Banos

This may be my second favortite place in Ecuador, after the Galapagos of course. Banos is in the beginings of the jungle... it´s surrounded and filled with beautiful natural wonders but it has comforts galore for gringos. I´ve come to admit that there are some comforts, such as vegitables and pillows, that I really enjoy and will sacrifice the Normal Ecuadorian Experience for. We arrived last night from Guayquil (big city, wouldn´t recommend it. However, we saw a good film there called The Last Mimzy which we both loved and highly recommend. Based in Seattle; close to home!). We made a friend on the bus who, as per usual, wanted us to stay in his buddy´s hostel. This place was by far the worst yet (though no tarantualas!) and I´m suprised it stayed standing for the entire night. Yuck, smelly, glad that´s over. This morning, though, we met a lovely Londoner who led us to the most amazing hostel! Beautiful huge rooms with a bedside lamp (you have no idea how wonderful this is), balcony, equipt KITCHEN!, beautiful patio upstairs overlooking the area which is surrounded by towering amazon mountains and giant waterfalls, free fast internet, oh man it´s heaven. And such good food nearby! If you´re ever in Banos, goodness gracious, set up shop in Casa Hood... best food in Ecuador (I say this with gusto). I must say that we seem to get along quite well with Londoners. This fellow, ´Kristopher with a K´, invited us to bike with him along the Av. de las Cascadas (avenue of waterfalls). Unfortunately he took one hell of a spill not too far into the trip... he flew like a bird but landed like a dude. He had to head back for stitches, poor guy, but was gracious enough to deny our assistance back, so we headed onwards. Regarding the cascadas I think I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves. There were $1 tram cars over huge drops to get to the falls, which were quite thrilling. The final really big cascada had a pretty intense trail down to it which reinforced my opinion that I never want to get have fisticuffs with a Quechua granny (indigenous peoples here). My goodness, they can hike it. We also saw one steal a pig in a sac today, which was pretty funny, but I digress.

The biking itself was the sort of thing that would not get Dad´s seal of approval, but he´ll have to forgive me because by the time I realized it was quite dangerous I was already between waterfalls, I´d paid for the bike, yada yada (read: I really wanted to do it!). There sure were some sheer cliffs with no barriers, though... but we´re alive and well with the healthy sheen of adrenaline-pumped people. When our buddy bailed Clayton had already gone through this short one-way tunnel and had to come back via a long and curvy one-way tunnel without lights, which I think was a really scary experience for him. When coming back via truck I understood how he had no idea where he was in the tunnel... pitch black and a couple bends in it. Anyways, tomorrow: white water rafting and visiting a smoking volcano. Whoo!

So we´re doing well, just had a good meal and are ready for the next adventure. You may not hear from me again before we head off to our jungle trip (only 3 days starting tuesday as the current plans go). It should be pretty cool, though short... I´ve heard that most people don´t like too much longer. That whole comforts thing again. I think you camp in a Quechua village, which would be very neat, but basic. Lots of love! Despite loving where I am, I keep thinking about how great it will be to see everyone at christmas time. Hugs!