For the weekend, Andy and I decided to hop on a bus and head to Baños, a village about 3 hours south of Quito best known for it´s natural hot springs, and a popular tourist spot for foreigners and Ecuadorians alike.
Buses
This is a good time to talk briefly about the bus culture here because it´s an interesting part of Ecuadorian society that deserves a few comments. The first thing you´ll notice is that the buses, much like Ecuador on a whole, are a little lax on safety regulations. You have people constantly jumping on and off as the bus is moving, often at what some might consider ¨unsafe speeds¨. At every stop as well, you have vendors jumping on or off (aslo while the bus is moving) selling various magazines, ice cream, bootleg Reggaeton discs and what have you. The bus drivers are a bit speed happy, and seem to make a game out of passing other cars at questionable turns in the road, which can leave you a bit on edge, or for those of us who are anxiety prone, gasping desparately for air in a state of constant dread. Add that to the often dubious state of Ecuador´s highway system, and you have yourself real panic attack on wheels.
Perhaps the best part though are the B level spanish dubbed action movies that are featured on longer rides. Steven Segal seems to be a favorite around these parts and he has gotten me through a number of scarier trips. Despite the debilitating terror, bus rides are often my favorite part of traveling. The views are always spectatcular in this country, with mountains for days, and it so interesting to drive through the various cities, villages and small towns along the way. Many are in various states of disarray, but all provide a intriguing glimpse into small town Ecuadorian life. It´s not a surprising fact that 60 to 70 % of the population lives below the poverty line. My favorite thing on bus rides here is to listen to my Spanish language mix on my iPod, which consists mainly of the Gipsy Kings and Spanish Language ABBA. Whenever I do, I can´t help but feel as though I´m in a coming of age movie, and I´m at the video montage point in the film where our hero comes to realize all that he is meant to in a sequence set to popular music. Does anyone else feel that way when listening to music (Andy confirmed similar dillusions)?
Baños
This paticular bus ride was an adventure on it´s own, although mostly for Andy who was forced to sit on a large cushion on the floor and was himself used as a seat by a rotating group of local passagengers. It got pretty ridiculous, and he was not a happy caballero. To be fair though, the ride was not nearly as ridiculous as the on screen chemistry between Jet Li and DMX in our Spanish dubbed in-bus movie "From the Cradle to The Grave." I literally couldn´t turn away and watched the entire thing completely in awe that someone had the gall to green light this cinematic abomination. I will NEVER forget it. Anyway, once I finished the movie I was able to appreciate the beauty of the landscape as Dancing Queen blared in Spanish on my iPod.
When we arrive
d in Baños we found a hostel after several failed attempts, toured around some of the bathes, and set up massages for later in the evening. Baños is stunning and completely surrounded on all angles by mountains and waterfalls. After an incredible (and incredibly cheap) massage, we treated our self to a delectable steak dinner and turned in for the night. The next morning after breakfast we did something that was so insanely fun my brain is starting to melt trying to figure out how to blog it.In a historic last minute gut decision we opted not to wait on line for the bathes and instead rented a dune buggy and explored the surrounding mountains. BEST. DECISION. EVER. It is unacceptable to me that dune buggies are not yet the tranportation choice of the masses. It was the most fun Andy and I had so far in Ecuador and I boldly claim that if you have not dune buggied your way through the Ecuadorian landscape than you know nothing of this vast and majestic country. The first thing that would have given my mother a heart attack was that in order to get to the mountains we had to buggy our way on the
main highway as buses and trucks zoomed passed us. It was relatively terrifying (an ongoing theme of our experience), but with Andy as Jet Li, to my DMX, we summoned the courage and were able to navigate bumpy roads, pitch black tunnels, and narrow bridges to get to the dirt pathes that were to lead us up through the mountain side. Once we arrived we were completely on our own speeding through the hills with amazing views of the country below. Andy was not all that at ease with my reckless driving style (Becky, you probably would have killed me) but he took it like a champ and responded in kind when it was his turn to drive. I will never, NEVER forget this experience. We got pretty much the whole thing on video and I recommed checking some out. There´s a few on my Picasssa Page and here´s some links that may or may not work and a YouTube video.http://picasaweb.google.com/etanofrane/Ecuador/photo#5240774280164993506
http://picasaweb.google.com/etanofrane/Ecuador/photo#5240780171385139826
http://picasaweb.google.com/etanofrane/Ecuador/photo#5240799833325504322
YouTube Video:
1 comment:
definitely looks fun! were you on the road the whole time though? where were the dunes??
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