Mountainbiking in the Andes
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2008
1
12
71
Trip End
Ongoing
Baños, Ecuador
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Generally prices in Ecuador are cheap, we got a hotel room fror $5 each. The town on Baņos is in a valley, the town starts at the base of one mountain and ends at another, its probably only around one kilometer square but itīs a lovely place despite being so touristy. East of Baņos the road drops to the upper Amazon basin, it was down this road, called the trail of waterfalls, that we rode our hired mountain bikes. Hurtling through through the Andes on a mountainbike has been one of my favourite experiences so far, having to walk through a 400m long pitch black tunnel that was barely wide enough for a bus..
Baños
. was one of my worst!Not long into the ride we crossed a bridge with lots of people stading and watching something.. it was here we were introduced to swing jumping, slightly resembling bungy jumping it involves jumping off a high structure, although rather than being attached by ones legs and bobbing up and down, one wears a harness and once reaching the end of the rope one swings back and forth over a river. Jo decided that this was definitely something for her although she didnīt look quite so sure once geared up and standing on the side of the bridge!! I got enough of an adrenalin rush just watching and opted for the position of photographer!
We ended up riding 40km which is not hardly as impressive as it seems considering for every gruelling kilometer we rode up there was at least 3..5...10 km of coasting downhill as a reward. We stopped in a place called Rio Negro which boasts a lovely walk through some rainforest terminating at a waterfall, Pailon del diablo. Many bike riders stop here and catch a bus back but we were having so much fun we decided on riding another 20km to the next town. This involved quite a bit of riding on unpaved roads and Jo did have the misfortune of hitting a pot hole and flying over her handlebars.. We eventually reached the town of Rio Verde and rewarded ourselves with a beer and some delicious fish
Baños
. To get back to Baņos we needed to catch a bus which we were assured came past every 30mins... not being any bus stops we stood at the side of the road and waited.. an ordinary passenger bus pulled up and the driverīs assistant grabbed our bikes and threw them up on the roof and off we went.Close to Baņos is the active volcano Tungurahua, despite being protected by a mountain the town has been evacuated twice and another nearby town was destroyed when it errupted in 1999 and then again in 2006. We went on an evening tour to a lookout to see the volcano, however because of the cloud cover it was impossible to see anything. We had to be satisfied with the view over the town and some fire twirlers that were putting on a show, which of course werenīt because it was freezing and we were expecting to see a volcano...
Sunday I paid a visit to the hot springs located at the edge of the town just next to another waterfall. Despite going at 7am it was packed full of people! It was still nice especially for my poor sore muscles from bike riding the previous day. Later on Jo and I decided that we should go into the mountains in a different direction and this time our chosen form of transport would be horses. With our trusty steeds, Tequilla and Gringo and our guide Paulo we headed off on a much less travelled route towards the volcano. There were some spectacular views of the Andes and we even saw huge puffs of smoke coming from the volcano. A few hours later, with very sore bums we hurried to the bus station to make our 4pm bus back to Quito.
Comments
Swing Jumping Looks Fabulous!
Hola! Meyamo Juliette. Quanto Costa una swing jump? Donde esta?
I hate you both I'm so jealous!!!!!!!!!
Swing jumping definitely looks like the extreme sport for me. Loved the video!
Man bike riding in the Andes... so cool....
Me and a girl from work are about to book a flights to Ho Chi Minh City and out of Bangkok or Phuket at Xmas... exciting stuff! Wish we were going to South America though :(
Re: Swing Jumping Looks Fabulous!
Swing jumpings costs a whole $15, renting a bike for a day is $5 and horse riding is $10 for two hours!!