Hasta Luego Banos

(A regular scene in Banos, playing ¨foochie¨ outside of Kokopelli's)

Yesterday was a sad day for me. It was my official exit from the town of Banos, and my home for the past 5 weeks. It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to all of the wonderful friends that I had met there, as well as say goobye to a town that I have grown to love. My original intent for this blog was to have a way to show my friends and family my trip, but it has transformed into a journal for me as well, and a way to document and remember my trip. For this reason I would like to speak about the friends I have met in Banos, people I wish to never forget.

I will always remember....

¨Popo¨ (I don´t actually know his real name) for forcing me to speak spanish even when he could speak english and Oscar for showing me my first Carnival parade in Ecuador

Danny for teaching, or at least attempting to teach, me how to salsa dance

Jose for being such a shy guy until after he's had 5 shots of tequilla and Andres for his quite nature, but great friendship

Alex will no doubt always be remembered for his music, and his many private concerts for Keta and I

Javier, aka ¨Chami¨ for being an all around great friend, always willing to help and Tanja, (a Swiss woman who, like Keta and I, fell into the Banos spell) for putting some ideas into my head which led to you know what (which in actuality, you probably dont know...)

Manuella and Carlos at Kokopelli´s for always serving me up a good coffee and conversation

Enrique for being crazy and hyper at all hours of the day and Jaime for his marriage proposal that I unfortunately had to decline

Luis for teaching me to make a mad Caipirinha at his bar, Quillas

The stray dog with one brown and one blue eye for always following me around town

Last but not least Keta, my traveling companion, who decided to stay in South America longer and head to Peru. I wish her the best of luck and thank her for all the wonderful memories with her which I will never forget.

On Monday, my last full day in Banos, I went on a hike with Gail, who I met in Puerto Lopez and saw again in Banos. We hiked from the town up into the hills across from Tungurahua with the hopes of catching a climpse of the volcano. It was a nice relaxed hike in which we took our time and admired the scenery and view of the town.

While the clouds never did leave long enough for us to get to see too much of the volcano, we were able to watch a small explosion take place! Above the clouds emerged a dark cloud of smoke, arising from the volcano. It was a pretty cool sight to watch

My original plan was to leave Banos much earlier in the week, but due to the road block situation, I was unable to leave until yesterday morning and had to take the 10 hour route to Quito, through Tena, rather than the 3.5 hour one. In Tena I had to jump off the bus in order to leave my kayak with someone who it is being sold to. The bus waited for me, and upon my return we were on our way to Quito. It was a long ride, but with a pretty fun group, making it not too miserable. We watched a movie that had spanish subtitles along with spanish dialouge, and I was amazed at how capable I was at understanding the movie. I watched the entire thing and understood most of it. It made me realize just how much my spanish has improved over the past 3 months. We arrived into Quito around 10:30 and by 11:30 I was out at the bar with Cecily.

Cecily is heading back to the united states this evening so we celebrated her final Ecuadorian breakfast at the Magic Bean, a slightly expensive but very delicious restuarant across from our hostel. This afternoon I am heading out with my friend Clancy (who I met in Tena) to check out the Quito Women's prison. He has been before and his stories intrigued me so I would like to see it for myself! Should be interesting...