Monday Afternoon, Quito
I left off last week with stomach problems and plans for Thursday night out...
Thursday night we stayed out very late. The whole city stays out on Thursday nights. I even ran into one of the directors of World Vision at the club where we went dancing. I think we both were a little shocked to see each other there!
I think I didnīt get to bed until 3:00am. And woke up nice and early with more stomach problems. So I irresponsibly called in sick to World Vision and tried to get myself ready for the weekend in Banos. I really hope that director doesnīt just think I was hung over or something. Oh well, what can you do?
Thank God for the lovely manager and his daughter here at my hostal. They are so sweet and always call me by name. Iīm the only one who stays here long term so we are on quite friendly terms.
Anyway, they helped me sort out my laundry situation (I had a lot of laundry that needed to be done before packing for Banos) and I tried very hard to convince myself that food is unecessary.
Class rolled around quickly, went well as usual. We are finally done reviewing past tenses and have moved on to the future! A whole new world of conversation has opened up. Of course, I know how to speak in future tense already but I just didnīt know all of the rules and reasons so it is very exciting to practice it correctly.
After class the five of us: Eva, Rachel, Caroline, Anna and myself packed into a tiny taxi with our big hiking bags and headed off to the bus station. We laughed the whole way and were generally very excited to escape the city for a weekend.
The bus ride was fascinating. I could write a whole blog on it but I am quite sure none of you would find it as interesting as I did.
We, Caroline and I, sat in the front seats with our bags in front of us. The first few minutes of the ride passed well and then the in ride entertainment came on. Now I knew we would have a movie, and I clearly saw that the tv screen was directly in front of our row, but I assumed we would get some family friendly entertainment that I could enjoy even dubbed in Spanish. There were tons of kids on the bus so I was thinking along the lines of Finding Nemo or The Olson Twins in some foreign country, something like that.
It was a sad shock when Jean Claude Van Dam appeared and even more of a shock when in the first few minutes a small naked Asian girl was slaughtered. When the scene where some man has his eyes drilled out rolled around I decided that I would just have to fall asleep. Right around that time the bus driver decided that the volume wasnīt high enough. Sure enough, those speakers were directly above our seats and for the next two hours they buzzed and clicked and made terrible repetetive noises. THe kind that ensure no sleep will happen.
However, the ride was a success. Success defined as us not hitting any of the hundreds of animals running in the roads or rear ending the other buses and cars we passed on single lane roads winding through the mountains. Amazingly I dozed a little, didnīt have to use the bathroom and it was actually a fun experience.
Here I will interject with comments on my favorite things. You know how it is just impossible to guess what you will or wontīt need on a long trip? Two weeks in and I am feeling love for some of the things I packed even though I didnīt know if I would use them.
My beach towel. It has not been used once for drying as intended but made a great pillow when rolled up on the bus. Also useful as an extra blanket wherever needed.
My very expensive J Crew wool zip up hoodie sweater. I wear it everywhere. It needs to be washed since it has now been in every bar and salsa club in Mariscal but it is dry clean only so it remains smelly.
The hiking backpack I bought for Utah with Seema which I have hardly used since then. I use it every weekend here!
My locks. Keep me feeling like my stuff is safely guarded by a millimeter of steel through my backpack zippers.
Black strappy sandals which seemed sort of extravagant to bring along but have been so comfortable for dancing in!!
Now back to the weekend.
We didnīt have a hostal reserved in Banos so when we arrived at 10pm we just wandered around. Saw Hostal Rickyīs which we rejected for the unimaginative name alone, all full at the hostal recommended in the guide book and the $5-night shared bath rooms across from there looked like they belonged in an insane asylum. So I guided us through the city almost to the hills and we found the hostal I stayed at 8 years ago when I came here in college. Island of Banos (actually spelled much diferently but my blog site is blocking spanish today) had 2 rooms for us and we checked in for the night.
(It is a very pretty hostal at the base of the mountains but my warning is that the rooms were damp and on Sunday they had no elecricity. Also, the waitress in the morning was very cruel and kept purposely forgetting to bring me things like honey for my tea and rolls for the table. So I do not recommend this hostal unless you arrive in the city without reservations.)
Saturday morning we rented mountain bikes and took off for a 20-60 KM ride through the mountains. The original goal was 60 KM to Puyo where we would then catch a bus back. But we are not a group that likes to rush and we ended up taking about 5 hours to go 20 KM to the devilīs waterfall (I tried to write this in Spanish but the stupid blog site blocks everything but English.) Which was just fine since it was absolutely one of the very best days I have ever had. The mountains around Banos were bright green and covered in little waterfalls. THe sun was out and it was about 75 degrees. Our bikes were great too. THey had suspension and good breaks and gears. We even got helmets and an emergency kit to carry along.
THis kind of preparation for emergency seems rare in Ecuador so we were lucky.
