Ecuador - Quito and Banos

17th March 2010

After the slightly strange border crossing into Ecuador, we all (Abi, Hannah, Tristan and I) piled onto a super cheap ($4 for 5 hours) bus ride down to Quito. Checked in at the Blue House Hostel in the New Town (aka Gringolandia) area of Quito. It happened to be St Paddy's day so out we went. Firstly for Vietnamese food from a wee Irish owned place called Uncle Ho's (their logo is similar to the 1 love NY logo - use your imagination!) and then, after a wee detour to the hospital for Tristan to get a rabies shot after being bitten by a dog, off to Finn McCool's pub for a couple of shandy's. Good night had by all!

The girls and I went out for a wee wander the next day in weather that alternated between scorchio and tropical downpours. We managed to walk around much of the Old Town without actually going inside or seeing very much! Didn't manage to make it into the governer's palace, into any churches (they wanted money!) or up any of the numerous viewing places!

The girls headed off into the jungle and I faffed around for a bit before taking the bus down to a fantastic town called Banos (there's a squiggle thing over the n so it sounds like Banyos). I was only there for a day before Susie who I'd met in Cartagena was in touch to say she was also there. It was great to have someone to pal about with. She introduced me to the BEST HOSTEL IN THE WORLD aka La Casa Verde which was a little way out of town, but soooo worth it. It's run by a great Aus/NZ couple and it's a really beautiful place with gorgeous bathrooms (these things matter) and homemade soda bread plus other goodies for breakfast.

Susie and I went white water rafting which was great, but a little scary. We started the day with tequila in fresh sugar can juice then got on the water. The guide flipped the boat on purpose and surfacing under an upturned boat can be a little scary. The second time was worse as it was unplanned and we were still going down white water! The water was really a really pleasant temperature and the scenery was stunning. We saw even more of the scenery when they took us on a four hour truck ride (we were in the back!) through the jungle on the way back, just to drop some people off.

Susie and I also managed to get to the thermal baths where the options of pools were either scalding, even hotter, or bloody freezing. We just about managed to get into the scalding one for a wee while. I also met up with Abi and Hannah again (I met them in Salento and travelled to Quito with them) and the evil madams that they are, forced me to climb a gazillion steps up a mountain (at altitude) for some pretty views of the town. Sadly the local volcano was shrouded in cloud so I didn't get to see it.

The other v exciting thing that happened in Banos was that we were just quietly eating tea one night in a restaurant and the floor shook for a couple of seconds. I thought it must be the volcano coughing or something, but the US Geological Survey says it was a 4.9 earthquake just 30kms or so from Banos. V exciting!!

The food in Banos was excellent (as was the drink!). There was a great swiss place where we got fondue (you don't know how exciting it is to get real cheese!), a little french place (cheese too!) and a local hippy place with great chocolate milkshakes. The best though, was this mad Danish woman who had a little cafe serving great sandwiches. But she was hilarious - she refused to serve one woman a cup of tea as she was "too busy" at the time, even though I was the only customer there, she wouldn't let you eat in peace, but regaled you with stories of shopping trips in the states, and she got really upset if she deemed that you hadn't ordered enough of her (rather expensive!) food. Great fun and great food though - I went there four times!

And onwards to Cuenca....