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a mysterious noise that sounded like a cross between a moo, oink, and model A car horn

Saludos from Banos

We decided to leave the thick polluted air of Quito after 2 days, and see some more of the Ecuadorian countryside.  We decided that Banos, a small town in the central sierra, but close to the rainforest as well, would be a good homebase for the next week.  The buses here are a great source of entertainment and thrills for us.  This time the driving was slightly more sane, but our baggage was stored with a small german shepard under the bus.  Poor guy.  I'm sure that wasn't a fun ride.  Luckily he didn't decide to do his business on, or chew through our bags.  I think he did bark madly the whole way.

We're staying in Hostal Santa Cruz.  The night deskman Segundo, a fun guy with endless energy, promptly talked us into whitewater rafting the following day. After grabbing some dinner, who did we see, but our old friend Eric standing outside the hostal.  Segundo had recruited him for the whitewater as well.  The gringo trail really makes the world a small place!

Rafting was fun--nothing like our last whitewater death trip on the Merced.  Beautiful scenery and mellow class 3 rapids that whetted our appetite for the Class 4&5+ that we would end up doing later in the week.  Adventure Ecuadorland was an awesome tour operator.  Louis the owner, and his team of William the guide, Fabricio in the Safety kayak, and of course, Segundo made the whole day tons of fun.

After rafting, we took a dip in the hotsprings at the end of town where we met some locals and Pete, a fireman from New York. There's  a great cafe called Casa Hood where we had some excellent pad thai.  Who knew??  We actually even made it out to the bar that night.  I think it might've been our first night out since arriving in Ecuador (did we really just admit that??!).

Sleeping here is a bit challenging.  The hostal is nice, but the walls are paper thin.  Just as we got into bed, a mysterious noise that sounded like a cross between a moo, oink, and model A car horn started sounding off at regular intervals.  We later discovered that the source of this ruckus is a rooster that should have had his head on a chopping block long ago.  He literally crows (if you can call it that) at random throughout the day and night--mostly at night.  Earplugs muffle his squaks a little, but we're pretty sure that an axe through the neck is the best solution.  Needless to say we had a bit of a slow start the following day.

After a tasty brunch at Casa Hood where Brian discovered his love for papaya juice (Eric described the aroma as a cross between baby diapers and vomit with the consistency of jelly), we rented bikes for a 25k ride along the avenue of waterfalls on the river Pastaza.  The ride was nice and mostly downhill, which was a good thing since the wind was blowing hard in our faces the whole way down.  Along the way we stopped to take a tarabita (open air gondola basket) ride across the Pastaza river gorge.  70 meters up dangling from a thin cable.  We're not sure when the last time the safety inspector was out, but we felt really safe knowing that we spent a whole dollar each on the ride.  (check out the video).  Across the gorge, we took a small nature walk to the 'Inca Jump.'  Again, high safety standards.  The trail ended with a right angle turn on the side of a cliff and the waterfall San Pedro crashing down to your left.  The Inca Jump (we're guessing since nothing was labeled) consisted of some thin ropes hanging from what looked like a telephone line about 50 meters above the gorge.  It looked like fun, but we had all left our harnesses and our Inca cajones back at the hostal.  We continued biking to a huge waterfall called the Pallion de Diablo, and then to Cascada Machay where after a long hike down, there was a chilly swimming hole waiting for Brian and Eric.  (video clips) Eric decided that he gets screwed over here about once a day.  We were fortunate enough to get screwed over with him on this occasion.  The ride back from the waterfall route is supposed to cost $1.50, and because it was late, the camioneta (shuttle) driver wanted to charge us $8 ($2.75 each).  Since it was dark, and we were starving, without headlamps, and not looking forward to a ride uphill on Ecuador roads with Ecuador drivers, we sucked it up and jumped in the back of the truck with our bikes. As you can see, we're bitching about $1.25, but traveling has made us stingy, and it was the principle of the thing.

Eric was on a bender to do the Class 4&5 rapids, and somehow we got convinced that it was a good idea to go along.  All night long I had visions of huge white water, sucking holes, and near death experiences.  Luckily the Pastaza is not as violent as the Merced in the early spring after a record breaking precipitation year.  We did get rained on, heard some good thunder, and saw some big lightning bolts, but it was sunny for most of the day, and really good fun.  My faith has been restored in rafting.  Bring on the white water!!!  On our way back from the rafting trip, we got to see Volcan Tungurahua spurting a huge column of smoke and ash from its caldera.

We celebrated our whitewater survival with another trip to the hot springs at Virgen de la Agua Santa.  The pools sit under a huge waterfall, and the water was HOT!  Because it was Friday night, the pools rapidly filled to capacity with old men in speedos and old ladies letting it all hang out.  Good fun.

Because of the increased volcanic activity, we decided to jump on a chiva (big truck with seats on the flatbed) and head up to bellavista to try our luck at seeing some lava flowing from the angry volcano.  While the volcano disappointed, we were treated to great views of Banos down in the valley, hot cinnamon drink with cane alcohol, a bonfire, and a show of fire juggling (video).  (Marissa, you would've fit right in)

We spent the next day relaxing in Banos, discovering that the Post Office woudln't open until Monday (Linda, expect a package of our stuff:), and contemplating our future destinations. We sent Eric off to Riobamba--unfortunatelly with our hostal keys still in his pocket, and had dinner with Brian, a photographer from Seattle, at a really amazing Argentine grill called Quilombo.  It was amazing, and we're thinking about going back. Later that night, we actually made it out again with our friend Mimosa from Oakland.  After another all-night concert from the damn rooster, we didn't really get much accomplished today either.  I got a massage while Brian tried, unsuccessfully, to watch the quarterfinal world cup rugby match between Scotland and Argentina.

A final note, Kim has officially won the first of the South American Cribbage games.  Pat on the back to Brian who only lost by 1 point.