After hiking the Quilotoa loop and camping for the night, the four Ozzies, Amy, Ryan and I all headed to Baños for Christmas. Eimear and Kirsty would be getting to Baños the next day as well as two other girls we had met in Quito. I was looking forward to celebrating Christmas with new friends from all over the world and we were also all staying in the same hostel.
Baños is a town in the central highlands and is famous for its hot springs, waterfalls, zip lining, rafting and the swing st the end of the world (Casa Del Arbol)! Nearly every tourist who visits Baños gets the standard swing at the end of the world photo...and of course we were no exception.
Needless to say our first evening there we all had a quiet one and settled into the new town. The next day Amy, Ryan and I went to Casa Del Arbol. There are buses that go the twenty minute journey up the mountain to where the swing is located. We decided to take a taxi costing $10, it was slightly more expensive than the bus but was better as it was very quiet when we got there. We could swing to our hearts content without queueing and went on the other swigs and small zip line. It was a beautiful day, we spent an hour or two there, took the obligatory cheesy swinging pictures and managed to hitch back down easily. There is a route to walk down but it is very steep and not suitable for flip flop wear.
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| Casa Del Arbol Christmas joy |
The girls arrived later that day and for the next day we all decided to rent bikes (Christmas eve). It was pretty cheap at $5 each for the day! We set off at 8am the next morning. Ryan and I were keen to do the 60km cycle from Baños to another town called Puyo at the Amazon edge....mostly downhill (or so I was told). The other four girls decided to do a shorter (more sensible) route of 20km to the amazing El Pilon Del Diablo waterfall (cauldron of the devil) where we paid $2 to get a closer view of the magnificent waterfall. It was a beautiful cycle with mountain vistas, lots of waterfalls and zip lining offers across the canyon along the way. The girls turned back after the waterfall and Ryan and I kept going hoping to make it to Puyo by lunchtime. However after about 30km I began to realise I might have bitten off more than I could chew so to speak. With the four days of hiking still fresh in my legs my thighs began to burn and did not like the uphill climbs one.little.bit. And once the torrential Amazonian rain came I had decided with myself to stop and get the bus back and leave Ryan to it as I was holding him up anyway. We stopped at about 45km and he patiently gave me a pep talk....we could do it, the majority was downhill and it'll be worth it in the end. Being the stubborn person that I am I decided to stick with it and when I saw the sign 'Bienvenidos Puyo' I actually felt like I had just conquered Mount Everest. No matter what people tell you about the cycle....it is NOT all downhill.
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| About 15km in |
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| Le pilon Del diablo waterfall |
We stopped for some much needed lunch in a small comidor and got the standard chicken, rice and salad. I looked like an absolutely drowned rat, even leaving a puddle of water on my seat afterwards. Thankfully we choose establishments with plastic furniture so the owner didn't seem to mind. After lunch Ryan was keen to go to a little monkey sanctuary on the other side of Puyo (another 8km or so)...my legs were literally like jelly but the prospect of getting the bus back with my bike and dripping wet didn't appeal so I reluctantly agreed and we got back on the bikes and cycled through the dusty town of Puyo, past the markets, road works and bus station to a small monkey sanctuary at the end of a rocky lane. Ryan paid the $3.50 to go in and I opted to grab a coke in a local mans house (I think his driveway was the unofficial car park) and listened to the random Latino Christmas music on the radio). After about thirty minutes Ryan came back looking slightly underwhelmed but glad to have seen the sanctuary and we (I) psyched myself up to cycle back to Puyo where we would get the bus. After about two minutes of us bumping back down the lane Ryan stopped ahead and I knew instantly that the chain on his bike had snapped.....fantastic. We ended up having to wheel our bikes back to the road where we waited for bus to bring us back to Puyo (throwing our bikes underneath the bus), from here we took a taxi...again throwing our bikes in the back of the pick up truck style taxi to the bus station where we finally got a bus back to Baños. Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe it! Thankfully the men in the bike shop didn't try to charge us for the broken chain or the fact that we brought the bikes back at 6pm...an hour late. However don't let my account put anyone off doing the cycle....giving the chance again I would still do it, just maybe a few days later allowing my legs to have a bit of a rest and maybe I would have brought better waterproofs!
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| Christmas Eve night |
Despite the fun filled day, seeing as it was Christmas Eve we all decided to head out that evening, with about ten of us from the hostel, we all had a few drinks and card games in the hostel before heading out to 'The Leprechaun'. It was a pretty wild night of dance offs, huge shots and mixing with the locals. Needless to say Christmas morning was so different yet so similar to any other Christmas morning at home. Similar in that we all woke up with a hangover. Different in that there were no presents and it was pretty warm outside. The other thing that surprised me about Baños at Christmas is that for such a Catholic country....it felt like any other day. Everything was open, the markets, banks, shops, tour companies...everything. We had decided to have a costume party for Christmas so Amy and I dressed up as Christmas joy.....the Ozzie guys had dressed up as a penguin, banana and the girls had dressed up as presents and a Christmas stocking. The rest of Christmas Day was pretty weird. We decided not to cook as the kitchen facilities in the hostel weren't great so a group of us went to the local market and got a set menu of Yuguarlocro soup (meat, corn and vegetables) served with avocado, dried cows blood and onions. Followed by Llapingacho (potato cake, rice, chorizo, chicken, egg and salad), all for about $4 and topped off with a fresh juice. Once we realised we weren't going to have a traditional Christmas Day we enjoyed the day and there was even a Christmas parade through the town.
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| Non traditional Christmas dinner |
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| 'Cuy' (guinea pig) at the market |
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| Christmas parade |
On St Stephens day/Boxing Day four of the girls and I went zip lining in the morning, it cost $20 and included transport from the tour company in Baños about thirty minutes out to the zip lining and back. It was really good value and the zip lining was really good. The guys that took us were really good fun and professional. We got to go upside down (pretty uncomfortable) and my favourite, the superman! Later that day, I treated myself to an hour and a half long massage and face mask for $20.....such a bargain again. While the others continued the extreme sports and went paragliding.
As we hadn't had a meal altogether on Christmas I decided to cook for everyone that night, unfortunately the Australian guys had left so I went to the market and bought enough (well too much) ingredients to make chicken fajitas, guacamole, refined beans and salad for the seven of us that evening. It was also the last evening we would all be together as the next day Kirsty and Eimear were heading off to the Galapagos and I would be going to another town with Amy, Michelle and Hannah. It was really nice way to end Christmas. We also had a chocolate birthday cake (not homemade unfortunately) for Jesus' birthday complete with candles. He is the reason for the season after all!! We had some drinks and played yet more cards but unfortunately it was cut short as the hostel had a ridiculous curfew of 10pm so we were told to go out or go to our rooms (at 27 years old....at 10pm)...anyway we obliged and headed back to our rooms full of fajitas, cake and rum!
Feliz Navidad!
Next Stop: Alausi, Ecuador
Food/Drink: breakfast in the hostel, made oats ourselves with fruit. The market in Baños is really good for set lunches...generally $2.50 for soup, main and juice. They also have cuy (guinea pigs) served with rice, salad for $4...I declined this opportunity. Baños has really good burgers...we actually got one on Christmas night, $3 from Comet burger. The supermarket and market for buying food to cook.
Stayed: La Chiminea hostel, $7.50-8.50 for a dorm. Really good location, pool and jacuzzi but pretty strict with curfew of quiet after 10pm.
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