Banos, the city of wild rides and roasting chickens!

Last weekend was rather rainy and dreary here in Quito, and we had nothing going on for the weekend, so we hopped on a bus to a town called Baños. We had heard that we might not be able to get to the town due to heavy rains washing out the roads. But since the local volcano was supposed to be erupting, we decided to chance it (wouldnt want to miss a chance to see a pyroclastic flow)...

4 hours on a bus, dropping in elevation about 6,000 feet coming down into the Amazon basin, we were treated to some stunning views. River valleys, roads cut into mountains, vegetation covered mountains, farms on incredibly steep hills, ugly mining operations, and gigantic piles of bananas on the side of the road. We didn't have a still camera with us on this trip, but I had my Flip video device, so check on my YouTube account (i'm Bingeebob) for updates.

We arrived in Baños, found a reasonable hotel, and began exploring the town with our friend Darrel (housemate in Quito). Walking around the streets of this small town, we immediately noticed that the people, and the general ambiance of the town was much more relaxed, friendly, and safe than the big city of Quito. We were hungry, and it didn't take long to find a spot that suited our desires (well, my desires, maybe not Eileen's). The common theme in Baños was roasted chicken, we must have seen a dozen restaurants that displayed their fire roasting, whole chickens rotating on a spit, facing the street. The wave of flavor and heat hits you directly in the face as you walk down the street, causing an immediate tingling in the jaw and excessive salivation (at least, myself and Darrel had this reaction). Soon we had satisfied our carnivorous desires and began to explore the town further.

Chiva
We had been told that Baños was known for it's "Chiva" tours, a Chiva is a truck, bigger than a pickup, but not as big as a semi -like a box truck back home. It's designed to carry a great number of passengers in bench seats in back, and on top. The sides of the passenger area are open on the sides and the trucks are usually equipped with flashing lights, and loud speakers blasting party music. For those of you who have been to Burning Man, a Chiva is a road-worthy art-car. We found a Chiva tour that was headed up to a view point above the city, where, on a clear night you can see the volcano, "Tunguruhua" glowing red (Tunguruhua means "throat of fire", in the native Indian language). It has been basically constantly erupting for years.

We paid our $3 each, and hopped on the back of this truck with about 20 other people. The ride took us up a windy road through some really thick vegetation (care must be taken to not get smacked in the face with a vine at 35 MPH). Myself, Eileen, Darrel, and two local kids were riding on the very rear of the Chiva, while the others were "inside" the truck sipping their drinks. Once we were a bit out of town and on our windy Jungle/mountain road, the two locals scampered up the ladder to the top of the truck... at about 35 MPH, at first we were hesitant, but soon decided to climb up, the only casualty of the slippery climb up the back of the moving truck was my beer, which jumped out my rain jacket pocket and exploded on the road.
The view from the top of the truck through the thick, warm jungle air was surreal.

We arrived at the top to find about 15 other Chivas and about 100 locals had also made it up to the top. Several grills were fired up with meat shishkabobs and beer, soda and water was for sale. The view of the volcano was obstructed by clouds, but we enjoyed a good view of Baños below us. Heading back to the Chiva after 30 minutes or so, we found the driver under the truck, and one of the rear wheels laying next to him. Taking advantage of our delay, we went for a walk on a trail we found. We were further enticed by the sounds coming from the wall of thick vegetation, the crickets down here make a much more pleasing sound that their northern cousins, lower pitched, and more "musical". My flashlight sent up a solid beam of light in the incredibly moist air, we were indeed in a different world than the high Andean city of Quito.

The Next Day and The Dune Buggy
After waking up late the next day (we slept like exhausted babies in the thicker air), we enjoyed a cup of coffee, bread, and butter. Saying goodbye to our friend Darrel (he was headed south to Cuenca), we were faced with a myriad of choices for the day. Baños is a main "jumping off" point for trips into the Amazon jungle, and is home to many, many tour agencies. Options at these agencies include renting horses, motorcycles, four-wheelers, cars, go karts, and bicycles. I have been badly wanting to operate a motor vehicle since we got here, and was drawn towards the 250cc Honda dirt-bikes for $10 an hour. But judgement got the better of us, neither of us have much motorcycle experience, so we settled on a two seater go-cart, known as a "boogie-car".

We took it our for 2 hours, mostly following the main road out of town with real street vehicles whizzing past. They seemed totally used to the presence of non-standard vehicles on the road, and gave us plenty of space. Often, the trail we were to follow veered off the road and became cobblestone, or hard packed dirt. The trail was well marked, and gave us some spectacular views of the huge valley, and brown river below (this was the first east flowing waterway we have seen here, part of the Great Amazon river system!!). We passed many highly decorated chivas, fellow boogie-ers, and dirtbike racers. Also, we passed local homes made of bamboo, mud, brick, and mis-matched wood scraps.

We saw several cables strung many hundreds of meters across the valley, supporting open metal baskets with four of five "touristas" inside. There was also a bridge where you could tie yourself to a cord and jump off (we decided to pass on this). The drive was really nice, great views, raw horsepower, and an interesting contrast of the local lifestyle and the thrill seeking tourists. At first, I felt ashamed that I was spending $15 an hour on this silly motorized pleasure, while the locals didn't have much. But the local economy of Baños is entirely dependent, and thriving, because of the tourism industry so I let myself enjoy it.

The ride was entirely enjoyable, until... we turned down a side path trying to find some good views, and only found a junkyard of some sort. Realizing our mistake, we began to turn around- leisurly at first, but it soon became a matter of life an death as a black and brown bolt of snarling and barking fury came charging towards us! This damn dog must have been 95 pounds, all muscle and fury! The go-cart had a horrible turning radius and no reverse gear (we almost didn't clear a concrete wall), but Eileen's excellent driving got us out of there-- barely ahead of the snapping jaws of the demon. Seriously, one of the scariest moments of my LIFE.

Horse Rides
After all the commotion and high speed we had earlier in the day, we needed to try something a little more relaxing. We ended up renting a couple of horses for a quick, one hour ride. At first, this was very relaxing. The horses seemed a bit bored and totally used to gringos with little riding experience hopping on their backs. Then, our 13 year old guide had other ideas about the appropriate pace. He kept quietly whistling to the horses, which sent them galloping, and Eileen and I hanging on for dear life. Our guide would pretend that he hadn't done anything when we asked him to "Camino, no corre por favor!" -but invariably we would hear him whistle under his breath, sending our horses running like they were under a whip. Eventually, we learned how to survive these outbursts, and overall enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Hot Springs
After our short horse ride, we decided to look for the hot-springs for which Baños is famous (and named for) to ease our newly sore legs. We found them too late though, as they were soon closing for the daily cleaning. We couldn't wait until after the cleaning due to the bus schedule. Disappointed, we headed for the bus station and left for Quito. We will be back for the hot springs for sure. They sit at the base of a very high waterfall, where the water is funnelled off for community laundry stations, open showers, and a cute little shrine to the virgin Mary (you can buy a jug of this water, in a milk jug with a sticker of Mary).


This weekend was typical Ecuador, full of many different experiences packed in a short time and small area. One of the things I love about this country is that I can pay $3.50 to hop on a bus in Quito, and head into a completely different environment. Every town we visit has a unique, and always interesting personality.