Escape from Baños

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On Sunday, November 13 I got up early and caught a bus out of Chugchilan headed for Latacunga. I was comfortable for about five minutes. Then a mother and her horrendously carsick child demanded the seat next to me. I endured four hours of vomiting and screaming. After the Dominican Republic, its nothing new, but still as annoying as ever.
In Latacunga I changed buses and headed for Baños, a small tourist town famous for its hot springs. It sits on a massive volcano. In fact, four years ago the Ecuadorian government evacuated the entire town because volcanologists (is that really a profession? I should check that out before I go back to school) said it was about to blow. It never did, but you can see what chaos it would have caused by checking out the painting in the local cathedral. Its so weird. A dozen paintings hang on the walls of the church depicting people burning alive by slow moving lava. Catholics are so crazy! Anyway, tourists also go to Baños to bike the 65 km road that drops 6000ft into the Amazon Basin. I didn’t want to bike the whole thing so I decided to bike to Pailon del Diablo, a huge waterfall about half way down. As I turned the corner to leave town I nearly ran over Buffalo and Claudin, who happened to be doing the same trip. So I had two biking partners.
Biking is a fantastic way to travel and if I were to do it all over again, I would find a partner (LONGFIELD?) and bike everywhere in Ecuador.
On the way down we passed the Agoyan hydroelectric dam. Later that night, solely by chance (or was it?), I read about its history in John Perkins´s “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”. Perkins describes it as “A gigantic monster…That hideous, incongruous wall is a dam that blocks the rushing Pastaza River.” Perkins was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador and later became an “Economic Hitman,” encouraging the international financing for pharonic construction projects such as the Agoyan Dam in order to put countries like Ecuador into permanent debt. Another job opportunity? Just kidding, but not really. Anyway, the road descended gently through the valley until we reached Pailon del Diablo (see picture). I easy pleasant ride.
That night I met Sarah something something, a raving liberal lunatic (the kind that give liberals like me a bad name) from Brooklyn. I made the unfortunate mistake of having dinner with her. Over appetizers she nearly threw the table at me when we disagreed over the Iraq situation. Frightened, I quickly finished my dinner, feigned a yawn, looked at my wrist as if I had a watch and said I needed to get some sleep. I ran home, got up early the next morning and ran to the bus station. As I slouched back into my chair, I heard, “Well gooly-gee, are you going to Cuenca too?” “Oh Christ! Its her!” I thought. I turned around and was relieved to see my two friends Buffalo and Claudin. Off to Cuenca…

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Photos

Buffalo
Good views of the waterfall from this bridge. There was a sign next to the bridge that said ¨Four People ONLY!¨ Buffalo counts for at least three.

Comments

[Longfield]

Better endings
I wish you had given an alternate ending to the story (like with the mustard story) for the dinner date with sarah. Such as..."I palmed the back of her head and pushed her face into her plate and said I'll tell you what I think of Iraq." This passive attitude will get you nowhere in life.

[Katie]

Precious Memories
I am happy to read that you were able to visit Banos. The night after I went there 7 years ago, I was so weak from nasty Bano empanada poisoning that I invited the dog to eat my barf instead of cleaning it up myself. Significantly, his name was Goloso, and he ate it all.