THe first part of the ride was really hard. We were going up hill a lot and we all got winded and nauseas. So we rested. I think that we were just going too fast. It can be intimidating to have the cars and buses all pass you along a tiny mountain road and we were riding really fast to get through that part of the road.
Finally we were almost to the biking path which would take us directly through waterfalls but we just had one obstacle in front of us. A tunnel that resembled a black hole. ONe lane. Dark tunnel. Us on bikes. When it appeared that no one was coming in front or behind us we just rode like the wind. Unfortunately we all forgot to take off our sunglasses so we were basically riding blind. It was so scary. ANd then Anna wiped out in the middle of the tunnel. Lost her sunglasses and landed in a pile of crap mixed with oil and gas.
Did we stop to help her? Not so much. She just got back on her bike as fast as possible and was the last one out before a huge truck full of people came rushing through behind us. I hate to think of what would have happened if we had met that truck inside the tunnel...
As soon as we got through we stopped to doctor Annaīs leg. Which continued to smell for the rest of the day. Poor girl! She had such a good attitude though.
Then we got back on our bikes and made many stops along the way to the final waterfall. We stopped to play in some waterfalls on the road, took photos of the view, took a cable car across a huge ravine over to another waterfall where we hiked (and got bit by a thousand strange bugs), and stopped for Rachel to go bungee jumping off of a bridge in the middle of nowhere.
Finally we got to a little town and paid 50 cents to hike down to the river. Where we sunbathed on rocks for about an hour. The water was freezing but it felt good to have just parts of our bodies in it.
We also hiked along the river to see the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen. I hope the photos do them justice when I upload them.
We hitchhiked back. Donīt worry mom and dad. THis is very common and safe in Ecuador. There were five of us and it is really common for drivers to pick people up for a small fee. It had taken us all day to get 20 KM and we drove back to Banos in less than 30 minutes.
Saturday night we went out for dinner at a restaurant where a little boy took our order and then conveyed it to his mother in the kitchen where I swear she killed a chicken and hand prepared every single dinner. Potato soup, enchiladas with chicken, lasagnas!!, and more. It took forever but it was really good homemade food.
So many other little things happened but Iīll skip ahead.
We went out to dance around midnight and met up with some fun people. Sort of. The Israeli guys that we met in Otavalo were unfortunately, and mysteriously, also in Banos. I personally do not like these guys. But Rachel, Anna, and Eva did so we had to spend some time with them. I just feel very against meeting up with other tourists to dance when we go out. It is just too large a group of white english speakers. It makes me feel like we are having a very unauthentic experience and weīve found that the salsatecas tend to start playing hip hop when we come in because they assume we donīt like salsa.
Anyway, it turned out fine and we had a good time (especially after leaving those guys across the street.) At 3:30am we tried to go to bed but were starving. So we went back out to the absolutely only restaurant still open. And it had 2 options. A hamburger or a Ļveggie burgerĻ. Eva and I shared a veggie burger and I swear it was the best thing I have ever tasted. It was just a white bread bun, with mayo, a couple of fried eggs, possibly some lettuce and tomato, and ketchup. So good. Really one of my favorite things Iīve eaten here. Could this memory be because I ate it at 3:30 on a very empty stomach? Possibly.
Sunday was not worth writing about. We were tired, cold, the hostal ran out of water and electricity, I lost my voice, and it was drizzling out. We walked around. A lot. Ate a lot at a cafe. And got on the bus at 4pm.
Unfortunately we bought our tickets late and ended up split up. Somehow I got stuck in the very front seat. THe one that faces what would be the passengers side window. With the view of every single almost catastrophe for the whole ride home. Here is my summary: in the first 10 minutes coming out of Banos we almost hit a horse which was running wildly in front of the bus. And buses here donīt stop for anything. They just honk like crazy and if they hit whatever is in the way, then that is the way it is. We honked at a lot of dogs. Some of which I feel sure we hit. We honked at tiny cars as we passed them on two way (but single lane) roads through the mountains. We honked at old women trying to cross the street, and I think that our bus driver was playing a tricky little game of try to pass all other buses on the road (whether necessary or not.)
I tried to enjoy the view while trying to forget that if we hit anything I would be the second (after the driver) to go through the front windshield. ANd we made great time and got home before 8pm.
Today I have no voice at all which has made communicating at World Vision even more difficult. THey tried to introduce me in a meeting this morning and all I could squeak out was ĻI canīt speak, I have no voice.Ļ It was all so humiliating. Really it just fits the rest of my WV experience thus far. And the proposal writing starts tomorrow!
I will try to upload some Banos photos this week. They are amazing! Really, as much as I like to make fun of the weird things that happen, I am so happy here and SO thankful that I am spending the summer in Ecuador and not in Azerbaijan.
Thanks for all of your messages. Love you all.
A
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