ... read more

More photos for your delectation! Horseriding was great - Hannah hadn´t done it since she was 13 so we were hoping to take it easy but in true Ecuadorian gaucho style we set off at a full pelt gallop with me feeling slightly guilty and hoping she would be ok. Wasn´t like that the whole way - just most of it! We were probably the nuisance of all the villages we galloped through - Ecuadorian equivalent of Boy Racers on Southend sea front. The guide Wilson was on a very fast horse and I kept trying to race him - unfortunately Rocillo just couldn´t cut the mustard! The horses were really well looked after and we got back to some food and also chatting to Marcello (4 years old who I put a photo up of) ... read more

Hello all, Well first of all I would like to say goodbye to a wonderful friend of mine, Cindy Arrens, who recently passed from a long but well fought battle with cancer. She will be missed by everyone who was fortunate enought to have met her, myself being, in no way, an exception to that. Goodbye Cindy, we will all miss you very much. As for me I have finally left Quito for good after a sad goodbye with the friends from my hostel. It sure was a great month but it is good to be on the road again. I am travelling with a British friend, Tessa, although our plans have changed a little bit. Right now I am in Banos, a touristy little town about an hour from Rio Bamba (my original destination) to ... read more

While I was in Quito, I decided to visit the Museum of Natural History. It was pretty much a bust. The displays were falling apart, and were not very informative. I did use the library to look up what that little amarillo creature was. I think it was an Andean Porcupine, but there was no picture, so who knows? One interesting thing at the museum was that among many deserved slots, Walt Disney was featured on their wall of "Important Men of Science." He was honored for his great animation of animals and the natural world. Hmmm. And not one woman was among them. Well, after much indecision, I ultimately decided to head to Baños for a few days. Baños is a laidback vacation destination for gringos and Ecuadoreans alike. It was nice. The town gets ... read more

Hola chicos! Hope everyone is getting ready for the festive celebrations back home. Cant get my head round the fact that christmas is so soon. Anyway Happy christmas to you all. I´m hoping to spend my christmas deep in the amazon. My time teaching is nearly coming to an end. I´ll be sad to leave the kids but hopefully they have had some fun in my lessons. One school are off to sing some songs in a nearby town and hopefully they will do a rendition of we wish you a merry christmas. A lot has happened since i last updated the site. December is party month in baños and the whole place is pretty crazy with loads of people and live music etc. In baños the parties started with a big parade of the candidates ... read more