Banos Ecuador

Hey everyone! How's it going? Bob and I are doing really well. We just spent 4 days in Banos and had a wonderful time. Banos is a small tourist town. Many tourist come here for hiking, biking, rafting, canyoning and tons of outdoor adventures. The town also sits below a large volcano called Tungurahua. The volcano had been dormant for the past 8 decades but in 1999 it started to spew some ashes and started steaming which caused the town to evacuate for several months. It never erupted so the residents started returning to their homes by October 2000. In the meantime, experts are continuing to monitor and residents have evacuation drills twice a year. Pretty impressive too. They can have the whole city evacuated in 12 mins and get this, no one uses their vehicles. They all evacuate by foot. Incredible. So what's the attraction to Banos that brings so many tourists to this small town year after year? The city is full of waterfalls, natural hot springs, tons of hiking, horseback riding, river rafting, canyoning and lots of outdoor adventures.

Bob and I rented a buggy one afternoon and went all over the place with it. We saw fantastic waterfalls, did a little hiking and explored the city.

Of course Bob picked

a cool helmet.

We went thru tunnels

On the highway

Saw some amazing views.

All kinds of waterfalls Some were pretty powerful

Others where high in the mountains

The scenery was beautiful.

I have to admit; I'm disappointed in myself. My sense of adventure has weakened. Bob on the other hand is ready to tackle new challenges all the time. He signed up for the Canyoning Tour. What does that mean...canyoning? Something I couldn't bring myself to do. He repelled down waterfalls. While hanging on to a rope he jumped down the rocks in front of the waterfall and he repelled down. He had a blast.

Check him out!

Can you believe it. Walking over the boulders and down you go.

This would be one of waterfalls he repelled down. Crazy! Maybe I need to bump up that insurance policy.

Down safe and soundly. He repelled down 4 different waterfalls and had a good time.

While Bob did his day of adventure; I hung back and did a spa day. I went in for a stone massage, facial, pedicure and manicure. Unfortunately for me, the electricity went out and the only thing I could have done was the pedi & manicure. I was so disappointed!

But I did start my mornings with a steam bath.

So invigorating. This is called a

a cajon or box. Steam fills the

box and just sit back and relax.

After 10 mins of sweating. I

stepped out of the box was splashed

with very cold water for a few minutes

and back in the box I went. This process lasted

an hour. My skin felt so soft and I sweated

a few pounds of water weight. This process supposedly has a lot of health benefits and helps relieve aches and pains. I need one for my house. O'wait! I don't have a house. Well maybe when we settle down; I can have one installed.

We saw lots of folks doing the swing from the bridge. Bob thought it looked boring. I'm thinking...No way would I do this. I told you my sense of adventure is lost. A few years ago I would have been all over this.

It's very similar to

Bungy jumping but

there's no bounce. Just

jump and swing from the

rope.

This town was fun with beautiful scenery and lots to do.

Our next venture is our cruise. We fly tomorrow (Tuesday) to the Galapago Islands where we board a catamaran for an 8 day cruise. I doubt we'll have access to the internet so stay tuned and I'll blog out the adventures of the islands. We hope everyone is doing well. As you can see we're having a great time. Wish you could be here with us!

Love to all - B&B

Quito Ecuador

Quito Ecuador. This is one of the oldest cities in South America and the 2nd highest elevated capital in the world. The 1st being La Paz, Bolivia. The elevation was 9350 ft above sea level and the air was thin. Not to mention this city is very hilly so being out of shape doesn't help. Bob and I skied yearly and I never had the High Altitude sickness before. I was miserable pretty much the whole time we were here but I tried to make the most of it and didn't slow down much. Quito was a beautiful city and so much to do. There are quite a few more tourist in this country than in Colombia and we heard a lot more English spoken in this city. They have an "old" city and a "new" city (La Mariscal District) in Quito. We stayed in both areas for a few nights each. The old city is where all the government buildings, churches, museums and town park are located. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the evenings. They say it can be dangerous to walk around after 9:00 p.m. but no problem; mostly everything closed by 9:00 anyway. The days were warm mid 70's while the evenings were quite cool in the high 40's. La Mariscal was lined with skyscrapers (banks, apartments, fancy hotels & casinos) tons of restaurants and bars, parks, and tour agencies. The energy level in this area was fun. This was one of the monasteries. Government building City view One of the many churches. They actually had a street nicknamed 7 churches street. This particular church was 450 yrs old. This was a beautiful hotel called La Merced. We stepped in to check it out and asked about some city tours. All the rooms in this place were "suites" and went for $500/night. Good grief, why? You can rent an upscale fully furnished apartment for $40/night. Maybe some people just don't do enough research when traveling. Who needs a tour guide? Not us! Once we learned the bus routes we were all over this city. Most folks book city tours w/a tour agencies. We learned what all that included and decided to do the tour on our own and at our own pace. We went to La Mitad del Mundo otherwise known as the Middle of the World. A must if you are in Quito. Quito is located 15 miles away from the Equator. A monument and museum mark the general location of the Equator. Bob standing on both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Picture taken from the top of the Monument looking down at Equator

What we learned that there is an error on the marking of the equator. Now that we have much more sophisticated equipment and GPS. The experts were slightly off. The actual Equator is 250 yards north from the monument. Near the equator there are no summers, springs, fall or winters. Also, the toilet water does not flow in the opposite direction when below the equator. So our poop flushes down in the same direction as you guys do back home.

