 One great similarity between Colombians and Ecuadorians is their inability to understand photo directions. Still, one similarity between Lynette and I is our inability to speak anything but the most basic Spanish.13-Jul-2009 21:27, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 8.0, 35.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 400 |
Baños is the “Gateway to the Amazon”, and to us has been the San Gil of Ecuador. Nestled high in the Andes and on the side of an active volcano that last erupted in only 2006 & 2008, the scenery is stunning and the spring climate great, especially when you´re starting to miss those jumpers. There´s plenty to do, our main reason for coming was a half told story about a monkey park we´d heard when in San Agustin. But… did we find them?!
 Baños is surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, and generally fantastic views all round.
Baños is surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, and generally fantastic views all round.13-Jul-2009 18:38, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
We arrived in Baños after a 3hr bus from Chugchilan to Latacunga (going through all the places we´d just hiked through!) for $2, and then an allegedly 2hr bus direct from Latacunga to Baños. The direct bus was hard to find as it does not leave from the terminal – heading from town, after you cross the river over the bridge instead of urning left to the terminal just keep going straight and after a block or so you cross the railway line on the road. Keep going until the end of the road (bearing left if in doubt), another couple of blocks, and the direct bus leaves from here on the left. The only real benefit of the direct bus however is cost, you save a whole dollar as opposed to going Latacunga-Ambato- Baños, but the direct bus hangs around in Ambato anyway and ends up taking the same amount of time (3hrs). Anyway, you see some great views on the way including the snow capped Tungurahua Volcano on which Baños sits.
 We considered ourselves particularly lucky to have stumbled across the best ice cream in Ecuador.
We considered ourselves particularly lucky to have stumbled across the best ice cream in Ecuador.14-Jul-2009 01:13, Panasonic DMC-FX3, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 320 |
Determined to find the perfect hostel for what would be a stay of a few days, we checked out all of the usual suspects in search of a double room with double bed, free Wi-Fi in the room, and if we were lucky breakfast included all at a decent price. It was harder than we thought! We ended up settling on the intriguing Hostel Transilvania, which had nearly all of the above (it was two large size single beds) for $7 per person a night. As it transpired, the net access was having major issues (network setup issue, probably fixed now) and the owner wasn´t around enough for me to offer my services in return for free board (!) so after a couple of days we ended up moving to the much nicer Hostel Chiminea, much bigger – internet access is slow but reliable – and with a proper double bed. It even has a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, but you have to pay $2 to use them. It´s more expensive at $7.50 pp without breakfast, but we felt it was worth it and looked forward to not booting each other out of bed every five seconds! Obligatory hostel dramas over, on to with what we actually did besides check out accommodation…
 Our first day in Baños we decided our legs needed a rest after hiking from Quilotoa!
Our first day in Baños we decided our legs needed a rest after hiking from Quilotoa!13-Jul-2009 18:21, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
There are many, many activities in Baños including white water rafting, climbing, hiking, horse riding, quad biking and more. We opted for something we hadn’t done before that was quite budget friendly ($25 total), Buggying! These little beauties can take two people on at least a four hour jaunt; as long as its level and you haven’t had too big a breakfast otherwise it might struggle. Still, on a downhill even the faster snails get to eat your dust. Crazily, we opted for the open faced helmets so that we could hear each other better when burning rubber. Unfortunately, especially as it intermittently rained, we hit puddles, and were occasionally on proper roads with exhaust fumes being spewed at us, our faces got pretty battered and our teeth definitely needed a clean when we were done!
 My driving face. Different to every other face, and now even hairier.
My driving face. Different to every other face, and now even hairier.13-Jul-2009 21:15, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 9.0, 28.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 400 |
The journey itself was a vague adventure; we were desperately looking out for ‘El Pailon del Diablo Waterfall’, but the directions they’d promised us turned out to be a blurry, photocopied in bred cousin of a map with six toes and ink that wheezed and gave up at the first sign of rain. When we finally found some workmen on the road to Puyo (our route, dramatically named “The Waterfall Road”) they told us that yes, we’d gone way too far, we then turned back to find a sign that pointed out we’d gone a whole 20km too far. We didn’t even know that was possible on our pootling buggy. So as we tore up the road on our return leg, nearly conking out as the incline got progressively steeper, we were also getting increasingly nervous at the fuel gauge. While we accepted it had a mind of its own, and that at any single point in time it either contained more fuel than two Buggies put together, or had been running on air for the last 10km, if you sensibly took an average over several seconds than it was definitely starting to run out. There weren’t many phones on this particular stretch of road…
 Like something out of The Lost World, the views are amazing.
