Sangay Banos

... tourist destinations....And of course our timing was impeccable as usual. Just in time for All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead. As a result it was a bit of a challenge to find space in a hostel or hotel. Everyone was at this town for a holiday. We lucked out on a great price (prices are inflated during this weekend) because the housekeeper in the hotel we were looking at forgot about the increase in price and charged us ...

... course at one of the local language schools. He was also staying at Mariana´s house and it was difficult not to fall into the pattern of just speaking English with him!<br><br>That afternoon we went to the massive Museo Del Banco Central, four floors of Ecuadorian culture, including a very interesting exhibit on all the different provinces of the country and their customs, dress, music and way of life. We were particularly interested in the display on the Shuar people, who were the ...

... one girl from Brisbane herself. After swapping some travel tips we went to a tourist information centre, the first one we had seen since starting our travels. We enquired about our train trip that we were planning from Riobamba on Wednesday only to find that it was fully booked and the next one was Friday. This kind of upset our plans, we couldn&#8217;t afford a two day delay but we were told we could catch the Alausi to Sabamba leg of the journey which ...

... up as the judge explained the rules (very quickly). He counted down, ¨tres, dos, uno¨ and we took off, down the road, down a steep muddy hill to the rocky bank where the boats were stationed. We found the boat that was marked with our color, jumped in and started paddling our hearts out, rain and river water pounding at our face. We got fourth place, but were certainly the crowd favorite. The little boys on the shore were cheering ¨¡gringo sucio ...

... br><br>On Sunday we hiked up to a lookout point called Bellavista - it was a very strenous experience for total non-sporty people like Cat &amp; I, but we felt great once we got up to the top and took in the surroundings and the amazing view (sorry, i´m rambling on about how "amazing" everything is..!)<br><br>On Monday we wandered around the town doing various errands before getting the bus to Puyo to meet the Arajuno Road Project coordinators...

... again, swing.....etc. etc. Scared me all over again. Anyway, for anyone who has me on facebook, ive uploaded two videos if you can be bothered to have a look there.<br>Wasted the rest of the day until it was time to get the bus to Guayaquil. Not really much to do in Guayaquil for tourists by the looks of it, but its where you can fly out to the Galapagos. So maybe I´ll spend one day there looking around, then head out to be a budding David Attenbourgh!<br>Ive been ...

... combo of plaited hair, big hat and poncho/cape. We went for lunch at Cafe Austria just north up the road from our hostel - don't bother going there for a simple lunch, we were charged $2 for "sandwiches" which were insultingly tiny in size and would have angered a mouse. Me and Andy then made phone calls from a cabinas place next to the hostel.<br><br>After this we wandered east to the Museo del Banco Central. We paid a $3 entrance fee, and it ...

... it off and for 80 cents a kilo, pick it up, clean and neatly folded four hours later. No coin-ops for me, thanks all the same) and hit up a restaurant for a couple al muerzos. An al muerzo (literally meaning "lunch") is a fantastic South American invention. These is a set menu and for between $1.50 and $2 (Ecuador uses the US dollar as currency) you get a drink, soup, a plate of chicken, rice, and French fries or some such, and a small dessert! So civilized! Actually, as the ...

... Banos wollten, wurde uns mitgeteilt (soweit wir das auf Spanisch halt verstanden haben), dass von hier aus nur ein Bus nach Cuenca (Süden) fährt. Ist zwar komisch weil in Ecuador zumindest auf den wichtigeren Strecken so ziemlich immer ein Bus überallhin geht. Na gut dann gings halt wieder zurück nach Cuenca, wo wir noch eine Nacht verbringen mussten bevor wir wieder auf der gleichen Strecke zurück über Canar nach Baños fuhren.<br>

... called bouldering and did that one time in school (wanky mo etc) I fear i was still a little embibed as my stomach was sore from laughing before we even got our wetsuits on. This was a full day of action jumping into icy water (in bowling shoes) and inching down the sides of waterfalls, the largest on these was 38 metres. There was something seriously wrong with me as i felt no fear at all, i was more scared of not being scared. i have loads of pics but theyre on a ...