Loving Life in Banos
Today I arrived in Riobamba, a town one hour away from Banos (however due to a closed road, it took me two hours) and a good basing town for exploring the highest mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo. Over the weekend I came to the realization that there were still many places I wanted to see in Ecuador and that my trip was already over its halfway point. With this in mind, I decided to leave Banos for a couple days and head out on my own to do some much needed exploring. Tomorrow I will be hiking up to the second refuge on Chimborazo, located at 5200 meters (over 17,000 feet)! After reaching the second refuge, I will then ride a mountain bike down the mountain and back to the town of Riobamba. I'll make sure to post pictures and stories upon my arrival back in Banos.
The past few days have been spent doing some more exploring and some more relaxing in Banos. Thursday night Keta and I joined our local friends on a chiva (wooden truck type bus thing) to a viewing spot of the entire city as well as the volcano. This is one of the more popular tourist attractions, so our friends work it by playing guitar and juggling fire. Luckily for Keta and I, they were able to get us on the trip for free. It was a great night of chilling with our new friends and viewing the city. There were too many clouds to see the volcano, so we are planning on returning another night for another attempt at it.
After class on Friday, Keta and I headed out with our friends to a climbing wall located just outside the town. The day was clear and from the grassy spot next to the wall, we were able to get some great views of Tungurahua. That evening we headed to our nightly spot, the Quillas bar. Keta and I practiced our bartending skills and learned how to make a couple new drinks. Overall a great night.
Saturday was a very relaxing day for me, involving some eatting, sleeping and reading. I decided to take a walk around the town and met a man with whom I ended up spending part of the afternoon with. He took me to the church, which was one place I had been meaning to go, and showed and explained to me the church´s many paintings. The ¨Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Rosario de Aqua Santa¨ is extremely important to the town of Banos. It is believed that Nuestra Senora de Aqua Santa is responsible for a great number of miracles and the church attracts thousands of pilgrims each year who come to worship her. All of the paintings inside the church depict different stories of the miracles granted by the Virgin.
On Sunday I headed to the Rio Pastaza with a rafting trip of one of the local tour agencies with who many of my friends work. They allowed me to borrow their playboat, and I headed out to be the ¨safety boater¨for the trip. It was nice to get back out on the water again as well as in a playboat. The river was great (however a little dirty) and the scenery beautiful. It was a wonderful day requiring me to work very little and get a free ride to the river as well as lunch. The company has asked me to start working for them while I am in town, so it seems I will be guiding and/or safety boating for them this weekend and making a little extra money. After the trip, we all headed out to the local Carnival for some bumper cars.
The entire month of February is called Carnival in Ecuador and is a big celebration for all the people here. This upcoming week is the official week of Carnival in Banos, and is apparently a pretty crazy time of fiestas and other activities. One important thing of note about Carnival time is the custom of dumping water on and throwing water balloons at random people on the street. Luckily, the town of Banos has outlawed this activity (although I have gotten shot by some water guns). The town of Riobamba, however, has not outlawed it and I have already today outrun some kids with water balloons and watched a poor ecuadorian girl get a bucket of water dumped on her from a balcony above the sidewalk.
I am truly beginning to love the town of Banos, especially now after leaving it. Riobamba is a nice town as well, but all the traffic and noise reminds me of what makes Banos so great. I have also come to truly love the idea that I feel that we have really made a home for ourselves there. Instead of sticking with the gringo trail, Keta and I have managed to become immersed in the local culture, which has come to be to our advantage in many ways. We have made some wonderful friends, practiced more spanish than I ever wanted to, and have learned the inside scoop on many things in Banos. I believe that we have managed to lose the title of tourists and become members of the city, at least for the time being.
The past few days have been spent doing some more exploring and some more relaxing in Banos. Thursday night Keta and I joined our local friends on a chiva (wooden truck type bus thing) to a viewing spot of the entire city as well as the volcano. This is one of the more popular tourist attractions, so our friends work it by playing guitar and juggling fire. Luckily for Keta and I, they were able to get us on the trip for free. It was a great night of chilling with our new friends and viewing the city. There were too many clouds to see the volcano, so we are planning on returning another night for another attempt at it.
After class on Friday, Keta and I headed out with our friends to a climbing wall located just outside the town. The day was clear and from the grassy spot next to the wall, we were able to get some great views of Tungurahua. That evening we headed to our nightly spot, the Quillas bar. Keta and I practiced our bartending skills and learned how to make a couple new drinks. Overall a great night.
Saturday was a very relaxing day for me, involving some eatting, sleeping and reading. I decided to take a walk around the town and met a man with whom I ended up spending part of the afternoon with. He took me to the church, which was one place I had been meaning to go, and showed and explained to me the church´s many paintings. The ¨Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Rosario de Aqua Santa¨ is extremely important to the town of Banos. It is believed that Nuestra Senora de Aqua Santa is responsible for a great number of miracles and the church attracts thousands of pilgrims each year who come to worship her. All of the paintings inside the church depict different stories of the miracles granted by the Virgin.
On Sunday I headed to the Rio Pastaza with a rafting trip of one of the local tour agencies with who many of my friends work. They allowed me to borrow their playboat, and I headed out to be the ¨safety boater¨for the trip. It was nice to get back out on the water again as well as in a playboat. The river was great (however a little dirty) and the scenery beautiful. It was a wonderful day requiring me to work very little and get a free ride to the river as well as lunch. The company has asked me to start working for them while I am in town, so it seems I will be guiding and/or safety boating for them this weekend and making a little extra money. After the trip, we all headed out to the local Carnival for some bumper cars.
The entire month of February is called Carnival in Ecuador and is a big celebration for all the people here. This upcoming week is the official week of Carnival in Banos, and is apparently a pretty crazy time of fiestas and other activities. One important thing of note about Carnival time is the custom of dumping water on and throwing water balloons at random people on the street. Luckily, the town of Banos has outlawed this activity (although I have gotten shot by some water guns). The town of Riobamba, however, has not outlawed it and I have already today outrun some kids with water balloons and watched a poor ecuadorian girl get a bucket of water dumped on her from a balcony above the sidewalk.
I am truly beginning to love the town of Banos, especially now after leaving it. Riobamba is a nice town as well, but all the traffic and noise reminds me of what makes Banos so great. I have also come to truly love the idea that I feel that we have really made a home for ourselves there. Instead of sticking with the gringo trail, Keta and I have managed to become immersed in the local culture, which has come to be to our advantage in many ways. We have made some wonderful friends, practiced more spanish than I ever wanted to, and have learned the inside scoop on many things in Banos. I believe that we have managed to lose the title of tourists and become members of the city, at least for the time being.
posted by Laura Farrell at
7:58 PM
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