to baños, in baños

as douglas mcmeekin told me
(funedesin and yachana lodge dude)
to go from from yachana lodge to baños
there´s no really good way to get there
either backtrack to quito via canoe and bus or plane
or take a super crappy road...
i decided to take the super crappy road
skitting across the river
i caught the 7am bus from agua santa
(a rough collection of buildings
framing a dirt road
like something out of an old western flick
only with jungle in the background
instead of tumbleweed and desert)
and took the scenic but bumpy route to tena
there,
i took a break for lunch
and called ahead to baños to reserve a room
at a neat lil place recommended by the goldies
i caught the bus from tena to baños
and arrived in that quaint little mountain village
my plans changed quite a bit
due to certain travel conditions
(kirby found chilling better than travelling
and found a lil town he wanted to chill in)
but it was all good
as i ended up staying in baños for 3 days
...chilling out
:)
and recovering from the jungle
it was nice to be in a place
where i didn´t have to wring the sweat out of my shirt
every half hour or so
(i´m not joking...
some people might find it disgusting
not that my sweat smells
or anything like that...
really!)

still on malarone
and still to be on malarone for another week
i realized that
i'd used or given awayevery single type of medication that i'd brought
all of the antibiotics were gone
and i even had to dig into the first aid kit
when i gouged my leg
(bandages and rubbing alcohol)
it´s good to be prepared eh?
:P
i have this distant thought
that maybe i´m not as tuff as i used to be
as there was a time when i was like
first aid kit?
hunh?
and drugs?
no thanks, i´ll just heal naturally
=)
anyways,
baños!
i got in early evening
the sun had set
and i had witnessed an amazing vista
of a blazing orange sunset
between the pass we took through the andes
on our way to baños
while some cheesy spanish/european rip off
of the fast and the dangerous
(rapido y peligrosa 4)
played on the bus dvd/tv system
very cool
(the sound effects from the movie
gave the whole trip ... character
or something like that)
and if only the window had been able to open
i may have had one of those cool
half blurred
taken from the bus-type photos
=)

baños is a quaint lil village
surrounded by mountains
one of which is an active volcano
but unfortunately not active enough
to see anything cool
(like tourists getting set on fire by lava
or other cool stuff that ALWAYS happens in the movies)
i settled in at the plantos y blancos
i splurged and paid 7USD for a room with a private bathroom
(a whole 2 USD more!
like i said, big time spenders i am, eh!)
had a really nice meal at the casa hood
not to be confused with the cafe hood
or the casa good
(or was that cafe good?!)
walked around a tiny bit
and realized that even at 9 or 10 at night
the tourist offices were still open
trying to get more business
crazy!
i later realized it was a friday night
and baños really explodes in population
on the weekends
when the town is flooded with touristas
foreign gringos and ecuadorian alike
turned in after a hot shower
(god i love the mountain air!
if only due to the lack of jungle humidity and insects)
there was free internet to be had
in half hour increments
so life was good indeed!
(t'was way better than paying 2USD an hour)
the next day
i decided to go for a walk
after breakfast at the rico pan
i headed up a trail
to bellavista
(not the same one as in santa cruz!)
the walk was 800m in elevation
...i thought it was like 800m in length
foolish kirby!
at about 150m or so elevation
(by my best guestimate)
i stopped at an unfinished lookout
the wooden frame was there
as was the floor
and i seriously contemplated
heading back down
and looking for a flat trail
because i did not want to relive
the sweat-drenched feeling
of the walks in the amazon
anyways
having decided that i would turn back
this apparition came striding and puffing up the mountain
wearing a cap
that i recognized
with a face beneath that cap
that i also recognized
it was pete...
the english guy that had hung out with
aiden and sometimes my bro
in puerto ayora
and it was those guys
whom i had accompanied through
the midnight streets of puerto ayora
in search of food at 1am
after being woken up to aiden´s calls of
¨kirby is gay! kirby is gaaaaaaaaay!¨
outside my 2nd floor window
=)
(i had gone to sleep hours before
apparently the bars had closed
and they were hungry that night)
small world , eh?
anyways,
after talking to pete
we decided to hike up the mountain
of course
the next 600m up or so
the wind decided not to blow
and i was standing there
on the trail
dripping in sweat
and wringing out my shirt again
deja vu!!
man!
how ironic
add to that the fact
that the mountain flies
(some tiny version of a canadian horsefly)
bite you open
rather than suck your blood delicately
like the amazonian mosquitos
and one could almost weep
pete soon marched ahead
myself,
i kept stopping
at various turns and outcroppings
to lean out -
my fear of heights be damned!
just to catch a wisp of wind
to cool me down
when i finally arrived at the top
i was greeted by the sounds
of the wind howling hollowly
through the far mountains
a deep bass-like resonance
that spoke of immense distances
and a freedom and power
unlike anything human
or mortal
it echoed
it whispered
it sang with a life
unlike anything i have heard before
it was as if
these mountains
had a voice of their own
a unique and beautiful voice
bordering on the edge of haunting
but low and powerful enough
to add a sense of majesty rather than misery
i sat there for a timeless moment
and then went to join pete
at the cafeteria (little cafe)
a short distanceaway
from there
pete went on
to complete a loop that would take him a good 3 or 4 hours
while i slid back down the path i had come
that evening
i took a truck up the mountain (antanas?)
with fernando
whom i had met the first night in baños
(one of those dudes working late)
and about 10 other people
a group of americans with the odd dutch girl
and an irish lass thrown in for good measure
the moon was almost full
and we hit about 3000m
to watch lava flow from tungurahua
sadly
only 2 or 3 of the girls
saw the lava
(or so they said)
i just saw a big black mountain
with a bunch of clouds hovering around
reflecting the blue moonlight beautifully
fernando and his little helper
(never did get his name)
lit a fire
and served a spicy cinnamon-ish tea
and passed around a bottle of ¨water¨
that must have been at least 100 proof
if people wanted to top up their tea
for added ¨warmth¨
i enjoyed standing on the edge
(there was a guardrail)
and watched as the clouds moved in
covering the lights from baños
and then blocking out the moon
hermosa :)
after the mountain disappeared
in an eerie blue-white haze
(tungurahua reaches over 5000m in height
so it was a lot of cloud
to cover a lot of volcano)
we headed back down the hairpin turns
of the gravel road
and arrived back in town
right on schedule
at 11pm
to the sounds of
massive festivities
that apparently accompany any saturday night in baños
luckily
i was tired enough
that i fell asleep around 12:30am
apparently, the loudspeaker announcements
(and music)
kept going past 2am
what a wild town!
=P
the next morning
i decided to stay in baños another day
rather than spending a full day of travel to make it to cuenca
(which would require even more travel time to get back later)
and on the advice from linda
(the one that hopped into the back of the truck-taxi in puerto ayora)
i rented a bike
and went downhill from baños towards puyo
taking my time
it only took about an hour and a half
to make the 22km to the pialón de la diablo
stopping often for photos
or to just take in the sights
the scariest part of that ride
was passing through the first tunnel
for which there was no path to go around
i had my sunglasses on
and part way through
with the roar of cars behind and in front of me
i realized i couldn´t see a thing
what i thought was the side of the tunnel
though it could have been an abyss
was so black and dark
and merged with the ground
i felt like i was riding in deep space
the acoustic effect of the tunnel
made every car seem like a freight train
and half way through
i managed to rip the sunglasses off my face
and could finally see
the faintest shimmer
of ground ahead of me
(and no ditch)
after i survived that tunnel
(and there were only two cars that passed through with me
not the 10 million that i thought i heard all around me)
i decided i would have to take my sunglasses off
the next time i encountered such an obstacle
luckily
every tunnel afterwards
had a dirt side path
for touristas
and life was good :)
i must say
biking downhill is pretty easy
but if you get this hard bike seat
it can still be painful
in a different way
it reminded me of the steel lacquered saddles
of the mongolian ponies
that i had the unpleasure of testing
while in inner mongolia
many moons ago
(obviously it made quite an impression
in my mind-memory way back then
as well as in my posterior
and still vividly survives unto this day)
=P
i met some of the american-irish lava watchers
from the night before
which is always fun
(meeting new acquaintances)
i walked through a new park-garden that was just opening
and at the little restaurant
i met a canadian by the name of antonio
who had just gotten married
and bought this park
and was developing it into a future flower garden
above the pialón de la diablo
it had a nice view from above
i learned about the waterfall trick
which was really cool
and then i biked down to the actual viewpoint
for the pialón.
