Beautiful Banos - ECUADOR

BANOS, translated to English is toilet, defined by dictionary.com as

'1. a bathroom fixture consisting of a bowl, usually with a detachable, hinged seat and lid, and a device for flushing with water, used for defecation and urination'

So it took some convincing when Jo our Asian trekking friend mentioned Banos as her next destination in Ecuador, after heavy negotiations we decided to go along to see what the crack was about. 

To be fair after two weeks of sitting on the glorious beaches of Mancora and Montanita, and only consuming cocktails and beer it was time to get back to some nature and real exercise rather than just lifting our right arms from the table to or mouths to deliver the good old cerveza. 

On our 22nd long distance bus, we get stopped by police in the middle of nowhere and get told to get off the bus and wait outside. Girls one side and boys the other, a copper points at me and towards the bus, me thinking he wanted me to open the luggage compartment I go to grab the handle at which point he grabbed both my hands and spread me against the bus! A thorough pat down and a bit of a shoving and I'm all clear to now have my bag checked. 

Back on the coach I ask Jo about her vigorous search, to which she replied 'nope just had to open my bag and show the coppers as they all asked 'hey how are you doing ladies'

So I get felt up and Jo gets chatted up, happy days!!

Day 1 - jump after three!!!

Anyway we arrive in Banos, and it was nice to be back in rolling hills and glorious mountain air. It reminded me a bit of Switzerland, so I knew it would be a good place. 

Our hostel, Great Backpackers, was exactly that and immediately we felt at home and made new friends as well as meeting up with Jenny and Jo. 

With only the afternoon left the four of us headed to the bridge connecting the still active volcano and another mountain. The reason, to bungee off the 100m drop over the Pastaza river. My Jo, t'other Jo and me were all going to do it with Jenny our official photographer wimping out. 

As we walk towards the bridge and the drop we are about to endure, and as it becomes more imminent, our braveness starts to diminish. 

First on up! arrgggh!

Only 100m - no big deal

Getting on the platform getting ready to jump

The other Jo and Michael

1,2,3 ....go!

Jo goes next!

Me next...YAY...not!

Thiking, god thats high!

The man trying to go after me after I jumped at the wrong time!

Hanging around

We approach the chap and I decide to go first, being the bravest out of us three and wanting to show the girls how it's done I get strapped in. I climb over the railings and onto a man made perch, hoping that Ecuador's health and safety department have thoroughly passed the set up with flying colours!!

Now standing there looking down with the wind blowing, I hear the man count down from three, I say to myself you need to jump straight away or else you'll never do it. To my surprise on the count of three I've supermaned off the ledge and I'm flying screaming like a girl!! The rope catches me and I swing under the bridge!! Only at this point did I realise what I had just done, taking in the glorious views around me!! 

I run up back to the bridge and t'other Jo is getting strapped in and off she goes. All safe and sound she comes back up with a big smile on her face, high fives all round and it's Jo's turn. 

I head off to the view point to capture Jo and film her doing the jump. I see her jump and and hear a little scream as she flies through the air, I get a little wave for the camera and off I go back to the bridge  to meet he as she comes back up. 

As I get to the bridge Jenny and t'other Jo are pissing themselves laughing, I ask why and what happened was that Jo had jumped before the countdown had even begun, with the guy trying to grab her as she jumped but couldn't reach her. Luckily Jo was all strapped in correctly and she made it!! Jo had later told us that she had asked the guy if everything was ok to which he had replied yes as in yes nearly ready for countdown. But Jo took this as ready to jump and jumped!! Crazy!!

So another thing ticked off the bucket list and what a great experience. We're already looking for the next big jump on our travels!!

Day 2 - Buggie wuggy and searching for waterfalls

We look at the map and see the plentiful waterfalls to explore in the area. Still unfit from our beach bum days we decided to rent a Buggie to drive to the falls. 

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Along the way we pass the waterfalls all getting bigger as we go along, with the last requiring a 20 minute hike to get to. It's name Pailon del Diablo, was huge, roaring and very wet!! We managed to get right underneath it by crawling through man made tunnels and caves, getting completely soaked in the process and as a bonus getting our clothes washed for free! 

Here are some pics...

One of the first waterfalls on our route

Buggying through tunnels

We had to crawl to get close to the big waterfall Diablo

So close and got really wet

The sheer force of this waterfall was amazing

We whizz back on our buggies and head back to the hostel. 

Tungurahua Volcano - kabooommmmm

Not having read up about Banos before our arrival we were very excited to hear that there was a still active volcano pretty much sloping upwards from our hostel!! 

The name meaning throat of fire, we can see why with it still emitting gusts of smoke during the day. Back in March there was a big eruption so this was the real McCoy, supported by the evacuation signs dotted all over of the town of Banos instructing people where to run when it is a big one!! 

So that night we decided as a group to head up to one of the viewpoints to watch the volcano, as we heard that sometimes you could see lava coming out of the crater at the top. 

We arrie at the viewpoint, a big mountain directly opposite the volcano, perfect for seeing, that's if the dam clouds disappear. Half an hour or so waiting and we see in the darkness a plume of grey smoke but no lava. We will the volcano to clear it's throat, and with no notice suddenly a shot of lava fills the sky and the side of the volcano 'woooooooooooo' we all scream, as a couple of seconds later we hear the bang!  Majestic and something I never thought I would see in my life. 

We watch for another half an hour, when we see imminent clouds about to spoil the view. At this point we decided to head off when suddenly the biggest eruption of the night shooting huge rockets of lava into the sky WOW, what a sight as we wait for the bang, which came five seconds later and was louder than any firework I have ever heard!  Amazing. Here's a pic a guy caught of the eruption on his slr cam...

Day 3 - motorbike time. About time!!

We rent a motorbike, my first chance in a while to ride a motorbike, not quite the same as my baby back home, but still a 250cc scrambler and Honda so I was pleased we head off to another viewpoint to see the volcano in daylight. Up windy roads we race up with Jo whining in my ear to slow down!! Ignoring her we get up in record time, avoiding dogs all the way up as we fly past them!!

Here's a few pics....

We loved our stay in Banos, one of our favourites, and as it happened it was also our 6 year anniversary. So we decided to book one night in a snazzy hotel we had seen an advert for. 

Read next post for more details...