Banos & Cuenca

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Lago Agrio > Banos (Day 10)

On our last night in Cuyabeno, we had decided to gift the deck of Canada cards that we had with us to Jimmy, the local 9-year old who we befriended in Cuyabeno, but he stole them before we had the chance to do so! Luckily, we haven't had anything major stolen/lost yet on our trip.

We had 5 hours to kill in Lago Agrio before boarding our night bus to Banos. It was difficult to leave the terminal because we had our big packs & all our valuables with us, and the city had a bit of a dangerous reputation. Most of the time was spent in the bus terminal, the scent of street meat teasing us all the while. We caved and enjoyed some delicious bone-in chicken breast & potatoes on a stick!

Banos (Days 11 & 12)

We felt that our adventurous week in the jungle warranted a day of R&R in Banos, so when our night bus arrived (at 6am!) we headed straight for the local thermal baths. The baths were situated under a waterfall, and consisted of several pools of varying temperatures. You could also dip right into the freezing waterfall water if you so desired. Even at 7am, the baths were crowded with locals, and we stood out horribly with our white skin & colorful bikinis.

After the baths (which were probably not the cleanest, despite the "shower police") we headed back to our hostal to shower, then wandered around the cute city of Banos. The afternoon was spent at one of MANY local spas, because who can refuse $6 french manicures and $25 full-body hour-long massages?! (Facials too).

On day 2 in Banos we hiked up the 657 stairs to "La Virgen" statue which overlooked the town. The valley was very hazy both days, as you can see from the pictures. At the base of the climb was the local graveyard; a maze of little white buildings and cobblestone streets which was at first mistaken for a small village.

There was huge parade in town that day; we can only guess it had something to do with a soccer tournament, because teams (small children and dogs included) paraded through the streets towards the stadium.

Cuenca (Day 13)

We were told at the tourist office that the easiest way to get to Cuenca was to just hop on a bus to Riobamba, and catch one of "many" buses from there to Cuenca. He didn't seem concerned in the least so we took his word for it. Unfortunately, we arrived in Riobamba to find that the only bus leaving for Cuenca (6 hours away) was at 7:30 that night. Lisa called around to a number of hostals in Cuenca (practicing her best Spanish) trying to find somewhere that would let us in at our predicted arrival time of 1:45am.

We have been amazed by the incredible value of the hostals in South America. So far all of our accomodations have exceeded our expectations, especially considering the most we have paid thus far is $10 a night (most have been $8)! Both in Banos and in Cuenca, we stayed in cute private rooms, with two beds & a private  bathroom. Our hostal in Cuenca (La Cigale) even included a full breakfast. The only major flaw thus far was our first night in Cuenca, when we arrived at 1:30am from our night bus. A half-asleep hostal employee let us in, and [presumably, an accident] gave us keys to a room which hadn't been cleaned yet. He was gone by the time we noticed, and we were so tired, so we just let it go (but slept in our sleeping bags). The next morning he moved us to another room, but due to the language barrier we couldn't actually tell if he cared or not that he'd checked us into a dirty room.

The city of Cuenca, appropriately dubbed the "jewel of the south" is unlike any other city in Ecuador that we've been to. It's colonial arcitecture, clean street, and modernly dressed inhabitants set it apart from Quito or Banos.

We visited an amazing cathedral in the central plaza; built in 1880, at the time it could accomdate 9000 of the 10,000 inhabitants of the city.

We are sad to leave Ecuador already, as we've really enjoyed our time here. Some of our favorite little things about Ecuador have been the tiny women (seriously, under 5" tall) in traditional dress, carrying anything from food, to infants in slings on their backs. In fact, carrying infants around on their mothers backs has been the norm; we've seen a grand total of 3 strollers the entire trip (yes, we've been counting).

The food has also been a good experience. Most meals come for under $3US, and are usually more than we can eat; rice, beans, meat (chicken or "carne"), sometimes a few veggies, and most often a second carbohydrate. We've tried colombian food too (amazing!), and some street treats; plantain chips, coconut balls, "street meat". We've avoided any major illnesses so far.

We are off to Loja tomorrow for the day, then will catch a night bus to Piura, Peru. We've been told that internet will get increasingly poorer as we head south towards Bolivia, but we will do our best to keep up with the blog!

We'll leave you with a random sighting. Stairway to heaven?