Bikes and Trains

Well, we spent a few more days than planned in Banos. Both of us needed some rest time, apparently some of the food we ate didn´t like living in our stomachs. So we slept, ate sim

ple foods (if any) and got better. Phew! Banos is a very touristy little town. It got it´s name because of the baths that make this town so popular. The naturally heated springs (due to the nearby volcano, Tungurahua) have a lot of their water re-routed and used in these mineral baths. The volcano last errupted in August, but we were fortunate enough not to have any problems. There are hostels and restaurants on everywhere, and every corner has a tour company trying to sell tickets for rafting, climbing, horseback riding and biking trips. They also seem to be slightly more aware about the environment in Banos, because there were actually garbage bins on the sidewalks...only these bins were shaped like clown heads and Bart Simpson heads, and others. Anyone with a clown-phobia would not do well here.

We did a few small hikes around the hills here. One went up a huge staircase to a large statue of La Virgen del Agua Santa, who watches over the town. We also hiked to a HUGE canyon where we entertained ourselves with throwing rocks over the bridge. That day we were able to see the volcano, which lived up to it´s name (as a volcano I mean); it was very dark and cone shaped and big. One other hike took us to the other side of the valley where we had some great views of the town, and got the chance to cross yet another sketchy bridge. Ecuador doesn´t seem to have enough waterfalls or sketchy bridges. We also seem to be finding these little locked windows set into the rocks everywhere which are all holding some sort of shrine or monument to some saint. Hmmm...

We got up early one morning and went to the baths, but even at 7:30am on a Sunday they are crowded. There were three pools, a cold and chlorinatedpool , a hot mineral pool and a very hot mineral pool. We only braved the hot pools as the sun wasn´t even over the hills yet.

And then on Monday we went on a bike ride! There is a famous ride from Banos down through the valley to Puyo, 60 km away. We rented some bikes and got a map and some lunch packed and set off. Most of the ride is down hill, but there are a few stretches which had us working hard. The highway goes through tunnels at several points, some of which are up to 2 km long! Fortunately we only had to ride our bikes through the first one (which was scarry enough) and all the others had bike detours. Colin took a video of his ride through the first tunnel (he almost wiped out while filming) and we´ll try and get it uploaded at some point, it´s very funny! We stopped and locked our bikes and hiked down to see a waterfall, Pailon del Diablo, and stood on yet another sketchy bridge, this one much more so than the others. Then continued the bike trip down a great hill (missing another waterfall) to a small place called Rio Negro, where we ate lunch and swam and played in a cold, clear river. Since the final stretch of the trip to Puyo is mostly uphill (as we were told), we decided to end our trip and jump on the next passing bus back to Banos (bikes fit perfectly underneath). A great bike trip!

We left Banos the next day and went onto Riobamba, where we stayed one night and woke early the next morning to catch a 7am train down to Alausi. This is the only stretch of train tracks that have been repaires in Ecuador after numerous landslides due to El Ñino, and it has become very touristy because they let you ride on top of the single train car to see the scenery. Unfortunately the tickets were sold out, but we waited and eventually were able to buy tickets to sit inside the car. After passing Alausi, the train takes a little detour down to La Nariz del Diablo (the devil´s nose), an area where there was alot of difficulty in building the tracks due to the cliff. The solution was to create several switchbacks, and so the trip has one of the conductors jumping off the train every so often to switch the tracks before the train decends backwards down another stretch. Once at the bottom of the valley they switched everyone from the inside to the top of the car, so we got to ride on the top afterall! It was very wobbly and uncomfortable, but well worth the wait!

After our trip on the roof of the train, we had to catch a bus to Cuenca (4 hour trip). The bus was mostly full of gringos (tourists) doing the same trip as ourselves. A few times along the way our bus was stopped by the cops to check the driver´s papers, there was obviously some sort of problem, because we had to pull over for several minutes both times while the driver and bus-boy got off and were talking with the cops. The second time we drove into a nearby town with the cops, and then were eventually taken to another bus and had to switch! We´re not sure exactly what happened to the driver or bus, but our trip took an hour and a half longer than it was supposed to. Argh.

We decided to go out for sushi, having passed a sign for it and not being able to forget, (Cuenca is a larger city, so we have those options right now), and ended up treating ourselves...sushi, wine, dessert ...yum ! It was a fun evening. We are here for a few days, planning to see some pre-Inca ruins and some other art and then continue south.

Updated map.

Ciao!