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Published: September 1st 2005
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Hotel Palace in Baños
Our hotel with the spa and speedos was just down this street in front of the waterfall. Hi All,
This has been quite a packed week, including an overnight trip to the spa town of Baños, the packing up and leaving our home in Riobamba, heading up to Quito and an overnight trip to Otavalo.
We´re in Quito at the moment, and will be basing ourselves here for the rest of our time in Ecuador (until the 15th). Last weekend, we took a trip from Riobamba to Baños for some much needed spa activities. But, since nothing in this country occurs without some sort of adventure, we must tell you of our journey.
To begin with, there are currently two roads open between Riobamba to Baños, which is located to the northeast. One road which has consistently been open takes two hours by bus as it is a somewhat roundabout journey. The other road, the "new" road, has only recently been opened to public traffic after a number of years of dysfunction due to mudslides and the road having been washed out. This road only takes 45 minutes by bus. "Luckily", we were able to take the new road as it was declared open about a week or two before our trip. However, open by Ecuadorian
Loom Guy
We ducked into this tiny Baños shop to find a dude working his loom. Cool. standards is much different than open in Canada. This road, much like the hair-raising road between Riobamba and Cuenca, meanders its way in hairpin turns along a sheer cliff. Unfortunately, they have decided that "open" simply means vehicles can pass without too much danger. Without TOO MUCH danger. They bulldozed the wet earth to create the new path along the mountainside, but at points the road is still undercut and no shoring has been applied either underneath the road or above it where rock slides threaten to slam into the bus and tip it over the cliff. Needless to say, Nick clutched the headrest in front of him in a death grip everytime the bus went around a corner.
One funny thing that happened during the ride occurred as we approached a makeshift bridge over one of the washed out sections. The bridge consisted of two metal ramps, one for each tire---as we approached, we heard the bus honking and slow down for a moment, and then continue on its way. As we came around the next turn, we were able to see two young boys UNDERNEATH the bridge, popping their heads up between the metal ramps, and enjoying
Sponge Bob
Sponge Bob (or Bob Esponja) is freakin´everywhere in this country. Don´t worry, Eric, we bought you two of these finger puppets. the din as vehicles traversed immediately above them.
Safety first.
Anyways, we had to endure this bus ride to and from Baños, and are glad that we don´t ever have to do it again. Baños though, was a thoroughly enjoyable place. We stayed at the Hotel Palace, which has its own private spa facilities in addition to the public baths located down the street. Our favourite haunts were the steam room and the cold bath, while we were somewhat disappointed by the "hot tub", which is not as hot as it should be and was constantly filled with men in speedos. EWWWWW!
We ate a wonderful dinner that night (Saturday) at a barbecue place (perrillada in Spanish) and then hopped on a wild street rollercoaster for some drunken laughs. These rollercoasters are in most small towns, and consist of a number of cars connected together and decorated as a worm, dragon, etc....kind of like taking one of the kiddie rides from Playland or one of the Windsor downtown festivals and making them road worthy. Bizarre.
After coming back from Baños, we quickly packed up our stuff and said goodbye to the big green house ("Casa Verde")
Us in Otavalo
The Otavalo gang (Sarah and Nick, Eve, Eve´s mom Audrey, and Audrey´s friend Karen). Sarah is taking the photo. that was our home, as well as goodbye to our wonderful Ecuadorian friends that lived only two blocks away in our neighbourhood. This nice couple and their two sons have befriended, helped, and sold beer to our friends Mike and Eve over the past couple of years, and treated us no differently. It was kind of sad and weird to leave this place we have called home for the past month and a half.
Arriving back in Quito, we checked back into the hostal that has become our little meeting place in the capital city, The Reina Victoria, but only stayed the night as we took off the following day for an overnight trip to Otavalo, the centre of the fabric industry in Ecuador. We enjoyed the market but were able to control ourselves and didn´t get sucked into too many purchases.
Before we left for Otavalo, however, we took some time out to head up the hill to the Guayasamin gallery overlooking Quito city. Guayasamin was an artist and architect from Ecuador who only recently passed away (1999). We had seen his work (or reproductions of it) all over the city and loved his technique of featuring hands and faces in all his paintings. We were lucky enough to get an english guide for the tour, and she explained how and why he painted the things he did. Some of his art looks very depressing and despondent, but he lived through most of the 20th century and as such saw many awful and violent things happen, so he painted the pain and suffering of innocent victims through these horrible events. He focused a lot on South American events such as the Bay of Pigs, but also incorporated many different colours into his art to represent not only all the indigenous cultures in South America but around the world as well.
We managed to pick up a canvas print of one of his works that symbolizes his hopes for the awakening of South America from its history of oppression in the near future.
At the moment we are sitting here extremely excited because we have booked a trip to the Galapagos islands!!!! The trip starts tomorrow morning at 6 AM when the travel agency we dealt with picks us up and wisks us away to the airport, where we then fly out to the islands and join a boat for an 8 day tour. We chose 8 days over 4 or 5 because we can get to a wider range of islands, and hey, if we´re doing this once-in-a-lifetime thing, we´re going to do it all.
Therefore, we will be incommunicado for the next 8 days, but we promise to have some stunning pics (and some blue-footed boobies) for the next time we write.
Love to all,
Sarah and Nick
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Julia
non-member comment
Nick, I have one word for you...SHAVE!! I didn't even recognize you in the pictures!