Baños
So we were in Baños the last few days. We were at the internet a couple times but since I spent all my time deleting spam and replying to job recruiters, I didn´t keep my blog up to date. I still haven´t filled in Mindo´s details yet either. What I´m going to try to do is tell the story of Baños in reverse.
This morning Kelsey got up before me. She even went and showered before I got up. And was then pressuring me to get ready so we could go eat breakfast, which was complimentary, continental, from the restaurant attached to our hostel, some frenchy named place that was run by a bunch of white chicks.
Which is irrelevant. The point I´m making, and which you may not realize is significant, is that today, when we had nothing to do except ride a bus to Rio Bamba and get a train ticket and a place to stay tonight, Kelsey was not only awake, but up and out of bed, washed & dressed and ready to eat by 9 am. This is unknown to me.
So we had breakfast, bread (pan) and strawberry jam and hot (caliente) chocolate and Hugo de Piña (pineapple juice.) Which was very good but at the Hotel Ross where we stayed before, which was quite nice -- I had a King size bed and Kelsey had a double, overlooking the sqare with the cathedral-- served eggs with breakfast.
Yesterday we checked out of Hotel Ross because they were full. We found La Petite Whatever, where we stayed last night, and Kelsey thought it was cute (the walls were yellow) so we put our bags there and went around town for a while and then went rapelling (canyoning in spanish.) All this was accomplished before noon. It was about two blocks, and we packed (Kelsey is quick enough, but it only takes me a minute.) We had gotten up for breakfast sometime after 9, but returned to quarters until 11 when we checked out.
After lunch at Kelsey´s favorite spot in Baños, Cafe Hood (where, as the sign says, the food is good) we went, as I said, rapelling. Down waterfalls. Our trial run was on a 20+ foot drop that was very slippery. Okay we had a trial run on the road where we practiced tying a knot and pretending to jump. I have some good shots of Kelsey practicing. At five feet, approximately, above the pool, we kick out and let go of the rope and splash into the water backs first.
Very fun. The next fall was a bit smaller, a lot slipperier (resbaloso), and not nearly as fun. Oh yeah, and the guide, after assuring us that the first was was plenty deep to jump into (about 5 feet), forgot to mention we were jumping into about 6 inches of water on the next one. I bashed my elbow on a rock and it bled nicely for a bit.
The third falls was at least 150 feet drop. With no rapelling after the first section. Just a straight drop through the water which was just a strong spray this time of year. We only got to go down that twice, but it lived up to the pictures, what sold us on the trip initially, when we signed up for rafting, which we´d done the day before.
Yesterday was the Sixteenth of December, which was the most important day of all in Baños. We´d known since Wednesday that there was a big festival, since the first part of it took place that night. The selection and crowning of the La Reina de Baños de Agua Santa (Miss Baños.) There´s even a street named after the day.
Wednesday we were up all night hearing the music and noise in general, of the festivities. Thursday turned out to be a dud, even the carnival was closed -- but we did make it there last night -- but Friday morning was the main event. Mostly a parade, that happened to culminate right by our new Hotel. Luckily it moved away eventually, but the parade was a good three hours long, at least.
We´d been hearing punk kids bang on drums (very poorly) since the day of our arrival -- when we were trying to sleep after 7 hours of riding buses from Mindos, and now all the schools in the region were out to show who was loudest. The town was in a festive mood all day, but most of the afternoon, we were out jumping off of waterfalls and sliding down ropes dangling over wet overhanging cliffs.
We got back and things had mellowed a bit. In fact, by 7 oclock when we went to see the rides at the carnival, things looked pretty mellow. Street vendors were starting to close up, and the crowds from morning were mostly gone. We eventually found the party way back up the street, right across from our first hostel. But we had a fairly quiet night.
So that was yesterday, in a bit of a jumble, with a few allusions to the previous three days, but no mention of our bike ride through the tunnel of death, our several crossings of your typical Andes ravine by cable car (tarabita) to beautiful waterfalls and good orange juice, the long uncomfortable bus ride (in a comfortable bus) with lots of hawkers and beggars -- ïncluding a fake mute who earned Kelsey the aforementioned titles of ¨mark¨ and ¨soft touch¨, or anthing about the bad restaurants and bad service, cute old people in traditional outfits and small brimmed fedoras (some of which are really just rude beggars), or plenty of other things I´m forgetting. Ask me to tell a story sometime, because it´d be better if I had more time. I just spent an hour writing this nonsense.
