Blogs from Baños, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 9

Aš dieną norėjau pradėti anksti, bet kol Marcela pasiruošė eiti į miestą jau buvo 10 ryto. Papusryčiavę nuterėm apžiūrėti vietinį zoologijos sodą. Miestelis nedidelis, tad ir zoologijos sode turėtų būti daugiau vietiniai žvėreliai. Ir iš tiesų zoologijos sodas gan nedidelis, bet yra keletasa tikrai įdomių gyvūnų: jaguaras, puma, kondorai, bet didžiausią įspūdį man paliko vėžliai. Ne šiaip paprasti vėžliukai, bet didieji vėžliai atgabenti iš galapagų !! Aš kaip labai blogas turistas, peršokau per tvorelę ir norėdamas su jais nusifotkint, juos paglostyt. Tikrai įspūdingo dydžio gyvūnai sveriantys kelis šimtus kilogramų. Išėję iš šio zoologijos sodo, pamatėm priešais dar vieną, bet atrodo, kad čia atskirai reik mokėti. Bet kadangi kasininkės nebuvo, prasmukom nesusimokėję. Čia pagrinde paukščiai, kelios žuvys ir gyvatės. Labai daug įvairių skirtingų spalvų fazanų, papūgėlių, taip pat flamin... read more

We had a really good sleep-in at La Casa Verde, the bed was super-comfy and we wandered downstairs for breaky. The hostel is very 'eco-friendly'; which apparently means they must serve really nice fresh food for breaky! We both had massive bowls of granola, fruit salad (with strawberries which Rach proceeded to pick out) and yogurt. Followed by the freshest bread we'd had since we were last at Bakers Delight. The hostel manager (can't remember her name but was super nice to us), even brought out a little jar of Vegemite and said that apparently all Aussie guests get excited by this little jar of black stuff. We went back to our room which was located right near the wi-fi router which meant we could stream the French Open final! So we sat and watched Nadal ... read more

At the beginning of the week I arrived in Baños - the adventure capital of Ecuador. The small town is set in a valley that is surrounded by sheer mountains and even an active volcano. It is where the thrill seekers congregate to partake in the likes of white water rafting, canyoning and bridge jumping. I set myself up a a new hostel just on the outskirts of town (which in Baños means that it was a five minute walk to the Center of town instead of a three minute one) called La Casa del Molino Blanco which was amazing. The beds had duvets on them and the cleaner not only folded all of my clothes for me, but put everything in logical piles depending on what category they fell into. The hostel also had amazing ... read more

Wrapped up my Banos trip, focus was on Spanish classes but plenty of hiking opportunity and wanted to get dialed into vegetatation, soils, stability before Malinguapamba (MP). Banos is warmer than MP and sets on metamorphic rock with volcanics above. Plenty of deep (Mull) soils, very well vegetated, bewildering mix of plants. Remarkably stable for such steep land and rainfall (this is the headwaters for the Amazon). Long history of people living and growing crops on land at and greater than 100% which is the grade for a black diamond mogul ski run in Colorado. Cattle are tied up to a stake for grazing each day, so they don't do as much damage as if they were more free to roam. Next to Latacunga on way to MP.... read more

Friday 28/12/12 – We woke early, ate left over pizza for breaky and prepared for the short ride to the city of Banos - nestled in the valley below a volcano that started erupting just a few weeks ago. With fingers crossed, the bikes fired up and we hit the road. A short one hour ride ended up stretching towards two hours when we missed the turn off to Banos and wrongly guessed the next road would also take us there. After countless small towns, sharp right turns and one big town consisting almost entirely of roadside stalls selling denim jeans and jackets, we crossed a bridge spanning a deep canyon and arrived in the city of Banos. We pulled into a hotel and after a pleasant chat with the owner unpacked our gear and locked ... read more