Banos/Puyo

Driving in to Baños from Salcedo was an interesting trip.  We had to drive extra slowly and carefully because we were towing not just the camper, but also the donkey Remedios inside the camper!  As we approached Baños, we could see the active Tungurahua volcano with thick smoke rising from it.  We were all excited to arrive.

Baños is a small town in Ecuador, and a popular tourist destination because of the volcano hikes, the hot springs, and more than 60 waterfalls surrounding the town.  When we arrived, we went straight to the park in town where all the roadtrippers hang out (we got the GPS coordinates thanks to our fellow travelers and friends Nicolas and Celine).  It was the perfect spot for us while visiting Baños – ample room to park, free wifi and electricity, and other overlanders to meet and share experiences and advice with.  There was also a man who owned a restaurant across the street who agreed to let Remedios stay on his fenced-in property for the time being, along with his horses.  We were set!

We spent almost a week in Baños, and the time seemed to just fly by!  We explored the town, hung out at the park with the other travelers – Argentinians, Colombians, and Belgians -- and had a few barbeques.  The town itself was a nice place to just chill…the days were warm and we ate many breakfasts at the market and wandered the streets.  We also found a bar in the town that served strong mojitos and caipirinas for only $1 each…dangerous!

Baños

The church in the main square has crazy paintings of people being saved from near-death situations, many of which involve falling off a cliff, by the Virgin of the Holy Water (patron saint of Baños).  It is an interesting site to see.

We got to know Scruffy, the sweetest street dog ever, who was always hanging out in the park.  The others tried to convince me to bring Scruffy along with us when we left…but to no avail.  No more animals in the camper!

Poor Scruffy

And, of course we didn’t miss Baños’ main attraction – the volcano!  We went to a viewpoint just outside the town, called “las antenas”, and had an amazing view of the volcano as it continued to spew smoke and ash.  The rumblings were impressive – every so often you would hear a loud noise like a train going by, and then see another burst of grey smoke coming from the volcano… crazy to think what is going on under our feet.  At first it was scary to us, but apparently the locals are used to it. 

The town of Baños has been evacuated in the past for volcano activity and ash covering the city, but luckily all was safe while we were there.

Looking down at the town from the viewpoint "las antenas"

One day we rented bikes and went riding on “la ruta de las cascadas”, or the waterfall route.  We rode quite a bit, leaving the bikes every once in a while to hike closer to a waterfall.  It was an amazing ride, a beautiful route, and my favorite day that we spent in Baños. 

On the cable car over a waterfall

Despite the fact that some of the waterfalls have “dried up” due to damming the rivers, we still many different falls that day, of varying sizes.  Ecuador is an incredible place with so many wonders!

At Pailon del Diablo

crazy Chiquis

By the end of the day we were too tired (and it was too late) to ride back, so we rode back to Baños in the back of a truck.

Back in Baños, the word on the street was that there was a big celebration going on in Puyo (gateway to the Ecuadorian rainforest), which is about an hour’s drive from Baños.  Many of our overlander friends that we had met in Baños were going (or had already left), and we decided that we would go, check out the fiestas, and spend the weekend there.  Before we left Baños, however, we had time to do one last hike – we went up to the famous Virgin statue over Baños, and from there to the “bird’s nest” viewpoint for a closer view of Tungurahua…

It was a strenuous hike and we got lost a couple times.  When we made it to the top, it was too cloudy to see the volcano well!  But we enjoyed ourselves, and we were rewarded when on our way back down, it cleared up and the volcano started rumbling again.  This was the view we had:

wow!

After our hike, we loaded up the car and drove to Puyo.  The “Fiestas de Puyo” had been going on all week, and were supposed to reach a climax that weekend with multiple music concerts, parades, and expositions.  We found a great spot to park about two blocks from where one of the concerts was going to be that evening, on a road right by the river.  We met up with the overland friends we knew from Baños… and, let the party begin!

