Note to Readers: If you ever come to Cuenca, I highly advise against eating the crepes at Fruitlados (located on the main square).
Being sick was bad enough, but I was terrified that I wouldn´t recover in time for my 7+ hour, overnight bus ride to Baños on Thursday. Luckily, by Thursday morning I was feeling somewhat better, and by that evening, was actually able to eat without issue. Good news for me, since my meal on Thursday night was, by far, the best meal I´ve had in Ecuador thus far. Paul was kind enough to offer me a ride to the bus terminal. Before he dropped me off, we ate at Tiestos. Tiestos, is a local favorite, where the food is prepared on metal skillets and set to simmer under large ceramic domes. The entire plate is then brought to your table, steaming hot, with an incredible assortment of side dishes. Seriously, this place was amazing.
After dinner, Paul drove me over to the bus station, where I jumped on board the northbound Santa Express, secured my valuables to my seat using my trusty ski lock (thanks for the tip, Dave), popped a few sleeping pills, and passed out for 6 hours before arriving in Ambato, where I then switched buses for the last leg of the trip to Baños.
Baños is located at the base of the still-active volcano, Tungurahua. In 1999 and 2006, residents of Baños were forced to evacuate because of volcanic activity. In 2008, there was also a minor eruption, but no damage was suffered by the town. Later in the weekend, I would have a chance to see some of the damage that occured on the other side of the mountain, but more on that later.
View of Downtown Banos
I originally thought I would be spending my weekend in Baños solo, but it turned out that my Montana friends and a few other people from my trip to Cajas were there already. It was really great to have a few hiking (and drinking) buddies waiting for me. I arrived at my hostel around 7:30 in the morning, and after a short nap, Ryan, Cody, and I started out on a hike up into the hills surrounding the town. Our goal was to make it to a tree house that an Australian traveler told me about. The hike was pretty strenuous (especially since I haven´t been running down here) and a bit strange since we were basically walking through people´s backyards the majority of the time. We even met a few friends along the way:
The long climb was well worth it as we approaced the ¨Casa del Arbol¨. I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
That night, we went out for dinner at this great Argentine restaurant right by our hostel with a Swiss guy named Andre who I met in Cajas. The food was delicious and the decor was hilarious. I wish I had pictures, but the lighting was awful inside and none of my photos came out well. After, we went out for a few beers, debated politics, and had a great night all in all.
I woke up Saturday morning, excited for the rafting trip I had signed up for when I first arrived in Baños. Since my excursion didn´t leave until 2 PM, I spent the morning reading on the roof deck at my hostel and catching some rays. I arrived at the rafting outfitter and was a bit intimidated when I realized that I was the only non-native Spanish speaker in my group, and the only person over the age of 21. Sweet, an afternoon with 8, 19-year-old Chilean girls. Perfect.
We set off in the van with our guides, but didn´t leave the city right away. In fact we circled the town center 6 times (for reasons unknown to me). I was beginning to think that I was being scammed, when 5 more people ran up to our van, jumped in, and we finally sped off. This kind of practice, I´m learning, is not uncommon in Ecuador. An empty seat on a rafting van (or a long-distance bus ride) is highly unlikely to remain vacant. While we were driving in circles, one of the rafting guides was running around town asking tourists if they wanted to join our group. Apparently, he was successful.
The Rio Patate runs into the Amazon and as we drove out of Baños, the surroundings began to look more and more jungle-like. The rafting far surpased my expectations as we floated past overflowing trees, small villages, and local kids playing in the water. All in all, it was a great day on the river. How could I have known that the most hair-raising part of my weekend wouldn´t be white water rafting, but getting out of Baños the next day.
Rio Patate, where our rafting trip ended.
Saturday night was mellow and when I woke up Sunday morning, I was already dreading the bus ride home. I said goodbye to Cody and Ryan at the bus station, and got on a bus to Riobamba. As of Aug. 2009 (the date when my Lonely Planet guidebook was published), this route was closed due to major damage suffered during one of the last volcanic eruptions. I came into Baños via a different route for this very reason. Clearly, the road had been repaired and buses were now free to travel the shorter route south.
Whoever the engineers are who gave the greenlight for the reopening of this road should be severely punished. This was, no joke, the sketchiest stretch of highway I have ever been on in my life. First of all, it was basically a one-way dirt track with huge chunks of ¨pavement¨ missing from where the lava came ripping down the side of the mountain. Second, there are many local people who thoroughly enjoy using the road as a dirtbike path. Third, on the right side of the road is a 300 ft drop into a ravine (and there are no guardrails). The old woman sitting on the other side of the aisle from me was praying outloud, crossing herself tirelessly, as she stole glances of the drop below.
I´m not sure how, but we manged to make it to Riobamba, where I missed my connecting bus back to Cuenca by five minutes. The next bus wasn´t for another 2.5 hours. Yeah, the trip home was off to a great start.
My brief evaluation of the Ecuadorian transport system: I have to hand it to Ecuador; for a country where 40% of people live below the poverty line, they have a relatively comprehensive transit system. However, I would like to make a few suggestions to the Minister of Transportation to improve bus travel in Ecuador.
1) If a bus line claims to offer service to a city, the route should terminate at the city´s terminal and not at an undisclosed, random street corner on the outskirts of town.
2) Street vendors may still sell their wares onboard buses, but only when said buses are parked in the terminal. As soon as the driver pulls out of the station, vendors must vacate the motorcoach immediately. Also, sales pitches must be limited to 3 minutes or less.
3) Vendors should be prohibited from entering a bus once it is en route. Entering a moving bus to sell illegally burned copies of Justin Bieber albums should also be barred.
4) Bus drivers must eat before departing from the terminal. Drivers should not be allowed to stop the bus outside of town at their favorite chicken joint for 15 minutes, while passengers are left to wonder what the hell happened to the guy at the wheel.
5) There should be two types of bus service:
a) An express service that does not stop for every single person on the side of the road AND in every town so that the driver´s assitant can run around the
town square asking if anyone is bound for _______(fill in blank with appropriate destination city)
b) Standard service where the abovementioned tactics may be employed.
6) The driver´s assistant is not allowed to play music on the bus speakers unless he has a 2/3 majority vote from the passengers. This includes, but is not limited to; Ecuadorian polka, techno accordian, and Justin Bieber´s greatest hits. If a 2/3 majority is reached, the music must be played at a reasonable volume.
7) Finally, Jean Claude van Damme films (in Spanish, or English with Spanish subtitles, or English with dubbed Spanish audio) should henceforth be banned from all Ecuadorian transit vehichles.
The father of my host family in Costa Rica was a huge fan of JCvD. We watched several JCvD movies from his box set.
ReplyDeleteThat photo of you in the swing is so beautiful!! Looks like an amazing day.
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