Hiking in style

So from Quito, we headed to Banos which is a nice small town south down the Andes mountains.  After a little bit of an annoying wait in the bus terminal (every millisecond someone from one of the million bus companies was yelling Riobamba, another bus destination) and somewhat unnecessary (there were a trillion companies going to Banos but not realizing this we bought our tickets at the first one we saw...this also made us realize the necessity of the Riobamba yellers) we got on the bus and arrived in Banos. 

We checked into an Israeli hostal called Transilvania which was great...cheap, clean, hot showers, free breakfast, free internet, a great restaurant with shakshuka, malawach, spaghetti, etc. and a nice common room to chill in and watch the DVDs that were available also for free.  We met a bunch of people and the next morning went off with them on a bike ride down to the different famous waterfalls in the area.  We were 12 Israelis, so were able to bargain down a whole dollar (you know how we do), which allowed us to waste the dollar on other crap on the way down.  The bike ride was quite easy with nice views and almost all downhill.  Of course there were a few difficulties on the way, like the honking trucks that we shared a lane with, the need to pass through a completly unlit, wet tunnel which of course was shared by trucks and cars as well.  A little tip for people biking through a dark tunnel that you cant see the front wheel of the bike.....make sure your not in the back of the group and if sounds like someone got hit, pedal faster. Second tip, dont bargain down a dollar and maybe you'll get a newer bike (with actual reflectors) and a helmet.  Someone must have talked to the group behind us since they seemed to have used these tips.  Anyway a very cool adventure and the waterfalls were pretty impressive.

Later that night, Gilad gave  Sarit a nice yet belated birthday surprise of an hour massage at one of the spas in town.   Sarit surprised Gilad back by insisting he get one also.  This sounded like a great idea to Gilad until we came back to the spa for our appointment to find two masseuses, one a petite attractive lady, and one...well lets just call him ponytail tattoo head man, AKA The Pirate.  Well it was Sarit's birthday so she got to choose and, well no need for too much detail, but Gilad kind of wished he signed up for a 10 minute massage and not an hour one. One more tip, pirates are NOT relaxing.

The next day we went for an uphill hike and get some city and mountain views.  After finding the right path (another tip...usually the path with horse crap on it is the right path...unfortunately) we made it to the top.  On the way we met some nice people, one couple from Canada who recommended to us the restaurant that they ate at the night before, and then told us to go ahead without them since they have diarreah and are taking it slow (we didnt try the restaurant...and its a little weird how open people are about diarreah here) and another really great couple from CA who we spent the rest of the hike with.  The trail was pretty easy, though pretty muddy and a little animaly including a huge bull (luckily only one of us was wearing red, and it wasnt one of us, and he went first...thanks for taking one for the team, man), a crazy dog that was barking at our heels and showing his teeth (we felt much better with his owner in the doorway yelling "get them!" or something in spanish we didnt understand) and a crazy pig that...ok fine, it was normal pig and didnt even look up at us as we passed.

Now, tell us, what tough trek isn't complete with a massage, wax, and beer (not necessarily in that order or quantity) at the top of the trail.  Well there was an amazin spa at the top of the mountain, that actually had very reasonable prices for there amenities and ridiculously expensive prices for there lodging packages (sarit thinks if you have the money it was worth it, gilad thinks if you have the money, go to the galapagos).   Since we didnt need the lodging we figured what the hell and had a nice relaxing time before heading back down the mountain.

The hike was also pretty cool since the whole time we could hear the rumbling of the volcano nearby.  The next morning though, Gilad woke to the rumbling of the mountain and the sounds of bells, which happened to be cathedral bells, but in his half alseep half awake state thought they could be volcano evacuation bells.  This thought passed after he smelled the fragrance of freshly baked bread and, again in his half asleep mind, thought to himself that if it really was the volcano evacuation bell it would smell more like matzah...and quickly went back to sleep.

From here we had planned to go to Peru, but after seeing people's whale watching pics and hearing that this is the season everyone sees them, we headed down to the coast for some humpback whale action.