Ecuador: Banos

(Post by Colin)

Hello Friends..

We were so happy to leave Quito and head out towards the countryside towards Banos . Quito was cool but a bit edgy and with so much car pollution - I felt like I had taken up smoking again !

We arrived in Banos in 4.5 hours by bus from Quito. Another of a series of entertaining bus journeys . Not only was the scenery amazing - but the usual parade of sellers, comedians, singers and beggars got on the bus from time to try to make a buck or two. On sale is usually home made crisps/chips, plantain chips, fruit, nuts coated in chocolate all the way up to almost whole meals - meat on sticks with rice etc...

We had heard that Banos was more relaxed. The town is a popular tourist area with both Ecuadorian and foreign visitors (better known as "gringo's" )- They come for the Basilica, the famous hot springs, the scenery and the accessibility to the jungle via Puyo. In addition Banos now has a reputation as the adventure capital of Ecuador. It is possible to go hiking, rafting , bridge jumping and other adventurous activities.. Banos is also a place known for it's miracles and it's highly active Volcano. The whole town was evacuated in 1999/2000. It is in a quiet spell now and so no belching smoke or lava...but just in case..there is an escape route... It honestly could go off at any time..

Escape sign

We had already organised our accomodation in Banos - a place that was number 1 on trip advisor and very good value - Magic Stone. Yes - the name is in English and it was actually run by a Danish couple - Aase & Ove who had been in Ecuador in Banos for over 25 years.. We were to spend 7 nights here and a nicer couple you couldn't meet. We had some amazing conversations with them. They only have 2 rooms and they offer amazing service. I would not be surprised if it was impossible to book this place in a few years. Thanks Aase and Ove !

Us with Aase & Ove outside Magic Stone

We also met Hardy - who stayed in the room next to us - a German librarian who lives in Kendal near the Lake District in the UK. He was at a conference for librarians in Ecuador and had engineered a few days rest in Banos.. We shared some wine and good chat. The first wine we had in Ecuador... We don't drink wine here as it is too expensive for our traveler budget - so thanks Hardy that was a treat !

 

Sharing Wine with Hardy ..

The town of Banos is set in a deep canyon, surrounded on three sides by green vegetative mountains and the forth side looks out over the Rio Pastaza. It is colourful and clean with lots of hotels, restaurants and shops.

 

Banos

Banos Town St

Interesting architecture..Banos

Street Shops Banos

Banos is famous for it's sweets made from cane sugar, known as Melcocha. The sweetmakers are literally in almost every shop. You can see them trying to get the right consistency by stretching the sticky stuff on wooden pegs ! Kizzy liked the sweets but not for me- just not my thing... too sweet..

Banos Melcoha maker

The special wooden peg for stretching Melcocha

There are also locals selling sugar cane juice which they crush using an interesting looking machine... Sometimes they add fruit. I tried one and honestly - this is oh my gosh - blood sugar level... I don't want to look ! Again - not so keen.. I imagine it might be better adding fruit - I went for the full on sugar rush..

Cane Juice...

My Cane Juice being made..

So earlier - I mentioned in passing that the town is famous for miracles. It is considered that like Fatima & Lourdes, Banos is a place that the Virgin Mary has made her presence felt. The locals come from all over to wash in the holy waters coming from the waterfall, to have their cars blessed by the priest and generally to ensure that some of the blessings and miracles come their way.

Below is the priest blessing someones truck. Unfortunately the guy in grey stepped in front of the Priest just as I took the photo !

Priest blessing Truck..

It is probably worth pointing out that we were warned that the more religious paraphernalia in a bus or taxi - the more dangerous the driver was likely to be. The idea being that the more stuff the more protection and the less need to drive safely !!!

People queuing for the holy water hot springs on a Sunday..

Man dunking his head in the holy waterfall

Holy waterfall area

Image of the Virgin at the holy waters

People even wash their dishes with the holy water from the waterfall.

