Home Leave V: Banos and Puyo, the Last Stops in Ecuador

Since we had arrived to Puyo at night, it was surprising to me to wake up in the morning and be surrounded by steep green mountains jutting into the mist.  We were in a narrow valley, surrounded on all sides by verdant peaks.  Banos is a small town nestled in the foothills of the Andes on the Amazon side of the mountains.  It is an outdoor adventurer's paradise, and as such a major gringo locality.  That has its pluses and minuses.  Pluses: a range of fantastic food, both local and international.  Minuses, it is a bit more touristy.  But the town survives on this tourism focused around the rainforest, rivers, canyons, and mountains, as well as the natural hot springs, from which the name is derived.

Banos de Agua Santa

We had a delicious breakfast at our hostel, which in and of itself was a fantastic place.  We stayed in a hostel that was a working art studio and sculpture workshop.  It was open and airy and massive with large fireplaces and many rooms clustered on two floors around the workshop.  The woman cooking us breakfast helped us to iron out a plan to get up to the swing at the end of the world, and so after eating we set off to find a taxi.

A taxi took us up a steep winding road to the top of the mountains.  He let us out, and we had to hike another 250 feet up or so to a small tree house that is built on the edge of a mountain ridge.  There is an active volcano very near the swing at the end of the world, and the tree house was built as an observation point.  Now, naturally, it serves as a place to swing out over a dramatically steep and deep valley floor, and feel the earth drop out from under your feet.  It was a magical thing to swing out over a valley floor hundreds of feet below.

Lee on the swing!

We hiked down the mountain to a terrific restaurant, and then eventually all the way down to Puyo town.  It is an extremely steep and intense trail, but often provides breathtaking views.

Hiking down down to Banos

That evening we went to the hot springs.  That was an interesting cultural experience.  There were so many people that you had to basically stand or squat pressed against all of Ecuador.  We had to rent swim caps to avoid getting hair in the water.  So we looked like a lunch lady convention had made it to the hot springs.  The water was hot and soothing, though it smelled metallic.  There were very cold plunge pools fed by the nearby waterfall, so we would soak until sweating in the hot pools, then jump into the cold water.  Apparently it is good for circulation.  When we left, after all that hot water and good circulation, I finally didn't feel cold in Banos (so far everywhere had been cold).

The next day we hiked to Pailon del Diablo, a stunning hike and gorgeous waterfall.  We took a bus for about 40 minutes to a small town in between Banos and puyo.  The trail head was a quick walk from the bus.  We hiked for about 40 minutes to the valley floor, before ascending to the waterfall.  once we reached the waterfall (nestled in mountains so green and lush that it was astounding) we had two options, climb through a tiny tunnel, army crawling to a platform where you can stand behind the waterfall and watch it roar down, or stand on the viewing platform.  We decided we had to scramble up the rock birth canal to the top of the falls.  It was very worth it.  The sound of the water was deafening.  It was impossible to stay dry, but so mesmerizing to stand behind such force.  The cave climb was amazing too, dripping rock, squeezing on all sides with occasional cut-away views of the jungle-enrobed valleys and the falls.

El Pailon del Diablo

After the waterfall we went back to Banos to gather our things for our quick trip to Puyo.  We rode in the back of a truck with two exceedingly nice, and overly curious Canadians and an Argentine.  We chatted them up, then went to our hotel when we arrived.  We gathered our stuff, then hopped on a bus to Puyo.

Travelling towards Puyo, the mountains gradually began to recede, and the rainforest began to grow denser and closer on all sides.  After an hour and a half, the Andes and dissolved into a shadow behind us, and we were in the flatter Amazon basin, right on the edge in Puyo.  We walked to Lee's house where she had been living with the ARP.  I got to meet her coworkers, see where she had been living, see the place in person where she had skyped, and get a tour of her little compound.  We spent a little time there, then we went to drop our stuff at our hotel and head to dinner.  We went out that night to her local bar and I was able to meet some of the friends she had made there.  It was awesome to see that she knew the bartender and had become a local at Desigual.

In the morning we woke up very early to take the bus out to the school where she had been working in a village called Esfuerzo.  We rode the bus with some college kids volunteering for her organization.  I slept as we drove out deeper into the rural amazon countryside.  I woke up and was excited to finally meet these people I had heard so much about.  I met Olguer, the school director at Esfuerzo.  He was a lovely man.  he showed us the gardens, the chicken coops, gave us fresh eggs, and told me all about his work in Ecuador.  It was so neat to be able to just jump into conversation with him, and feel like I was really meeting a friend of Lee's in a different cultural setting.  It was amazing.  I met the kids she worked with and the kind Andean doctor who helped her when she was sick.  People were genuinely curious about my work in Africa, and had a lot of questions for me.  It was fantastic.

