Day 64: Buggying around Banos

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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 wipe the court of Ferrer; all the time Rach barracking for both players and ended in tears when Rafa accepted the trophy.

We got a taxi into town and took a look through the Artisan markets. We found this cool little key holder with a volcano and toucan painted on it. It's made of wooden but hopefully given its varnished and painted that we'll still be able to get it through customs!

We wandered over to Carrillo Hnos Tour Operator (remember this name and never book with them!) which we had been recommended to hire motorised buggies from. We had booked in yesterday to pick up our beast of a machine at 1pm. After leaving my licence with the bloke at the counter (which sort of defeats the purpose of a licence?), we were shown to our machine. The bloke showed how to turn it on (with the key) however to turn it off you had to go around the back and pull this wire out of the battery. Hmmm, this sounds a bit ominous. We jumped in, strapped in, helmet on, got a photo and then drove off to see the sites outside Banos. We hadn't driven all of 2 mins when we noticed that the front-right wheel was wobbling quite a bit. The left one was fine but the right looked like it could fall off at any time. We turned around and headed back to the tour operator and tried our best to explain the problem. They don't really speak a word of English but with our hands, indicated that the buggy wasn't safe and the wheel was about to fall off. The tour operator didn't really care, saying its no problem and off you go. So we did just that but after 5mins of driving out of town, the wobbling turned into this horrific metal-on-metal scraping noise that couldn't be good. Rach...very calmly ;-) indicated her preference would be to turn around and go back. I didn't disagree given this piece of shit was about to fall apart. So we limped back into town, all the while this horrific noise kept getting louder and louder with people in the streets looking at us and blocking their ears. The tour operator could hear us a mile away, came and got us on a motorbike and we parked back out the front. We tried to tell them we just wanted our money back, but they insisted we upgrade to a $20/hr 250cc buggy (ours was a $10/hr 150cc). We told them to bugger off, you aren't getting any more money out of us and demanded a refund. At first they weren't going to give us anything, insisting that we had pre-booked for 3 hours. I started to get a 'little' irate at this point, so they offered us $20 back (we'd paid $30) saying that we had gone for 30mins therefore we should pay for the time and petrol we used. I was starting to get particularly red in the face by this point (Rach was thinking I was going to hit him), particularly given they had put us in a dangerous vehicle. They ended up offering $25 refund, given that they had my licence too we accepted this, as this was worth more than the refund anyway. We walked away, me still steaming and vowing that we'd do our level best to communicate how shit this tour operator is (I told our hostel manager later that day who said she'd spread the word and I'll update trip advisor too). Never ever book with Carrillo Hnos.

We walked across the road to another operator (didn't get their name sorry) and we got ourselves booked in again for a buggy, telling them the horrific experience we had across the road and got assurances from them that their buggies were much safer (well, they would say that). We haggled them down to $10/hr and booked ourselves in for 2pm.

We were quite hungry by this point so we visited Art Cafe & Te for lunch, the #1 trip advisor place in Banos. And it didn't disappoint. For those trying to find it, its down past the Church off the beaten track a bit from the main square. It is the quirkiest little cafe, and we chose to sit out the front with swinging hammocks! I ordered a latte and it was the best coffee I'd had in ages. We both ordered Hawaiian crepes which were delicious. 2 drinks, 2 crepes = $9.80...what a lunch.

With the really nice lunch settling our nerves after our mornings debacle, we walked back up to hire our buggy, take 2. This time, it was MUCH better, no wobbly wheels, no strange noises...drove like a dream! We took the main rode out of town (which is called Ruta De Las Cascadas) and started to enjoy the views.