The concert consisted of many different bands, with many different types of music, all playing for about a half hour each.  Some played local music, others a kind of very commercialized “pop” style…some good, others not so much.  But we did enjoy ourselves! We were enjoying some street-vendor canelazo, a warm, sweet, lemony drink spiked with aguardiente, and just hanging out.  Suddenly a group of teenagers from the Esmeraldas region of Ecuador (people had travelled from all over the country to come to the party) pulled us each into the center of their dance circle.  We spent the rest of the night dancing…it turned out to be a great party!  I wish I had gotten some pictures of this, but I must have forgotten my camera...

The next day we got to know the town of Puyo a bit more.  We went to some of the special events, including a parade of Ecuadorian indigenous nations.  They each did a traditional dance – cool to see. 

We ate a pork lunch, which came straight out of the whole pig on display on the sidewalk.  We also went to a swimming spot in the river where there were many local people spending the day. 

We met a German fellow named Bernd (we called him Bernie) who had been travelling South America in his truck for more than 10 years.  He was a cool guy, and wanted to stick with us for the night.   It so happened that that evening there were two different concerts planned for the Puyo celebrations.  We talked to many people and the general consensus was that the one further away from where we were staying was the one not to miss.  It was supposed to be bigger and better, the spot to be for the night.

So we all took a cab to the recommended concert…and once we got inside (you had to pay to enter this one), and heard the music, we knew we had made the wrong choice.  There were 5 girls in tight, impossibly short dresses up on stage, singing horribly out of tune.  There were so many people there in the audience, just standing and staring...  We stayed for a few songs, but couldn’t take it any longer than that.  We had to get out of there!

 We got another cab back into town, and decided to try the other concert.  When we got there, we found that it was smaller venue, in a high school gym actually.  There were many people here too, and as we entered we saw that the music was more traditional.  Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of sparkles to go around.  The quality of music, if not great, was much better than the previous concert, and the vibe here was much more relaxed, with people dancing, talking, and having a good time.

There was another parade the following day, much bigger this time, with a lot of school dance teams, and more sparkles of course.

These guys were cute, dressed up as leprechauns!

We ate some fried fish at the indigenous market, and the guys  also tried this delicacy…

They skewer the worms live and throw them on the grill still wriggling.  But they tasted a little like pork, according to Ricardo.   

yum?

That afternoon, Linda, Bernie, and I walked through a park along the river, while the guys went to a nature reserve near Puyo.  Here are some pics from the pretty river walk:

where the muddy water meets the clear

kid jumping in the river from a rope swing

Bernie and Linda

In the evening we all met up again, along with our Argentinian friends who made pizza for everyone outside their van.  A relaxing way to end our time in Puyo!

The next day we drove back to Baños, sad to leave Puyo.  There was one thing left on our to-do list in Baños, however… before leaving for Puyo we hadn’t seen the Tungurahua volcano at night.  Supposedly, on a clear night from the “tree house” viewpoint you can see red lava coming out of the volcano.  We had been meaning to do a night trip the whole time we spent in Baños, but never got around to it (I guess the call of the $1 mojitos was stronger…).  But coming back, we realized that this would be our last chance, since everyone planned to leave the next day.

We packed up some warm clothes, flashlights, and some boxes of wine, and went back up to the “tree house”.  As we climbed up into the tree house, we realized that it was pitch black out and we could see absolutely NOTHING.  It was too cloudy to make out the volcano…we could barely see some lights from the town below.

Well, it was a valiant effort anyway.  We made the best of the situation, though, by sticking around, drinking some wine, and spending our last night with Linda, Chiquis, and Jab, who planned to hike into the mountains the next morning with Remedios the donkey, while we would be driving the car towards Riobamba.  We didn’t know when we might see them again.  As always, parting ways with friends you meet on the road is tough, but we always have hope of our paths crossing again.  There was no lava to be seen that night, but we surely won’t forget our time spent travelling with these awesome people!

Until next time, friends!