there was a suspension bridge
that only allowed 5 people across at a time
and for which there was a huge lineup
it was about a 1000 metres down
which only seemed daunting
when one thought of the return trip
=P
and needless to say
i found myself drenched in sweat
again!
must be the malarone =P
either that or some perverse sense of deja vu
hehehe
when i ascended from the canyon depths
and the really neat view
(which i only looked at for a half a minute or so
because the pushy crowds were beyond annoying)
i found a cab to take me home
it was more like a volkswagon van
and i waited for other people to come
and fill it up
so it would be cheaper
during this time
i struck up a conversation with william
the 38 year old driver from rio verde
(where the pialón is located)
and it was fun practicing my spanish
(or lack there of)
i eventually made it back to baños
picking up two locals
and 2 english girls along the way
(which was good because it made the ride cheaper
for all of us)
after a shower i wandered off in search of food
earlier,
i had gone out for cuy
(aka guinea pig)
i had actually tried some the day before
(after my hike up to bellavista)
and found two restaurants
side by side
the one to the right, a hole in the wall
compared to the size of the one on the left
but i chose the one on the right
because the guinea pigs roasting there
looked SO much better!
and it was SO good
that i had to go and have another taste
the skin was golden brown and crispy
with enough tender fat and chewiness
on the underside
so as to put the best of bacon to shame
the meat was basted and spiced
in such a way
that it was succulent and tender
without a hint of gaminess
i ate everything to the bone
even the little rib bones
tasty!
=)
anyways
when i returned to this marvelous restaurant
it was closed
!!! =( !!!
and so i went into the other one
the meat roasting on the grill
simply didn´t look tasty
but i thought i´d give it a try anyways
and do an impromptu taste test
unfortunately this time, my instinct was bang on
the skin was rubbery and hard
and the meat was gamey and tough
*sadness*
afterwards
i went off to the bus station
to confirm the schedule
and on the way back
started to look for a restaurant
i found a place with schwarmas
that was REALLY good
i had a SUPER schwarma
accompanied by fresh mango juice
it was so good
i decided to have another round
and skip supper altogether
the salsas they had were quite nice
all homemade
and one version of a garlic yoghurt sauce
that was yummy!
the mother made the first round of schwarmas
the daughter served us
and the father came in later
and welcomed us to his restaurant and baños
all the time
there was arabic music playing
(when questioned,
the daughter replied that she didn´t speak arabic
but could do the dances *twinkle*
she had a very exotic and beautiful look
that could be arabic or ecuadorian
and after meeting the parents
i believe she may be a mix)
it´s always fun to see
a family run business
where everyone seems to work well together
very cool
and it had the best juice i´ve tasted yet on this trip
oh yeah,
i almost forgot to mention the lemonade stand
on the way up from the pialón de la diablo
freshly made
perfectly sweetened
at 25 cents a glass
(a large glass too)
it was the 2nd best juice i´ve had on this trip =)
anyways
i wandered back to the hotel
stopping at the church along the way
(i had stopped there myself earlier that day
and listened to part of the mass
having been attracted by the music
they were singing in spanish
the sound of silence
and it was beautiful)
there was another mass going on
and i guess as much as baños is a party town on saturdays
on sunday
it´s definitely a religious one
our stay in baños was tranquil
peaceful
and by this last night
the bug bites had finally stopped bothering me
(for the most part)
so i slept quite soundly
and awoke with the morning sun
ready to head off to riobamba
i must say though
i was sad to leave baños
if only for the cuy and the schwarmas with mango juice
*wink*
=)