Hola Amigos !! Ok, ok, ok... It´s been about a week again since we last updated the blog. We really need to get better at this and update much more regularily !!
We spent the last week in a small town by the name of Baños (yes, that´s correct, the translation is "Bathroom". It´s a really cool Eco-Adventure based town at the base of VolcanoTungurahua, which became active again on December 4th. A bunch of people told us it was a bit dangerous, but as soon as we heard it was "erupting" we knew we had to get there ASAP. Seriosly, how often are you that close to a volcano that may blow at any given moment... Of course you have to get there to hopefully catch a glimpse !!
Upon arriving to Baños, we knew we´d be there for a few days. All the streets are lined with tour agencies with shouting vendors "Amigos, rafting rafting, you need rafting? Canyoning? Jumping? Jungle tour? Amigos, what you need?" It was pretty wild. After debating what we should do, we narrowed down our selection to, "let´s do everything!"
Tuesday - Motor Bike Tour
Once the clouds parted in the morning, we realized that you can´t actually see the top of the volcano from the town because there is a sharp hill in the way, so we decided to rent a dirtbike to explore for a better view. We hit the open highway and drove for several km´s down a stretch of road that surrounded by several waterfalls, it was very beatiful. We eventually ended up taking a road up towards the peak of the volcano for a better look. Our best view came once we arrived at the volcano siesmic and data observation house. We were amazed at the thick black smoke pouring out of the volcano. Really an amazing site !! At the observation station is also a treehouse, with a swing that extends over the edge of a hill. It was thrilling to swing out, past the edge of the hill many many meters above the ground.
Wednesday - Canoyoning (repelling down water falls)
We met up in the morning with our guide, who we were promised was extremely competent and also great at speaking English, which we thought might be important seeing as the guide would be helping us repell down waterfalls and needing to give us carefull instructions. Turns out, the guide didn´t speak any English, and at times it appeared like this may have been his first time repelling. He was a fairly nice guy, except for when anything went wrong. We would let him know that there was an issue, and he would always get mad and blame the problem on us, even though we never touched anything. It was really quite funny. We decided we needed to be extra cautious seeing as we weren´t sure if the guide knew what he was doing. Good thing we were paying attention, especially the time Dawne started going down the waterfall and noticed that the secondary safety rope wasn´t attached... But hey, who needs a saftey rope when you have a primary rope that is severly frayed and taped together?? We ended up descending down 4 waterfalls, of which the last was definately the most intense. It was nearly 50 meters high, and we were only against the cliff face for a few meters and the last 40 meters or so was a free descent with us just hanging in the harness. It was terrifying, but amazing to be suspended in the middle of a giant waterfall with water spilling over the edge onto you as you descended. Dawne screamed the entire way after telling me what a baby I was being for being so scared to go first... We finished off the day with a warm dip in the local hotsprings at the base of the volcano.
Thursday - Whitewater Rafting
After the canyoning, we were certain that there was no possible way that we could get a worse guide for any of the rest of the tours. We were right! The guide wasn´t worse, but it was the exact same guide as the day before, but today he was an expert at whitewater rafting. Haha, I bet it would have been great to see the looks on our faces when we saw the same guide and the shady looking raft (of course we were again told that all the equipment would be brand new). Still no English, first time rafting? Perhaps !
In the end he turned out to be not a bad raft master after all. He gave us an instructional saftey talk which explained how to paddle and what to do if someone fell out of the boat. The presentation was 5 minutes, and he was dripped sweat and out of breathe by the time it was over. Still not really sure why, but you would think that he would be in a little better shape seeing as he "does tours like these everyday". Once we were on the river things went pretty well. The water level was rather low, so the rapids were fairly calm and no one fell out of the boat. It was a lot of fun and the river offered some great views of the jungle that surrounded it.
Friday - Jungle tour and Monkey Sanctuary
Another day, another tour.... another guide right ??? We were pretty relieved that it was someone different to pick us up for this tour, as were weren´t sure how much more we could handle of the previous hombre. We took the tour with another couple, which fortunately were very good in both Spanish and English. We started at a monkey sanctuary where volunteers work with injured or lost monkeys to help get them back in the wild. They told us before entering that we needed to stay calm and to not panic if the monkeys jump on us. They also made us leave wallets, jewelry, hats, sunglasses and anything else loose in the car because apparently they are great little thieves. Within secong of getting inside the area there were monkeys everwhere !! ... On your head, in your arms, on your back, climbing your legs !!! It was crazy !! It was so much fun to watch them play and use you like a tree to swing and chase each other around. It´s hard to explain how much fun it was to play with them !!
After the monkeys, we went to visit native tribal village. We got there while they were having one of their Christmas ceremonies, which they graciously allowed us to view, so as long as we took part and drank their special ceremonial drink "Chicha de Yuca" (or something like that). It was awful, but we couldn´t say no because it would be unhonorable to the tribe. It didn´t do much for David, seeing as his stomach was already not doing well that day. It actually makes me kind of ill just thinking back on it...
After lunch we went on a short canoe trip down the river, much like the local natives do, and also went on a short hike to another waterfall where we were able to go swimming. Again, a pretty refreshing experience! On the hike there was also another swing similar to the one we we on at the volcano monitoring station, except this one was about 3 times as high. Dawne went first and swung of the ledge, at the heigt of the swing you are nearly 100 meters above the ground looking out on an astounding view of the jungle and river below. We went a few times each, and later found out that there have been a few bad accidents on that swing... Funny how these things never come up before you go on them.
Saturday - Bridge Jumping
We saved the scariest experience in Baños for last. The death defying free fall swing off the San Franciso bridge just outside of town. The river below the bridge is well over 100 meters down and I´m not sure how long the falls is, but I think it was about 65-70 meters . You strap into several harnesses, much the same way as if you were going to do a body harness bungee jump. Then, they hook you up to the ropes which are tied to the bottom of the opposite side of the bridge, you climb the guardrail to a platform and 3-2-1 JUMP !!!! You dive away from the platform and after a freefall you swing under the bridge to the other side, and then continue like a pendulum until they lower you down to ground!
Good grief !! It was terrifying ! Partially because of the height, but also because of the seemingly lack of saftey standards in Ecuador. The best part of all the activities in when you barter for the price in the street !! Really?? Dawne was really good at it, we got the price of the bridge jump down from $20.00 per person to $10.00 per person. That´s a good thing, Right?? Either way we made it through it all in tip top shape and overcame some fears in the meantime... Next stop, the small party / surf town of Montanita after a 10 hour busride !!! Can´t wait !!
ps our camera is being a pain in the butt so we'll upload more photos later on! They are pretty crazy!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment