Let's loosen those muscles up!

I left for Banos yesterday mid-afternoon. The bus was incredibly easy to find and the transportation flew by. It was pretty like a Megabus, but with an actual bus terminal, not like that side street we have in Philly. I didn’t do much on my last morning in Quito. I felt worst the before, and I went out for ice cream and to the bank, but as soon as I returned I was so out of breath that I needed to sit down for a couple minutes before I could even have my second coffee of the day.

Bryan joined in the travel, which was nice to have someone to chat with on the bus, and even a familiar face in Banos. After three hours, we arrived at the bus station, I paid for a taxi to my hostel, which has a pug named Maya. Let me tell you, a pug does make all the difference. I have been obsessed with that little munchkin since day one.

The weather does not look very promising for much fun this week, but I am very happy to be done with the sun shining on my poor little skin. After gathering myself in my very own private room, I set out to have some dinner. I had some pizza with some patacones con queso. It was a lot of food, but I was starving as I didn’t have lunch! I walked over to the only thermal bath open at night: La piscine de la virgin. It was crowded. Full of Ecuadorians. Everyone was incredibly comfortable with the little space and brushing against each other. Expect for the occasional foreigner that was hugging himself/ herself trying to find a little spot of water.

I immediately started talking to three little Ecuadorian girls who kept staring at me, and for the full hour and a half we chatted about school life, their ambitions, and their favorite things to do. Jeez, were they talkative! I practiced a lot of my Spanish with them, but they also warmed up to me and asked me a lot of English questions. At the end of the night, we took a picture together, and promised to look each other up on Facebook.

I went out into town later that night, and it was hopping! Unlike Quito, which was dead when I was there, this little town has every shop open, and every restaurant is busy. I just had to try their sugar cane taffy, as it is their local candy. So after a nice warm bath, a nice cozy walk down city center, I went and had myself candy. It was 11pm when I went to bed, and I felt half normal for once. I was able to breath like a normal person, my cough has receded to disgusting phlegm infused fit, and I was out like a young person!

I went to bed completely satisfied with this little rainy town.

This morning I woke up extra early. I guess the teacher in me is still ready for school. Breakfast was a feast of bread, eggs, avocados, butter, jelly, croissants, and coffee. Except I had to take my dumb medication ruined any beverage. Bryan went water rafting, but I decided against it. My last two adventures were both pretty extreme, and I had no desire to continue testing the limit with this extreme activity.

Instead, I went on a little hike down to … I have no idea. I ended up having to ask someone to give me a lift back into town, because I had no clue where I was, or I had gotten there. If it helps out, the car ride took five minutes. My walk probably was 15 mns. Yet, this was a completely different part of Banos, more residential and very quiet. There were some very beautiful views and gardens, but nothing for me to do. I caught a taxi to the zoo, since it was near a waterfall and an actual hiking path. I was skeptical about the zoo, as this is a tiny town in Ecuador, but everyone on TripAdvisor was raving about it. So, I went. Aw man, was I disappointed. I will not go into details, but I will tell you the most upsetting thing I saw. There were two owls. Two different species of owls, in a walled off enclosure. One of them had killed the other, and was starting to eat his legs. I sat there for a while, waiting for the dead owl to wake up, because how could this happen right?

No, no, once I brought it up to the ticket employee, she assured me they already knew and thanked me to bring it up to their attention. I was pretty dumbfounded, and left the zoo early for my hike. I didn’t need to see the lions, the reptiles or the fish to know that this was just going to continue making me mad. 

I went on my hike to see Cascade Ines Maria. The hiking path barely looked like a hiking path, but I figured that I already got lost once today, what are the chances of a second time. Not very high. I followed the path and found the waterfall right away. I collected some rocks and laid down for a bit. Above me were flacons and condors flying around, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how happy they were compared to the ones in that miserable zoo.

I came back to the hotel and had Maya give me a second shower. She was so excited to see me, and I was so excited to see her, we both looked like big dummies. I relaxed for a bit, and then decided to go to El Mercado, a huge market for lunch and to the hot springs again for this afternoon. So far, it is been quite the relaxation trip here in Banos!