Saturday 25 February 2012 - Banos

In the morning, having found that we'd missed the festival of flowers and fruits (which was at the same time ascarnaval) at Ambato, we decided to go to Banos, as Ambato is really only worth visiting at carnaval time. Everyone I've spoken to about Banos has really enjoyed it. So after going to an Internet café and cabina for Eva to make some international phone calls, we grabbed a taxi back to where the bus dropped us off and got a bus to Banos.

I love Banos, it's a great place! It's small but still has enough to keep you interested for a weekend, although obviously we were only going to be there till Sunday. As it's quite touristy (but not necessarily in a bad way), there were plenty of hotels and hostels everywhere but we pretty much just booked into the nearest hotel opposite the bus terminal. We got a private room with an ensuite shower and two double beds, so Eva and I shared one and Joe got the other, for $8 each but it didn't include breakfast. Also, Banos is open till late as well as on a Sunday!

Banos is surrounded by hills, much like Quito and so can look quite dramatic, especially without any of the cloud cover in Quito, but is much warmer and, I've been told, has less variable weather condition. It's known for its thermal baths (hence its name, baños, which is the Spanish for bathroom) but it also had a nice downtown park and lots of stalls selling handicrafts, such as alpaca jumpers, T-shirts, swimwear, etc. In Banos also, (see photo), they make these sweets by stretching and twisting them on hooks in the doorways. It´s a bit like their equivalent of seaside rock - you can just see them in packaged in clear plastic at the left bottom of the photo. There are loads of them and they come in various colours and flavours, with some vendors offering you a sample. You can´t help but wonder how clean their wooden hangers and hands are though, although I have tried both a free sample and a stick of "rock" that Anya had bought on her previous visit to Banos with the Spanish school, her first weekend in Quito.

It also has lots of activities: Anya did cycling and rafting when she went with the Spanish school her first weekend in Quito, as well as quad biking. I'd mentioned some of the activities that Anya had done in Baños, so when we saw an advert for quad bikes we stopped to have a look - and ended up hiring them for 2 hours. This is the length of time it takes to get to the volcano and back. They told us that it was a good time to see it as it was active so ofcourse we fell for it, who wouldn´t have. At $10 an hour, we thought that this was reasonable and went for it.

As I was the only one with original ID (photo driving licence) as opposed to original passports (the recommendation is to carry a copy of your passport and not your passport, unless you need to), I was responsible for all three quad bikes. After being fitted with a helmet and given quick instructions on how to operate them, we were off. Briefly, there is an electric on/off switch, an ignition key, a handbrake (right handlebar), foot brake (right foot), and throttle (right thumb). There is no reverse gear, no mirrors and no seatbelt.

We had been given a street map with the mobile number of the company (in case of mechanical difficulties) as well as a tracing of the route to take to get to the volcano. Joe had the map and we followed him the four or five blocks out of town and onto the road. I must admit to being very apprenhensive, especially when I recalled how I´d said that Ecuadorians were crazy on the road. I wondered what I was doing on the road, with them, and whether my insurance covered this activity…I was also concerned about returning as we would need to cross oncoming traffic to return, twice!

It was initially a little difficult to get the hang of it, perhaps it was my machine but it took some finetuning to get the right amount of throttle (so you didn´t suddenly roar ahead) and not to oversteer. It was also a little scary when cars and trucks then started to overtake us before we got to the much quieter road up to the volcano. Once on this road, though, it did get less busy, but I soon got comfortable enough to start glancing over my shoulder so as not to be completely surprised (and scared!) of overtaking traffic.

We made it to the first lookout which gave a great view over Baños, but it had started to get chillier further up the road. Soon after, though, it started to rain, and by common consent and discussion, we turned back as, although Eva and I had brought our jackets, Joe was only dressed in his T-shirt. We thought that as it had started to rain, the view would be obscured by cloud, in addition: the road had turned from tarmac to cobbled stones, making the ride quite bumpy, it was getting colder due to the altitude, and my thumb was getting numb from having to keep a constant pressure on the throttle.

Eva took the lead back to town, and I felt that I had really started to get a very fine control of the quad bike but was still very glad to be able to negotiate the 2 left turns across oncoming traffic to get back. However, we then came acropper with the one-way system, not helped by the fact that we suddenly realised we didn´t know the name of the road where the bikes were kept, and which was different from where we got recruited to the excursion, or the company name!

Eva and Joe conferred over the map: it´s a bit hard to have a cosy threesome conflab when you´re all perched on a noisy quad bike and just followed them. However, at some point, they spotted where we needed to be, and we had to turn around. I let an oncoming truck (so slow, shouldn´t have bottered) by before attempting my maneouvre.

By the time I had turned around and caught up with where the others were, I couldn't see whether they'd turned left down that corner and so carried on and then turned at the left corner and again at the next block but after that, I didn't know what to do! There I was, with no idea where they had been headed to, no street map of the company's location (although the map actually only showed the office, not where the parked the bikes) because Joe had had that, let alone the company name (the quad bike had no company name), no mobile number for the company and no way of contacting the others. I didn't know what to do next! I stopped the quad bike and debated what to do next.

I recognised the church (right hand corner) and knew that the tour operator had been near there and wondered whether to go to tour office so that they could direct me to where the bikes are stored. Whilst internally debating for a few minutes, I glanced left and saw Joe frantically waving at me. He and a guy from the quad bike place came up to me, but although Joe was willing to drive it back to the place, knowing the way, the guy was unwilling to let him drive unless he had a helmet on and mine wouldn't fit him…However, I had the guy as a pillion passenger directing me in a huge loop back through the one-way system to get the vehicle back to their stations, and I was able to reclaim my driving licence. It was a relief to hand it all back and to have found them again, I can tell you!

As I hadn't originally intended to go to Baños that weekend, I hadn't packed my swimsuit and as we were planning to visit the baths and maybe check out a massage, I ended up buying a tankini for $10 (negotiated down from $10.50: didn't really try hard enough, especially as I couldn't quite conjugate the verb for negotiating and couldn't remember the alternative one). Also, it was still cheaper than what I remember Anya saying she'd bought hers for. The others soon got into the shopping spirit and Eva bought two pairs of trousers (ubiquitous throughout Ecuador and Otavalo), one embroidered/decorated tablecloth and an alpaca cardigan/jacket, whilst Joe bought three trousers and an embroidered/decorated scarf/stole/runner/rug (according to the sales lady). I was only saved because the only alpaca cardigans that I like are far too big (too long or too wide), but I did get a free woven wristband bracelet (nice touch that, make the customers feel obligated to buy or at least look round your stall though I must admit she had a nice selection of stuff). Now I look like a proper backpacker, with my wristband!

In the evening, after all the excitement, we had supper in a diner with some interesting wall décor, much like an American-decorated diner.