Like something out of The Lost World, the views are amazing.13-Jul-2009 21:21, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 8.0, 35.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 400 |
Nevertheless, we gritted our teeth and illogically ragged the hell out of it back home, because the engine sounded much more satisfying that way. We stopped at a particularly beautiful spot and took some lovely photos, possibly one of my favourite ones yet (that is mainly greenery), and then quickly jumped in our Buggy and turned the ignition. Nada. Maybe a slight click from the engine if the wind blew in the right direction, but that was about it. A quick diagnosis revealed that we had fuel which was a big plus, and the problem was a flat battery – which never helps. Enlisting the help of a rugged ten year old got us jump started though and we were back on our way. We finally arrived home approaching dark, and very late, after an irate conversation with the Buggy owners on the crapness of their map, the flatness of their battery, and the leakiness of their oil, we managed to avoid any late charges and hit the hostel for showers. A day without problems is not an adventure!
 From right to left; Nick, Mack and a Paddy. Seriously. OK so he’s called Mick. So it’s EVEN BETTER.  )
From right to left; Nick, Mack and a Paddy. Seriously. OK so he's called Mick. So it's EVEN BETTER. |
Later we hooked up with a great guy we’d met back in Quito and two of his friends. Together they were called Mick, Mack and Nick. Seriously. Rearrange as appropriate, inserting paddy whack where necessary. We headed up in a Chiva to the top of one of the many mountains surrounding Baños, near a glowing cross and head of a long flowing waterfall, both of which overlook the town and make for great views. A Chiva is a mostly open, brightly painted tourist bus that you see frequently across Ecuador. In Baños, on most evenings they stream from various parts of the town carrying locals and tourists for a night view from above. On weekends it is very busy, but even on weekdays there are four or five full Chivas heading to the top for $3 per person, also including a Spanish speech and some pretty awful alcoholic tea. We prepared by bringing up some rum of our own and proceeded to have a cracking night!
 Safely secured in our boxes, I thought only briefly of how the storyline of Hostel 3 might run.
Safely secured in our boxes, I thought only briefly of how the storyline of Hostel 3 might run.15-Jul-2009 14:51, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 3.5, 28.0mm, 0.04 sec, ISO 400 |
Baños is also famous for its spas, baths and steam rooms, and we couldn’t leave without trying at least one. At Plantas y Blanco Hostel you can have an “experience” for $2.75 that involves pain, discomfort and body violation and apparently its something that women like to do all the time. Basically you are super steam heated in a turkish box, removed and toweled down with cold water. Three times. Then you are dunked in a super cold dunk pool and have your intestines massaged before having the water poured over you. Then back in the box. Then you have to stand at the end of a hall and have a high speed needle thing jet of cold water sprayed all over you. We paid for this! The guy who guides you through all of this looks like he has immense fun, and since he seems to spend all day of every day in his own box he’s probably been doing it for eighty years and only looks thirty. I’m a man, I’m not supposed to enjoy these things, but I had a grim sort of satisfaction similar to how Lynette must feel during a good climb! 
 Worryingly we saw no Monkeys on entry, and were exceptionally excited to see this little guy up in a tree…
Worryingly we saw no Monkeys on entry, and were exceptionally excited to see this little guy up in a tree…15-Jul-2009 20:36, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
Having been fully cleansed, we attempted to find the fabled Monkey Park (or Monkey House or Walk of Monkeys!). We only knew it existed, it was near Puyo (we think), and probably wasn’t one of the two zoological parks nearby that also had monkeys. We’d googled and not really found anything, so we were a bit pessimistic but took a bus to Puyo anyway to see what we could find. Puyo itself is about an hour and a half and 800m lower than Baños, and much warmer. On arrival, the town wasn’t exactly impressive, mainly a big tarmac road with shops and cafe’s either side – you could fly right through and ideally miss it with a long blink. We had just sat down for a drink and were pondering how to find the Monkey Park when two friendly Latvians we’d met a few times (first time in Taganga, it’s a small world!) just happened to cycle past (They’d also cycled the Quilotoa loop the nutters). A quick catch up and chat later, they decided that joining us for the Monkey Park was a great idea, and now we were all in the same boat in trying to find it. Easy way out of the predicament, and a bit embarrassing considering the amount of sleuthing we’d already employed, we just asked a taxi driver and he took us there. Problem solved. It’s about 2km the other side of Puyo, you’ll see a sign pointing left saying “Paseos del Monos”, head down there for another km or so and take one more left down a rocky track that’ll do your car no good whatsoever but it will definitely get you there! The taxi was $3 from the centre of Puyo.
