Well here we are, still in Baños. After the excitement, remoteness, and frequent travel we experienced on the coast, it has been nice to slow things down a bit. There has been much chilling and relaxing (chillaxin´). We have explored the town and the nearby areas, laid low, done some reading, laid in hammocks, and eaten a lot of good vegetarian food.
By the way, this is Benjie writing you this time. Rachel is finishing up an application right now. The wonders of modern technology.
Anyway, the day after our encounter with Carlos and the mountain, we were BEAT! So we really just sat on our bums that day. We´ve met a bunch of nice people here in town, which has so many more tourists than anywhere else we´ve been. Actually, as I write this, I can´t remember if we spent one or two days relaxing after our unexpectedly long hike. Oh well.
One day here we rented bikes (for $5/day) to head to some of the local waterfalls. It was a mixture of fun and fear, as we were riding on the road out of town. The nice part was that it was mostly downhill, so there wasn´t too much pedaling. We went on a winding mountain road, with cars whizzing by us. Then at one point we had to go through a tunnel. A one lane, one way tunnel with no lights. We waited until we couldn´t see any cars coming, and then went for it. Of course, we were about 1/3 of the way through when a car joined us. We were pretty scared, but pulled as far right as we could get and just waited (and then walked our bikes through the rest of the tunnel). The tunnel after that there was a path for bikers and pedestrians to go around (phew!).
Along the way it started to rain a bit, and we sough shelter in a mostly abandoned open sided shack just before a bridge. Well then we saw that there were people about to jump off the bridge. They were bungee jumping. It looked fun and freakishly scary at the same time, but was probably better to watch than actually to do. Adrenaline must be a powerful drug, because we figured that their whole thing lasted no more than 30 seconds, and that they probably paid $40-$50 for it, resulting in an hourly rate of somewhere around $5,000! Wow!
We watched a few of them jump (it was really beautiful scenery, and fun to watch) and then went on our way. We came upon more rivers, and more beautiful scenery as we rode by. Eventually we had had enough,and it started raining, so we crossed the road and waited in a shelter for a bus to take us back to Baños. After quite a wait we got one, and were no more than 3 minutes along the way when Rachel asked if I had brought the helmets. I hadn´t, so we got off the bus (which was more of a truck with seats in the back), and I rode back down to get the helmets and catch the next bus/truck. It was taking a while, so I biked back to Rachel (yes, uphill) so she wouldn´t worry. I had just gotten back to where I had left her, fully out of breath, to find that she wasn´t there, and there was the first bus coming by. It stopped for me, and I screamed Rachel´s name trying to figure out where she was, the woman at the store across the way indicated that she had gone. I assumed she caught a bus, but thought maybe she walked, so I made my bus driver keep an eye out for her the whole way back. When we finally got back in town, there she was, waiting for me ont he side of the road. We waved, and everyone asked if that was my Novia, I said yes, and they all cheered! We were glad to be rid of the bikes after all that, but really enjoyed the scenery we got along the way.
Here is some more of what we saw along the way:
On a really great note, later that day we were eating lunch in a Cafe in town, and leafing through a ¨Tips¨ book they have. This is where you can leave advice for other travelers. We came across a note from a few travelers from Macalaster College, and wondered if our friend Emmy knew them (its a small school). So we wrote the names down and kept flipping, and no more than a few pages later, we found this:
It was a note from Emmy herself! It was great to hear from a friend when we were so far from home and felt so out of touch. Emmy had told us all bout her travels down here, but we never expected to ¨run into her¨ like that!
I couldn´t think of another segway into my next story, so here:
All over the place down here there are ads for tours, volunteer opportunities, etc. We read them, because some are really great. Well we saw one that says it is a non-profit sailing school, and that there is a trip going to the Galapagos, Easter Island, and Chile, leaving right at the end of our trip. Rachel is going back to the US for grad school interviews, but I don´t have plans other than to make a little money during that time, so we thought it might be great for me! I have only sailed a little, but loved it, and it said beginners were especially welcome! They also said they had VERY backpacker friendly rates! I was practically salivating as I emailed for more information...
Well, it turns out that ¨backpacker friendly¨ must mean ¨rich backpacker friendly¨ because their rate is $8,000!!! That works out to $100/day. Now don´t get me wrong, that might be very reasonable for a school that teaches you to sail professionally, but come on, have they ever met any backpackers? Rachel and I almost didn´t stay in the place we are right now because it was ¨too¨ expensive at a whopping $16 per night for both of us including breakfast. Oh, incidentally, here is what our room looks like.
Yesterday we finally made it to the hot baths (baños) that make the town famous. It was really nice just soaking our tired traveling bones. It is picturesquely set at the base of a waterfall overlooking the town. As they say down here (all the time), it was muy tranqulo.
We also met a woman who is from Australia. Her son lives here in town, and she and her husband came for a few months last year, and are now here for a few months this year. Rachel met her while I was buying some bread, and then I joined. Now, I have always been a good listener, and Rachel is going into psychology, but I was astonished at how fast this woman (whose name we didn´t even know yet) was telling us all about her life and her son and the town and on and on. Her son lives here with his partner and their 18 month old daughter who was a surprise (remember, we are total strangers to this woman). He runs an English school down here, but is bored because he is really a geologist, but can´t get work. Anyway, you get the picture, but it was good to hear about the town from her.
There is always more to write, but I will wrap it up with this: Yesterday afternoon as we wandered around town, it started to sprinkle, then rain. Just as we were getting bent out of shape about it, we saw a beautiful rainbow stretching across the sky, with one end seeming to be planted in the hot baths we had been in earlier. It was really nice.
We are getting ready to move on, and will probably leave tomorrow and head to Cuenca, a nice colonial town about 8 hours south of here, and then after that to Kulcabamba (whose spelling I am butchering!). Alternatively we saw one interesting place to volunteer, and we emailed them, so if we hear back, we could head there first.
One final note on their elections... It was fascinating to be here for them. The guy that one seems like bad news, but in talking to people, it sounds like he might not be that bad, and anyway, probably can´t do much in the way of radicalism with the way their system is set up. We´ll keep an eye on the situation. The day of and after the election, Baños (this peaceful little tourist village) was FLOODED with military, I guess just making their presence known so there was no trouble. It was very interesting. When it became apparent that Correa was winning, there was lots of noise and celebrating in the streets. Very cool.
I hope everyone is doing well. Miss you all!
-B
P.S. Don´t ever read the book ¨Time-scape¨ It´s just not worth your time (pun half intended).
Love,
Lois