While in Quito we took a cab up to the cable cars otherwise known as Teleferiqo. The cable cars take you up to Pichincha Volcano and from there we were able to take in some spectacular views of Quito. Bob sent me to the ticket counter in hopes that I passed for a "nacional". Someone who lives in South America. Most activities done around Quito charge "foreigners" double the price. So far so good; I've been able to get "nacional" pricing several times.

On top of the summit are lots of lookout views and paths to walk. There were several coffee shops and souvenir shops on top too. I have to admit I hated the ride up. It was slow and I'm scared to death of heights. I had to put my earphones on and listen to music all the way up. My palms were sweaty and I couldn't enjoy the panoramic views. But once up there; all was good and beautiful. Very cold but we were prepared.

Bob has no fears.

Loves living on the edge.

Unfortunately it was a cloudy

day for us. They say you

can see all of Quito on a clear

sunny day.

It was cold.

Bob had to do a tour to the Cotopaxi Volcano without me. I just didn't have the energy to hike into higher elevation. By now, the high altitude sickness took over. Dizziness, no appetite, shortness of breath while lying down, couldn't sleep and the feel of a heart attack. My chest hurt so much and the panic of not being able to breath sucked. I was miserable so I stayed behind and rested in the hotel.

Bob's morning started out very early at 6:00 a.m. He decided to join a tour group since he was traveling on his own. He had a bus ride of 2 and half hours to one of the highest and most active volcano's in the world. He had a very active day with tough hikes and a bike ride. He didn't return back to the hotel till 8:00 p.m. and he was a tired pup.

This is suppose to be fun, right?

The amount of oxygen at this altitude is very minimal.

Hike up was very hard for the old man.

Final destination. Bottom of melting glacier at 16,400'.

He hiked to a small glacier.

Bob starting the descent down the volcano.

View from bottom of glaciers peaking thru the clouds.

Bike ride ended at a small lake.

Wait time at the lake for the slow poke

riders took approx. 30 mins.

He saw and did some amazing things on this excursion. Sorry I missed out.

Our next post will be fun we're having in Banos. A much smaller town.

Take care. Missing everyone - B & B

Getting to Ecuador

Hi! How is everyone doing? Bob and I are doing fine. Sorry to be out of touch for so long but we've been busy. Travelling is hard work and so tiring. Ha-Ha!

We've actually been in Quito Ecuador for the past week and taking in so many sites. But, I've been under the weather for the past week w/some kind of bronchitis. We're out all day seeing and doing as much as possible that by the time we get back to our hotel room; I'm pooped. I am feeling somewhat better now thanks to some antibiotics and cough syrup. Just having a tough time breathing. We're 9500 ft above sea level and it's cold here in the evenings; so I'm guessing that's not helping my situation but I'm not letting me slow me down much.

Last time we wrote we were still in Colombia. The last week while in Colombia we moved around quite a bit. Popayan was truly a White City and beautiful. Guess what? We finally got some really good food too. We were there for 3 nights taking in some sites.

Do you see why they called it la cuidad blanca? All the building were stark white but it was a clean city.

The town square was beautiful. Flowers and trees lined the squared.

From Popayan we took a bus to another city called Pasto. Nothing impressive about this large city. We did a lot of walking around the downtown area but I'm not even sure we took pictures. We only stayed 2 nights and that was more than enough. From Pasto we started making our way to the Ecuador border. But before crossing we made a stop at a small city called Ipailes. After Bob's research we definitely needed to spend some time touring the Las Lajas Sanctuary.

This Basilica Catholic church was built over the Guaitara River and in the side of a mountain.

We had to do a lot of walking to get down to this church; Bob did a lot more exploring the property than I did. But this Gothic Architechure was breathtaking and well worth the stop. The inside was just as beautiful.

We didn't intend to stay as long as we did (4 hours) but we had a fabulous lunch and enjoyed the scenery.

After our uphill hike back to the main road we caught a taxi to the bus terminal. From there we took a Collectivo "mini van" to another city called Tulcan. Tulcan is the border between Colombia and Ecuador. We stamped out of Colombia (by the way there are no fees for leaving their country) and then walked across the bridge to Ecuador soil. We checked in with immigrations and got our 90 days stamp for tourism.

From here we had to take another collectivo to the bus terminal to catch a larger bus to Quito. It was a 5 hour ride from the border into Quito.

It was a long day but we made it safely and without problems.

We hope everyone is doing well back home.

Love to all,

Bonnie & Bob.

PS - Steve, we hope you have a wonderful time in Santa Marta. Hope you stay in touch and would love to see some of your pics. Safe travels!