I helped in the classroom teaching a lesson about public health, hand washing, parts of the body, muscles, and the skeleton etc.  We played games and the kids were so adorable.  They asked me endless questions about my life and about teacher Lee.  I was lucky to meet some of their parents who were there to practice traditional dances with Olguer, and then at around noon, we headed back to the main road.  This time we walked.  It was hot and humid walking back to the bus stop on the main road.  Just as we were all approaching, the bus passed, leaving us 50 meters from our ride back to town.  Luckily, after not too much waiting we hitched a ride into Puyo.

Lee in the classroom

Lee and I stopped for local brew and local food (steamed fish in a banana leave, and chicha).  Then we cleaned up at the ARP office, packed her stuff and went to meet her ARP colleagues, Puyo friends, and school directors for Volqueteros.  Volqueteros are plantain chips with tuna, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and ahi.  It is a good snack.  We all chatted for about two hours before we had to part ways so Lee and I could get back to Banos to leave for Quito in the morning.  It was such an immense pleasure to meet Olguer and Carlos, the two school directors I had heard so much about.  I was so happy being with Lee and seeing how happy she was.  It was funny to be in this little town in the Amazon, but the people were fantastic, and I am already looking forward to going back to see them all again.

Downtown Puyo

We went back to Banos on the bus and spent time rearranging and packing our things.  Then we went for a fabulous dinner of tapas at a Spanish restaurant in downtown Banos.  In the morning we took an early bus back to Quito.  We stayed at Lee's favorite hostel which had stunning views of town from the rooftop terrace.  We went out for that dinner and I had the requisite dinner of Guinea Pig.  It was a bit like greasy rabbit, or game-y rabbit.  It was an interesting food, called cuy in Spanish.  It is an important traditional and available source of protein in the Andes.  While perhaps a bit off-putting in the presentation, the meal itself was awesome.

Guinea Pig (cuy)

We went to bed early as we had to be up at 4:30 to go to the airport for our flights to Bogota, then Cartagena!  That will be for the next instalment.

Home Leave IV: Cuenca, Ecuador

The trip to Cuenca from Puerto Lopez was relatively easy.  First, I slept through a majority of it, second, it was not in the middle of the night with a multitude of unnecessary stops in the middle of, seemingly, nowhere.  We took the bus from Puerto Lopez to Guayaquil's terminal terrestre (bus station).  The Bus station is located on the outskirts of the huge metropolis, right next to the airport.  The bus station itself was like an airport.  It was new, modern, several floors, full of food options ranging from local food restaurants to KFC, Taco Bell, and Mc Donalds.  It was busy, frenetic, and chaotic.  After that of Quito, it is probably the biggest bus station I have ever been in. We switched buses there and hopped on a bus that would take us up over the Andes and into the high mountain valley where Cuenca sits.

The voyage from Guayquil to Cuenca was beautiful.  We passed cacao fields, passion fruit farms, sugar cane plantations, and banana plantations.  As we continually sloped up the vegetation changed as we passed through rain forest, to high altitude tropical forest, to tropical tundra.  We topped out at about 14,500 feet before the road sloped back down towards Cuenca.  That high up there were beautiful, surreal meadows with mineral-infused lakes in many different colors.  The air was cold.  The ground was covered in sparse grasses, and rock formations jutted up, barren and cold into a bright blue sky.  It was a fantastically beautiful bus ride.

We arrived in Cuenca and it was cool and breezy.  Cuenca sits at about 8,500 feet.  It is named for the confluence of rivers that meets there (cuenca means confluence in Spanish), all of which are fed by snow melt from the higher mountains.  The town itself sits at the valley floor, divided by rivers and surrounded on all sides by verdant mountains.