In the Basilica of Nuestra Senora del Agua Santa,, Banos - a place of pilgrimage , their are pictures of events that have happened where a miracle attributed to the Virgin Mary has occurred.

Basilica at night..

In the two images below - you can see a man crossing a canyon in a basket pulley contraption. He prayed to the Virgin Mary before he fell and survived a huge drop..

In this a more modern example - a car comes off the road and falls down a cliff and as the occupants had prayed to the Virgin before setting out on their journey they were also miraculously all unhurt !

Of course we went to the hot-springs ourselves - but we were advised not to take any valuables and so we have no pics of that. We went to the springs called Santa Ana just out of town.. Very relaxing.... with very few people...

But mainly Kizzy and I were here for the hiking.. We went on three major day hikes of 5-6 hours in duration whilst in Banos. The first one was up the mountain to Bella Vista Mirador and then across the top of the mountain by the village of Runtun to a Cafe with amazing views - Cafe Del Cielo and then onwards to Mirador del Vulcan viewpoint of the Tungurahua Volcano and then down to the path of the Virgin..

Kizzy looking down on Banos

Banos from above.

Before we hit the first Mirador - we came across a small gate leading to a cafe.. It looked shut so we carried on up...

Finally it was all worth it when we got to Cafe de Cielo - a Cafe in a posh looking resort of the sort we can't afford to stay at. I had a very posh looking Cafe con leche which unfortunately did not taste as good as it looked..

From here the path got very muddy and treacherous. We came across a number of local people and their homes, we got chased by dogs and we lost the trail on numerous occassions !

Local  Woman and daughter kindly posing for a photo

The dogs that chased us !

and finally we saw our first views of the Volcano.. Beautiful...!

From this point on the hike was back down and the views were spectacular..

Eventually we came to the Virgin Statue and the 600+ steps down.. We were exhausted and glad to be almost back home.... but first the knee crunching steps... We have heard that some people come up them on their knees .. Ouch..

Another hike we took was to the jungle with Ove, our host from Magic Stone. We were following the intrepid paths of explorers searching for lost Inca gold. The story goes that somewhere deep in this jungle is lost Inca gold hidden from the Spanish conquistadors.. It was a really nice hike where we thought we might get to see some animals- but as it was raining that day and beacuse sometimes you just don't get to see the animals - we did not have any luck.. Strangely enough we also did not find any Inca Gold ! But a beautiful hike it was none the less..

And finally we did a crazy hike called Sendero de Contrabandistos. This is a trail that during prohibition in Ecuador they used to smuggle alcohol. Well seeing this was rather a long time ago as this trail seemed like it had not been used since then ! It goes along the mountain along what is known as the route of the waterfalls. ( Ruta de Cascadas) There is like 7 or 8 waterfalls along this route. The trail went as far as a waterfall called Manta de la Novio ( The brides-veil - so named because it splits into two parts)

On the route we came across Donkeys, Horses and Cows blocking our path, one snake , dodgy bridges and some seriously treacherous areas.

All in all it was pretty scary and when we finally made it to Mante de la Novio we were glad to be alive and close to the end of the hike...

Bridge to Manta De Novia viewpoint

Manta De Novia from above..

But..... there was one challenge ahead of us...

Do you remember the painting from the church earlier in this post... Well the below pic is the real thing..There was no real alternative without a 5 hour walk back the way we came....... We did it and it was very scary..

Kizzy holding on tight

Manta de la Novia

Manta de la Novia

Ok - so I can't finish this blog post without adding some photos that I have been teasing with on facebook. The surreal Ecuador graffiti/street art update... You can see loads more than the below on the link to Picasa photo album at the very bottom of the post and even more to come in the next 2 Ecuador blog posts

Ok - so love ya and leave ya until the next post by Kizzy telling you about our time volunteering at the Hari Krishna jungle eco farm !

You can view the Picasa album for Banos by clicking here

Love,

Colin & Kizzy