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Arrived in Banos from Quito on a lovely 4 hour bus journey,which was a walk in the park at this stage! The thing we noticed (besides the place being called Toilets) was how green it was as we drove down into the valley and how cultivated it was. It was refreshing to see the land being used as a source of income for the locals.
We booked into our hostel, Hostel Transylvania, which wasnt that scary at all and didnt have any Count living there!! Banos itself was a small enough town but was modern enough in that it had a huge supermarket which is always a bonus when we are on the go. Our first activity was to visit the lovely waterfalls scattered around the outside of the town. We rented bikes and made our way out along the main road,the route itself was fine but its the crazy truck drivers you have to watch out for and also the tunnel you have to go through. Note to self: Always take off sunglasses when going through a pitch black tunnel where you cant stop for fear of falling or being run over!! The ride was worth it though to see all the beautiful falls along the way. Got to the end and managed to get a ride back into town in the back of a truck with a few locals which was an experience in itself!!
The next day we visited the different walks around the town that show it off from a height. It was class to see the whole town from up there and point out the places we had visited. That day our friends arrived and we arranged for the next day to climb Volcano Tungurahua in Banos that we had seen advertised around the town. This volacno caused the town to be completely evacuated in 1999.
We set off early and found out pretty soon in the morning that this trail wasnt used as often as the locals had lead us to believe. As we walked up we met with workers along the way who seemed really shocked to see gringos walking up towards the volcano. Our guide carried a machete with him the whole way and hacked his way through the bushes so we could keep going. We were in mud nearly up to our knees which wasnt the nicest feeling...between the jigs and reels we discovered the volcano had actually erupted only the previous March and we could actually see the trails the lava had left on the way down from the top. Our guide assured us though that we were hiking on the ridge of the mountain so that if the volcano did erupt we would be safe (which was lovely to know)! The final straw came when we met locals who took our pictures as the first gringos to climb the volcano in months. Our friends decided then that it was to be their last hike in South America,we nearly did too!
It was a pretty amazing experience though to see the volcano so up close and be part of the first group to climb the volcano since the eruption.
We really enjoyed Banos and its beautiful countryside but it was time to move on again. Time to head onto Vilcabamba.
Banos Done!!
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