Blogs from Baños, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 7

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 ... read more

Friday 12thDecember 2014 On Tuesday morning we left Quito for a five hour bus journey down “Volcano Alley”, to Baños de Agua Santa in the province of Tungurahua, in the central Andes region. It seemed like a longer journey; we are suffering from altitude sickness again, but it is much less severe this time around. After three weeks in Ecuador, we have finally found the “economical Ecuador” that people speak of, because this is a cheap country to travel in, except for the capital and the Galapagos. The first bus, from Quito to the town of Quitumbe, cost $0.12 each, for a one hour journey. The second bus, for a three and a half hour journey, cost just $3.50 each. So for $7.64 (£4.85 or €6.15) we both travelled through the Andes, past volcanoes and mountains, ... read more

Banos - Day 16 We were planning to visit the waterfalls today by bicycle. But Bob twisted his knee coming down the mountain yesterday, so we decided biking wasn't a good option. I was relieved because I was a little nervous about cycling on the mountain roads! We talked with the lady here at the hostel, and she suggested we take a bus. The bus would be the blue bus to Rio Verde, which would be our last stop. We hopped on the bus, asked the driver to let us out at Agoyan Cascadas, the first of three falls we wanted to see, and we were off. The bikers ride on the same road as the traffic. We decided the bus was a good option, because there was construction on the first part of the road, ... read more

Banos - Day 14 Today was a long travel day, destination Banos. We took a cab to the bus station to catch a 7:30am bus to Ambato. There are no direct buses from Cuenca to Banos, so had to change buses in Ambato for Banos. The Ambato bus was a seven hour ride, $8.00 per person. As we exited Cuenca, we went by huge green hills and valleys. Many sheep and cows. The houses on the hills were very nice, more affluent than we expected. This turned out to be a slow bus, making many stops. We must have went by over a thousand cows and now understand why there is so much cheese in Ecuador. Passed through a couple of small towns, Biblian and Azogues. Saw some unusual sights in these areas--a whole pig on ... read more

Last night's sleep in Baños was much better than the two previous night's. For one thing, the noise level within the hotel was not bad, and though the hotel was on the busy highway going from Baños to the Amazon basin, there was little traffic noise from the street. The hotel was like most Ecuadorian hotels in that it was a family run affair. The desk clerk was the nephew of the owner, had spent a number of years abroad, and spoke English well. He was also frustrated by the keyboard of the guest computer as well. After a nice breakfast of rolls, juice and coffee, I headed into town. So that I wouldn't have to lug my heavy backpack around all day, I thought I might find my next night's accommodation and see if I ... read more

Knapp habe ich aufgrund eines Stundenschlafs im Bus den Ausstieg in Ambato verpasst, privat wurde ich dann zurück ans Terminal gefahren und konnte um 21:30 den letzten Bus nach Baños noch nehmen. 40 Minuten später befand ich mich in meinem Hostel, mit Blick auf den Vulkan Tungurahua, wäre er nicht hinter einer dicken Wolkenschicht. Am nächsten Tag unternahm ich sogleich eine Tour, die zu allen Wasserfällen der Region fährt, auch zum bekanntesten den Pailon del Diablo. Eindrücklich stürzt hier eine Wassermenge zu Boden, man kann sogar hinter diesen gewaltigen Wasserfall gehen. Weiter habe ich am Nachmittag Baños, das als Ausgangspunpkt für viele Wanderungen und Extremsportarten gilt, besichtigt. Schöne, kleine Pärke stehen wie auch viele Restaurants und Läden. Da nicht Hauptsaison ist, hatte es nicht besonders viele Touristen. Doch ich genoss die Atmosphäre des ruhigen Baños. Auch ... read more