 Who immediately started posing for photos.
Who immediately started posing for photos.15-Jul-2009 20:44, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.5, 63.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 400 |
The term “park” is a bit misleading; on entry we wondered if we’d come to the right place. There was a dilapidated house, some fencing, and not a lot else. Not even a ticket office (it is 1.50 though). The signs on the way were faded or broken, and there wasn’t a monkey in sight. Just as we were losing faith, another character in our South American adventure came striding out of the solitary house to say hello. His name was Swiss Ivan, and he was smoking a fat cigar. He explained that the monkeys were definitely around; they had just followed another group on a little walk. Surely enough, after a few moments one appeared and Swiss Ivan started to coax him over. We were relieved, and excited to see the little guy so close and so apparently friendly to humans. At any other monkey sanctuary or park we’d visited previously if you don’t have peanuts they’re just not interested. As we were about to find out, them being interested in us was the last thing we needed to worry about!
 Hmmm… is that something shiny?
Hmmm… is that something shiny?15-Jul-2009 21:08, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.0, 60.0mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 400 |
Within a few moments, a few more turned up, and the first monkey then jumped on to me and started scrabbling around his new climbing frame cackling a guttural laugh; as I played (struggled!) with the hairy mammal Swiss Ivan assured me this was a sign of affection and he was having a whale of a time. They like to lick sweat off themselves and others as a source of salt in their diet – in his mind my beard was like a lollipop!
 Hang on… the hugging was a ruse… he’s testing her out for sweat…
Hang on… the hugging was a ruse… he's testing her out for sweat…15-Jul-2009 20:57, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.0, 82.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400 |
Soon after he jumped off and on to Lynette for a rest I think; but that didn’t last long either as another monkey spotted a good cuddle when he saw one and somehow managed to win Lynette’s favour and became attached like a limpet for the next twenty minutes looking extraordinarily cute; and sneaking in the odd lick and nibble when he thought he could get away with it.
 Yep, back to being a good old climbing frame again!
Yep, back to being a good old climbing frame again!15-Jul-2009 21:13, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.5, 28.0mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 400 |
Before long, tens of monkeys were swinging, climbing and play fighting all over the place. Swiss Ivan explained there are thirty nine monkeys here as well as snakes, birds, tortoises and other mini marsupials although in lesser numbers. He’d been there for seven years; only last week his family had visited from Switzerland. He had no real interest in having more help, more money or even help on a website; he just wanted to make it a safe place for the animals. He wasn’t particularly keen on publicising its existence, as too many tourists would come and change what had been put together. This was slightly at odds we felt with the owner’s comments, a local who was keen for visitors in order to have more money available to run the refuge.
 But leave we did, after having a cracking day of monkey play time.
But leave we did, after having a cracking day of monkey play time.15-Jul-2009 21:48, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.0, 55.0mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 400 |
The wonderful charm of this place is that it is so small though; health and safety weren’t top of the agenda and you really got to meet, greet and play with all the animals but especially the monkeys who were hilarious. You got to see their character, species behaviour (although not fully representational of their activity in the wild) and how they acted as a group. Swiss Ivan pointed out the alpha male of the crowd, who looked one of the smallest and docile there, but we were assured he’d killed a dog in his spare time and had to be abandoned by his previous owners which is why he was taken in. They had Spider monkeys there, who are considered one of the most intelligent monkeys although they lack an opposable thumb – odd one for Darwin. He had stories of each; how one was scared of water as it had twice burnt itself in boiling water when trying to grab food and they were trying to teach it out of him. How the baby monkeys have to be carried around for two years until they are old enough to fend for themselves, they stay round his neck even when he sleeps! We left with difficulty and were so glad it had been recommended to us, one of the best experiences of Ecuador.