Our first stop was this hydro-electric dam, one of the biggest in Ecuador apparently and by the way the water was rushing through it looked to be generating a heap of electricity. We continued on-wards, always keeping as far right on the road as possible to let cars, buses and massive semi-trailers overtake us. The engine would rev out and we'd only be doing about 50kmh max! That was definitely fast enough though. The main highway took a route through the mountains, consisting of a series of tunnels borrowed through the earth. Luckily, at each tunnel, there was the 'tourist route' that allowed for bikes and buggies to detour around and take the scenic path around the outside of the mountains. The roads were cobbled, and we bumped and vibrated our way around. The views were amazing, and we kept stopping at vantage points to jump out, admire the views of the valley and waterfalls off in the distance. The buggy didn't have a handbrake or reverse gear, so each time I pulled up, I had to make sure I was on flat surface (or turn the wheel) to ensure it didn't roll off while we were out happy-snapping away. (For those worried if we'd roll off the edge, don't worry, there were big stone walls all around to stop us!)

We kept driving along, bypassing tunnels and then back onto the main road again. We passed numerous zip-lining, bridge jumping and cable cars places however our adrenalin wasn't pumping that much to partake in any of these (plus we had to get the buggy back by 5pm). The sun was shining and it was a really pleasant afternoon's drive, the wind in our hair (well, it kept blowing Rach's 'kid-sized' helmet off) and we'd laugh at the helpless bike riders, huffing and puffing there way along the same route. I'd tried to convince Rach initially that we should hire bikes and do the route, before we both noticed the buggy option.

We got to the last vantage point of the big waterfall (think it's called Pailon del Diablo), and parked the buggy in the village, with the waterfall way down in the valley below. We heard that it can take up to 2 hours round trip however given it was already 3.30pm, we'd have to get our skates on. The walk down is the easy part, nicely paved and stepped with the sound of little streams and mini-waterfalls all the way down. We knew we were approaching the big one when the deep rumbling noise started and the people heading in the opposite direction were saturated. We got to the 'tree-house' which sits just below, paid our $1.50 entrance fee and took the strairs towards the rumbling to see what all the fuss was about. First we felt the mist, then what felt like rain and came face-to-face with a wall of water gushing off the side of the mountain. Geez it was a powerful site, it was just a blur of water and mist looking down to where the water hit the ground. The waterfall generated its own wind, blasting us with a fine mist that immediately saturated us. After attempting a few snaps, we got down on our hands and knees and crawled along the path carved into the mountain and in behind the waterfall. The noise was deafening, with the vantage point about 1m away from the tumbling water. We could only stand their a matter of seconds before hurrying back down, drenched head-to-toe.

We took the path back to the tree-house and then along a suspended bridge that had a better panoramic view of the waterfall. Rach decided that it was a good spot for a handstand and I had to pose with some locals for a photograph. I checked the time, 4.20pm...hmmm, we had about 45mins to get the buggy back so we powered back up the hill (stopping for some strawberries dipped in chocolate). We drove back into Banos just as the sun was setting and returned the vehicle around 5.20pm. I sucked up to the tour operator, saying we'd had a great time and they were so much better than the place across the road. It seemed to work as they didn't charge us any extra for bringing the vehicle back 20mins late!!

For dinner, we strolled down to Quilombo Restaurant, again thanks to trip advisor. The restaurant was decorated in the most bizarre fashion, strainers used as light shades, weird statues and artwork. When the menus came out, we were totally confused. They were wooden blocks that made ordering like trying to solve a rubix cube. I settled on bbq ribs and Rach went (surprise surprise) the Hawaiian chicken. Both meals were excellent and I washed mine down with house red which was Argentinian Malbec, really good.



That completed our full day in Banos, definitely could've spent more time here exploring around however unfortunately its back to Quito tomorrow.

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Comments

[Frank Hanson]

Thank you so much for all the work you have done to keep us on board. I especially enjoyed your time on the Amazon - or its upper tributary. It reminded me of John Grisham's book "The testament" which as well as being a good yarn also takes seriously the plight of the local Indians. Love . Gramps

[pater]

you look like you are having a fun time buggerr about the buggy though I have had a really busy time at work actually didnt get home until 5 oclock tonight love to you both .Dad

[Mum 'n Dad]

Well you had a very exciting day driving your buggy around. You did well to get your money back from the first bloke, lucky there was another operator close by. That certainly was a massive waterfall and to be able to get in behind it as well. Loved the photos of your days adventures. The buggies are ideal for the tourist to see the sights. Stay safe and hear again from you soon. Ps one more night before we make it to Hervey Bay.