This morning Kelsey got up before me. She even went and showered before I got up. And was then pressuring me to get ready so we could go eat breakfast, which was complimentary, continental, from the restaurant attached to our hostel, some frenchy named place that was run by a bunch of white chicks.
Which is irrelevant. The point I´m making, and which you may not realize is significant, is that today, when we had nothing to do except ride a bus to Rio Bamba and get a train ticket and a place to stay tonight, Kelsey was not only awake, but up and out of bed, washed & dressed and ready to eat by 9 am. This is unknown to me.
So we had breakfast, bread (pan) and strawberry jam and hot (caliente) chocolate and Hugo de Piña (pineapple juice.) Which was very good but at the Hotel Ross where we stayed before, which was quite nice -- I had a King size bed and Kelsey had a double, overlooking the sqare with the cathedral-- served eggs with breakfast.
Yesterday we checked out of Hotel Ross because they were full. We found La Petite Whatever, where we stayed last night, and Kelsey thought it was cute (the walls were yellow) so we put our bags there and went around town for a while and then went rapelling (canyoning in spanish.) All this was accomplished before noon. It was about two blocks, and we packed (Kelsey is quick enough, but it only takes me a minute.) We had gotten up for breakfast sometime after 9, but returned to quarters until 11 when we checked out.
After lunch at Kelsey´s favorite spot in Baños, Cafe Hood (where, as the sign says, the food is good) we went, as I said, rapelling. Down waterfalls. Our trial run was on a 20+ foot drop that was very slippery. Okay we had a trial run on the road where we practiced tying a knot and pretending to jump. I have some good shots of Kelsey practicing. At five feet, approximately, above the pool, we kick out and let go of the rope and splash into the water backs first.
Very fun. The next fall was a bit smaller, a lot slipperier (resbaloso), and not nearly as fun. Oh yeah, and the guide, after assuring us that the first was was plenty deep to jump into (about 5 feet), forgot to mention we were jumping into about 6 inches of water on the next one. I bashed my elbow on a rock and it bled nicely for a bit.
The third falls was at least 150 feet drop. With no rapelling after the first section. Just a straight drop through the water which was just a strong spray this time of year. We only got to go down that twice, but it lived up to the pictures, what sold us on the trip initially, when we signed up for rafting, which we´d done the day before.
Yesterday was the Sixteenth of December, which was the most important day of all in Baños. We´d known since Wednesday that there was a big festival, since the first part of it took place that night. The selection and crowning of the La Reina de Baños de Agua Santa (Miss Baños.) There´s even a street named after the day.
Wednesday we were up all night hearing the music and noise in general, of the festivities. Thursday turned out to be a dud, even the carnival was closed -- but we did make it there last night -- but Friday morning was the main event. Mostly a parade, that happened to culminate right by our new Hotel. Luckily it moved away eventually, but the parade was a good three hours long, at least.
We´d been hearing punk kids bang on drums (very poorly) since the day of our arrival -- when we were trying to sleep after 7 hours of riding buses from Mindos, and now all the schools in the region were out to show who was loudest. The town was in a festive mood all day, but most of the afternoon, we were out jumping off of waterfalls and sliding down ropes dangling over wet overhanging cliffs.
We got back and things had mellowed a bit. In fact, by 7 oclock when we went to see the rides at the carnival, things looked pretty mellow. Street vendors were starting to close up, and the crowds from morning were mostly gone. We eventually found the party way back up the street, right across from our first hostel. But we had a fairly quiet night.
So that was yesterday, in a bit of a jumble, with a few allusions to the previous three days, but no mention of our bike ride through the tunnel of death, our several crossings of your typical Andes ravine by cable car (tarabita) to beautiful waterfalls and good orange juice, the long uncomfortable bus ride (in a comfortable bus) with lots of hawkers and beggars -- ïncluding a fake mute who earned Kelsey the aforementioned titles of ¨mark¨ and ¨soft touch¨, or anthing about the bad restaurants and bad service, cute old people in traditional outfits and small brimmed fedoras (some of which are really just rude beggars), or plenty of other things I´m forgetting. Ask me to tell a story sometime, because it´d be better if I had more time. I just spent an hour writing this nonsense.
posted by Aaron Evans at 12:08 PM
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