Baños Parte Dos

Saturday I spent with Chris, one of the guys in my program, on a hike around Baños. The first stretch was up to the Virgen, located on the side of one of the mountains around Baños where they had built steps leading up to her. We were able to see the whole town of Baños and the river and mountains surrounding it. At the top of the steps was the Virgen. The walk is a apparently a ritual done during important ceremonies such as marriage or the death of someone close. From there, we had two options, one was to go across to the Cross and the other pointed up the mountain to the Ventana or a view from above.

I found out later that evening from a guide in Baños, that we were crazy for going for the Ventana, which makes sense as the path looked like it hadnt been used for a long time. The hike was extremely long and once we reached the top, we know it was well worth it. At the top we met a 65-year old man from Brasil who was a world traveler: he told us that he had biked from the southern tip of Argentina all the way up to Alaska over a six year period! Yikes!

At the top we were able to see Cotopaxi (although it had become covered with cluouds) an active volcano that had erupted within the last five or six years. From there we continued on around the mountain trying to find another path down. We walked through some farms and I took some pictures of various flora and fauna.

On the other side of the mountain near the top was a cafe/resort called Cafe El Cielo. It was really nice and I relieve Swiss-run. We rested there for a mintue and headed back on down the mountain. On the way we were able to observe different views of the town and surrounding area than we had before.

Also I ran into two people from Houston who were working at the orphanage in Shell, a small town not too far from Baños. After reaching the bottom, we rested for a few hours grabbed a late lunch and walked to the otherside of the town where there was a bridge and a path down to the river that you see in the pictures I took from the top of the mountain. From there we could see waterfalls (cascadas) leaving the town and reminance of past constructions. One of the bridges looked like a death trap, just waiting for one too many people to cross at once and fall to impending doom!(The second picture is my friend Tarik standing on the death bridge that you see in the first pic below)

I live down by the river:

One thing that has ceased to amaze me about Ecuador is the ability for people to live anywhere and everywhere, on the sides of mountain, secluded down by the river, out in the jungle(cut off from the rest of society); you name it, someone lives there.

That night we went to the public baths where they had a cold, hot, and really hot pool, as well as a couple showers that used water from a waterfall, which was extremely cold. I took the rest of the night to rest as the next day was going to be long.

The next day we headed out to Puyo…on bikes. The total ride was about 60 kilometers through the hills, with lots of ups and downs. On the way we stopped a few times to rest and take pictures of the dam and beautiful scenery surrounding us.

We also stopped along the way to jump of a bridge from which we were connected to a rope. This was the most exhilirating thing I have ever done in my life! The video won't post on the blog so I will upload it to facebook! Towards the end of the ride I cramped up and fell over on the side of the road, which was rough. I managed to finish out the ride, but was pretty dead for the next day and still recovering from a serious cold, but I made it to PUYO!!