Give me a little heat...in Banos, Ecuador
It didn´t take me too long to leave Quito behind. As far as cities go it was probably quite nice but I was still happy to leave for less polluted, friendlier pastures. Off I went to Banos, a few hours by bus south of Quito. Banos is supposedly THE holiday destination in Ecuador (for locals at least). I can see why. It is surrounded by jaw droping green mountains and lies at the base of Tungurahua Volcano. The big plus of this cute yet touristy little town are the natural hot springs, which i made a point to thoroughly investigate.
I stayed in an extremely friendly hostel called Plantos y Biancos, even splashed out and got a room for myself...$8 well spent i say! It took me a little over 3.5 minutes to get talking to a few people on the rooftop terrace and another 1.5 minutes to hear French being spoken in the corner. Ears alert, eye on the horizon I went in eyeing the prey and with my biggest smile blurted out"Haaaallloooo....you are french?"...and there you have it. I sat politely down at their table and started talking to Romain (half french-half dutch) , Cedric (100 % french) and we were later joined by Karine (100% french). I know, I know, i know... this trip is all about meeting other cultures but sometimes it´s just plain nice to be able to speak french and compare our Quechua tops!
I really enjoyed speaking to Cedric- he´s a 30 something Educateur Sportif who basically decided to jack everything in and set off to cycle across south america. He started a year ago from Buenos Aires, cycled down to Ushuaia and back up again. His initial plan had been to cycle all the way up to Mexico but he now feels drained , and has opted for a shorter journey to Quito flying home from there. Listening to his stories made me realise how little (compared to him!) I was actually going to see on my buses-to-hostel-to- whatever is interesting to do in the region- routine. Don´t get me wrong, I am not the kind of person that would find any type of enjoyment in doing what he is doing and I accept that. But it was fascinating to hear first hand all his crazy stories of theft, random encounters, sleeping in someone´s garden or sharing a meal of Cuyl (guinee pig) with farmers... i will keep reading his blog with interest.
The next day, I hired a quad (lazy i know!) and drove up an extremely steep country road to reach the top of the surrounding mountain. The views were spectacular and well worth the risk of failing brakes (the guy at the shop had warned me, that if the brakes heated up a little too much I should just stop and wait for 10 minutes or so!) QUE!!! All safe now.
In truly french student style we decided to cook some pasta in the hostel for diner. It felt incredibly natural to cook a meal with these "friends for a day". We meticulously cut the vegetables, chose the seasoning with care, layed the table and all sat down together. I could have been in a friend´s flat in France instead of a hostel in Banos, Ecuador. It felt nice to be at home for a night.
With our tummies full and content, we decided to hit the town which basically meant going downstairs to join the locals for their Fiesta. For the Fiesta of the City (which is happening now) a small orchestra plays deafening music everyday for a month and each day in a different barrio. Lucky us last night was around the corner from my room window. We joined the dancing whole-heartedly failing miserably to show any rythm or skill (I felt like I was in the ecuadorian version of the fatboy slim video). But it was fun for both us and the locals!
I stayed in an extremely friendly hostel called Plantos y Biancos, even splashed out and got a room for myself...$8 well spent i say! It took me a little over 3.5 minutes to get talking to a few people on the rooftop terrace and another 1.5 minutes to hear French being spoken in the corner. Ears alert, eye on the horizon I went in eyeing the prey and with my biggest smile blurted out"Haaaallloooo....you are french?"...and there you have it. I sat politely down at their table and started talking to Romain (half french-half dutch) , Cedric (100 % french) and we were later joined by Karine (100% french). I know, I know, i know... this trip is all about meeting other cultures but sometimes it´s just plain nice to be able to speak french and compare our Quechua tops!
I really enjoyed speaking to Cedric- he´s a 30 something Educateur Sportif who basically decided to jack everything in and set off to cycle across south america. He started a year ago from Buenos Aires, cycled down to Ushuaia and back up again. His initial plan had been to cycle all the way up to Mexico but he now feels drained , and has opted for a shorter journey to Quito flying home from there. Listening to his stories made me realise how little (compared to him!) I was actually going to see on my buses-to-hostel-to- whatever is interesting to do in the region- routine. Don´t get me wrong, I am not the kind of person that would find any type of enjoyment in doing what he is doing and I accept that. But it was fascinating to hear first hand all his crazy stories of theft, random encounters, sleeping in someone´s garden or sharing a meal of Cuyl (guinee pig) with farmers... i will keep reading his blog with interest.
The next day, I hired a quad (lazy i know!) and drove up an extremely steep country road to reach the top of the surrounding mountain. The views were spectacular and well worth the risk of failing brakes (the guy at the shop had warned me, that if the brakes heated up a little too much I should just stop and wait for 10 minutes or so!) QUE!!! All safe now.
In truly french student style we decided to cook some pasta in the hostel for diner. It felt incredibly natural to cook a meal with these "friends for a day". We meticulously cut the vegetables, chose the seasoning with care, layed the table and all sat down together. I could have been in a friend´s flat in France instead of a hostel in Banos, Ecuador. It felt nice to be at home for a night.
With our tummies full and content, we decided to hit the town which basically meant going downstairs to join the locals for their Fiesta. For the Fiesta of the City (which is happening now) a small orchestra plays deafening music everyday for a month and each day in a different barrio. Lucky us last night was around the corner from my room window. We joined the dancing whole-heartedly failing miserably to show any rythm or skill (I felt like I was in the ecuadorian version of the fatboy slim video). But it was fun for both us and the locals!
One final note. My one nice TShirt (ie. the cool blue Quicksilver one) was un-ceremoniously stollen by the laundry people. I confronted them but obviously what can you say? Nice, now i have nothing nice to wear at all.
Labels: Banos Ecuador October 2007
1 Comments:
How sweet of you to donate something you love to the laundry people...
My Grandmother used to say: "if it's for you, it won't go by you."
You'll get more nice things to wear as you go. And there's always your Christmas wish-list! :)
xx
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