In mid January, we had to leave Panama because our visa is only good for 6 months at a time, so we decided to take a quick trip to Ecuador. So now we're in Banos: bathrooms or baths in Spanish. It's named that because of all the waterfalls entering the area. We flew into Quito at about 9600 feet and nearly had strokes lugging our bags to the bus terminal because of the elevation change. A three and a half hour bus ride took us to Banos which is at about 6400 feet. Because we're about 120 miles South of the equator, it's not freezing cold, just pleasant and cool. Here are pictures of our little hotel and the waterfall we can see from our window. Crane your neck way up when looking at the waterfall for a better idea of how steep the hillsides are here.
At the base of the waterfall is a laundry facility. The date on the capstone is 1947. Pami's doing some virtual scrubbing.
There are lots of local markets as well as touristy little shops to explore. Pami's sampling a passion fruit here.
Further down the street were grills with these lovely little ratlike critters on them. Pami wants to try one, but I'm having a hard time being that adventuresome.
The town parks have several of these trees we call Poodle Trees. We asked some of the locals what kind of trees they are. The answer was: big trees.
There's a great concrete tower building in town that doesn't seem to be in use yet. More mysteries to explore.
I think tomorrow we'll take a topless bus trip to see the waterfalls and do our rubber necking tourist thing....
...
...
.
Our bus ride had 6 people, a driver and a guide in a bus that would seat about 80 all together. Four hours for $7 each. One of the best deals we had. They took us by lots of canyons and waterfalls, the last of which we had a half hour walk down to the devil's waterfall.
Even in the dry season, the waterfalls were spectacular. I can only imagine the torrents that created these canyons in the first place.
The final waterfall of our trip was developed with a little restaurant and some platforms built out over the falls. Tourist heaven.
Our last day in Ecuador was Sunday and we headed out for the local farmers market which is not a tourist event, but just the local swap meet for the working folks. We were sorry that we had eaten breakfast.W
e managed to find a steamer basket that would fit in our pressure cooker and a few little wooden spoons that Pami had been looking for (not the ones in the picture).
On our way back to our hotel, we stopped to check out the Cuy, or guinea pigs. These little buggers must be regarded mighty highly by the locals, they wanted $18 for a roasted guinea pig. We decided on the $4 plate with a hind leg and a bit of rice. You may have already guessed it: they taste kinds like chicken. And from this point forward, I'll probably pass on the cuy and just stick to the chicken.
Our return to Panama was uneventful and we spent the next day doing our grocery shopping for the next 2 months. It's scary when you shop for 2 months of stuff! Fresh vegetables we just got what would keep and we skipped rice and flour which we can get in San Blas. By the time we were done, our luggage weighed in at 229 pounds. We're allowed about 30 each. Fortunately, the excess luggage rate isn't too bad. With the one road that leads to San Blaswashed out by the floods, there aren't too many choices for provisioning. Air Panama usually flies Twin Otters which are about not large by any means, but hold about 25 to 30 people. I guess one of those is our for maintenance and so instead we flew back on an Islander which held 6 people, the pilot and our mass of luggage. The pictures I took of the plane on the ground are clearer, but this one pretty well captures the spirit of the flight.