 Gosh! Somebody has shaved some fellow monkeys completely of body hair! The bastards!
Gosh! Somebody has shaved some fellow monkeys completely of body hair! The bastards!15-Jul-2009 21:17, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 4.0, 83.0mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 400 |
We decided to walk the way back and gave the thumb a bit of work on the way. Randomly, we were picked up by two fellow gringos from England in their jeep heading into Puyo. She was about to set up a Nature Conservation charity, and he had been running a volunteer teacher program in Puyo for the last three years. Unfortunately neither party had time for a beer, but score one point for hitchhiking anyway!
 We did try for a nice couple plus monkey pose, but face hugger was having none of it.
We did try for a nice couple plus monkey pose, but face hugger was having none of it.15-Jul-2009 20:49, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 5.0, 28.0mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 400 |
The next day we woke relatively bright and early to ride on the Devil’s Nose train. This had been the plan anyway, but just as we left the hostel the receptionist asked out of courtesy where we were headed; and then informed us the track was still being repaired and wouldn’t run for another two days. Happens a lot, apparently. Which completely buggered our plans (and the plans of a Kiwi couple we’d met) and rather than mill around we decided to forge on to Cañar for our first taste of some Inca ruins. See you there!
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Our first day in Baños we decided our legs needed a rest after hiking from Quilotoa!13-Jul-2009 18:21, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
Baños is surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, and generally fantastic views all round.13-Jul-2009 18:38, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
It was great fun ragging around, through tunnels, over bumps, through puddles and without a care in the world. Shit… where's Lynette?13-Jul-2009 20:58, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 6.3, 30.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 400 |
Ah! There she is. Lynette's driving face, concentrating hard.13-Jul-2009 21:08, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
You alternate between the road, cobbled streets like this and dirt track. Jolly good fun, what ho!13-Jul-2009 21:10, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 400 |
It was raining to start with, but later the clouds cleared and the route itself from Baños to Puyo is known as “The Waterfall Road”. A bit much, but still pretty cool.13-Jul-2009 21:15, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 10.0, 28.0mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 400 |
My driving face. Different to every other face, and now even hairier.13-Jul-2009 21:15, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 9.0, 28.0mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 400 |
Shortly after this pit stop, our battery went dead. Thankfully a jump start got us going again!13-Jul-2009 21:21, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 400 |
Like something out of The Lost World, the views are amazing.13-Jul-2009 21:21, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 8.0, 35.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 400 |
Lynette's looking amazingly bright and breezy considering we managed to go 20km too far towards Puyo and thought we were on our last fumes of fuel!13-Jul-2009 21:25, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 7.1, 28.0mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 400 |
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One great similarity between Colombians and Ecuadorians is their inability to understand photo directions. Still, one similarity between Lynette and I is our inability to speak anything but the most basic Spanish.13-Jul-2009 21:27, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 8.0, 35.0mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 400 |
We considered ourselves particularly lucky to have stumbled across the best ice cream in Ecuador.14-Jul-2009 01:13, Panasonic DMC-FX3, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 320 |
On a Chiva to the top of a mountain! With Rum! Happy days…14-Jul-2009 02:38, Panasonic DMC-FX3, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100 |
From right to left; Nick, Mack and a Paddy. Seriously. OK so he's called Mick. So it's EVEN BETTER. |
We're all drinking an alcoholic tea that is included with the trip. Immediately we understood why they were giving it away; it was absolutely disgusting!!14-Jul-2009 03:25, Panasonic DMC-FX3, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 250 |
The happy couple, exhaling fumes.14-Jul-2009 03:27, Panasonic DMC-FX3, 2.8, 5.8mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 320 |
After a day of recovery from a hard night, we went for an early morning steam bath at Plantos y Blanco. If you look closely enough, you can see Lynette's shining smile through the steam!15-Jul-2009 14:41, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 3.5, 28.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 400 |
This sadistic senor was dishing out the punishment with a high pressure needle thin spray of cold water.15-Jul-2009 14:49, Canon Canon EOS 400D DIGIT, 5.6, 28.0mm, 0.013 sec, ISO 400 |
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Fabulous, absolutely fabulous! The pictures told a far deeper story than the dialogue. Dad and I loved it as much as you certainly seemed to – I’ll just get a tissue to dry the tears……
)