Baños and Beyond

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Okay, I realize this isn't a Galápagos blog, but I promise it's coming! It's going to take me awhile to finish writing it (I don't want to leave anything out), and it may not even be posted until I get back to the States. But I had an incredible time and can't wait to share it with all of you. 😊

In other news . . .

I returned to the mainland on Sunday, December 11. I had received word from Brenna and Ami that they were going to be in Baños that evening, so I decided to hop on a Baños-bound bus once I got to Guayaquil. Two of my fellow Cormorant passengers, Chris and Betsy, decided to join me. (They were planning on spending a night in Guayaquil and then heading to Baños the next day, but they didn't really like Guayaquil the first time and the prospect of traveling with a fellow English-speaker was apparently too good to resist. On top of that, my Spanish is better -- I know, scary -- so it was a good deal all around. I also really like Chris and Betsy, so it was a good arrangement for me too. It sure beat spending hours on a bus alone, that's for sure!)

We arrived in Baños around 10 pm (ugh) and were rescued by Brenna and Ami, who escorted us to the hostal they had found (Plantas y Blanco). It was a really nice hostal, especially following seven nights in a cramped boat cabin. I honestly didn't mind my cabin aboard the boat, but having lots of extra space (and a shower separate from the toilet!) was marvelous. In spite of my fatigue (it had been a really long day of traveling) I couldn't help but gush about the trip to Ami and Brenna for awhile before heading to bed. Every time I stood or sat still, though, it felt like the ground was moving. A week on a boat will do that to you, I guess 😊

The next day (Monday) was a pretty lazy day. We did laundry, ate several meals and wandered around Baños. I was feeling really out of it for most of the day, so this was fine with me. And Baños is a pleasant, colorful town, which makes it a good place to relax. In the morning I ran into Brian and Adrienne, two other people from my Galápagos tour, so I had to listen to Brenna and Ami tease me about replacing them with new friends and being popular. Sheesh. The abuse I put up with!

Tuesday was a little more exciting. In the morning we rented bikes, and hit the road bound for Puyo (although we didn't make it that far). The road is mostly downhill the entire way, and has several nice waterfalls as well, so it's great for biking. I absolutely loved it. The scenery was incredible -- huge, green mountains everywhere with billowing cumulus clouds above and behind them. On the way back we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck, which thrilled me to no end. What a perfect way to end our trip, I thought over and over.

Wednesday we had a date with some horses. We, along with a less-than-interested guide, went horseback riding up into the hills (and then back down again) near Baños for four hours. It was an interesting trip. Brenna was on a rather ornery horse who had some, uh, digestive problems, and spent a good portion of the trip farting on me and my horse, who had the misfortune of following behind them. At one point (just after we'd left the main road and were heading downhill) my horse decided she'd had enough, and passed Brenna's horse (at the worst possible moment, of course). This didn't last long, as Brenna's horse passed us up again. The next time my horse tried to pull around them, Brenna's horse tried to bite mine! It was about this time that we decided to walk our horses down the mountain, which didn't take too much longer (and helped our nerves). Over all it was an interesting excursion. 😊

Wednesday afternoon we hit the road for Quito, where we spent two nights at Posado del Maple. We took care of our Visa issue (no $200 fine for us!), picked up our luggage from SAE and ran various errands. This morning we left the bulk of our stuff at the hostal and took a bus north to Mitad del Mundo, a very touristy site on the equador. I had a blast hopping back and forth across the equador, and made Brenna take a picture of me balancing on the line, tee hee hee. We skipped out on the museums, and instead found a bus to Otavalo (well, it took more than one bus, but it all worked out okay). Which is where I am now. And will be until . . . well, I'm not entirely sure. We're definitely going to the market tomorrow morning (yippee!) and will be back in Quito by mid-day Sunday, but whether or not we're going to spend tomorrow night in Otavalo is your guess as good as mine! Anyway, BrennAmi are currently waiting for me, so I'm off. Hope all is well with you! Email/call me if you can! 😊

em

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Comments

[ray]

so how are the people of the country treating you? how do you exchange monies? what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

[shamrock]

So many questions! The people here are friendly, and most of them are very patient with my Spanish. Ecuador actually is on the U.S. dollar, so I haven't had to exchange money (although bills larger than a $10 -- sometimes even a $5 -- are very difficult to break, as no one ever seems to have change). What's interesting about the money, though, is that even though they use U.S. currency, they also have their own coins. And as far as that last question goes, well, when I know the answer I'll let you know :)

[u r]

ok, thanks for answering me, see you soon!