The river walk in Cuenca

We took a taxi to our hostel, which was housed in a pretty, old colonial building.  Upon entering we walked into a very hip café-restaurant where there many young Ecuadorians sipping cocktails and beers and chatting in hushed tones.  We tried to gracefully pass through the maze of tables and chairs with our giant backpacks (largely unsuccessful) to the desk where a girl with a partly shaved head, adorned in black and lush leather greeted us, and showed us to our room.  The room was small and simple, but clean, and decorated in bright clean tones.  The bathroom was large, with a beautiful tiled shower and copious amounts of hot water.  The 75 degree days and 45 degree nights were much too cold for my African-adjusted body!  The hot water was necessary.  We were in the middle of the historic colonial city center (the whole thing is a UNESCO world heritage site) and we were paying $15 each per night.  If you want to go, its called La Cigale, and worth every penny.

Our balcony at La Cigale

We had reservations that night at a monastery that was turned into a chic restaurant.  We went down for a plate of meats and cheeses and a cocktail in the café of our hostel, and then set out into the night to find the restaurant called Todos Santos (all saints). Cuenca's historic center is beautiful at any time, but at night it glows in the light of street lamps, cobblestones shining in the low lights, winding streets and alleys all the more lovely, mysterious and inviting.  Beautiful neoclassical stairways lead down from the old town to the river, well-lit examples of various stages of colonial architecture.  We sauntered in the crisp air, bundled in scarves and jackets, feeling like we were in fall in the East Coast, even if it was 60 degrees.

Dining room at Todos santos

We found the restaurant and it was spectacular.  The food was amazing, and the ambience was something out of a movie.  Heavy wooden beams were left exposed in the centuries-old dining room.  Panoramic plate glass windows opened to views of the river, and the city lights stretching out into the darkness.  The stone stairs leading down to the dining area were worn from hundreds of years of use.  The tones were muted and hushed, and the handful of other diners spoke in casual whispers and appealing mumbles.  It was simultaneously old and cavernous, while still being a warm space, inviting lots of wine and wonderful food to be consumed over many hours of dining.  We ate meticulously prepared Ecuadorean traditional dishes with fusion flares of Spanish, French, and Peruvian cuisines.  We ate the softest, most tender pork

The next day we spent sightseeing.  We wandered the hundred year old plazas, ate ice cream in the squares by fountains, we enjoyed bursts of warm sun and sprinkles of rain.  We had a nice coffee at a café outdoors in the afternoon.  We enjoyed beautiful architecture, bustling streets and lots of window shopping in the many stalls.  We had to avoid some serious rain showers during which time we examined a beautiful mosaic mural depicting the history of Ecuador.  It was so nice to just get lost, and find our way many times over.  We stumbled upon a vibrant and fragrant flower market in front of an old church.  The colors and scents were a brilliant chaos, perfectly suited to the maize of the historic center.

Flower market in Cuenca

Our last day in Cuenca I woke up early and went for a run.  I wanted to see how much more difficult it was to go jogging at 8,500 feet.  It made a difference!  I ran along the gurgling river, through the streets of the new city, and back up through the maze of the historic center.  We spent the day doing more walking, ice cream eating, and touring the city.  There is so much spectacular colonial architecture to see, that you can fill whole days with that.  We went for lunch in the municipal market where we ate traditional Cuencan food on benches lined with Ecuadorean families.  It was pork slow roasted and tender with hominy, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet plantains.  We wandered around looking for fresh juices and tamales after lunch.  Then we saw a man fall off a curb and face plant, breaking his nose sending blood everywhere, gathering a crowd of onlookers.  We called an ambulance and made sure he was cared for, and then we set off again, as there was not much we could do.

So we walked up a broad boulevard to the base of a mountain where you can drive for spectacular views of the city.  The walk was much longer than we expected, which was nice because we were preparing for another overnight bus that evening.

We hired a taxi up the mountain and gaped at the stunning views of all of Cuenca.  Red roofs stretched on for miles, The flanked by green mountains jutting towards the sky. Sunlight was streaming through the clouds, and it washed everything it touched in a fantastic golden hue.  It was cold and breezy on the top of the mountain.  We were trying to hail a cab home, as our taxi driver had assured us itd be no problem. However, not a cab was to be found.  So we hitchiked back down the mountain in the back of a pickup truck.  They left us back at the main boulevard leading to the old town where we had no problem getting a taxi. 

We took the taxi back to La Cigale where we were snagged our luggage we had left, hired another taxi, and tossed everything into the trunk so we could make it to the bus for our 8:00 pm bus to Los Banos de Agua Santa, about 7 hours from Cuenca.  This overnight bus required a stop in the middle of the highway to switch buses in Ambato in the middle of the night.  We arrived early in Banos, around 4:00 am.  Luckily our hostel let us in to sleep.

Next stop, the Banos and Puyo adventures!