ECUADOR - My June/July 2003 Trip Journal -- by Donna R. Carter
Page Ten
~^~ Pancake Breakfast / Trip to Baños ~^~ Saturday-Sunday ~^~ July 5-6, 2003
Saturday morning about 9:00, the Hesses and Stucks came by and we all went out to Michio and Anne-Marie's for a pancake breakfast... but they were very kind and accommodated me with eggs and bacon instead, so I didn't have to mess up my diet - Jeff told me that if it was Ecuadorian, the carbs wouldn't count. I was hoping I was walking enough that whatever of my diet that I did break out of necessity, I wouldn't gain back anything I'd lost. So far so good.
After a breakfast outside, we all went back inside and exchanged ideas and made some outline-plans for the '05 reunion in Chicago.
Tim & Ruth gave me a ride back to the Guest house, and I put a change of clothes into a smaller bag, along with lotion for my sunburn, and later in the afternoon Sonya Moncayo came by to pick me up. We took a taxi to a bus stop where we grabbed one bus to another stop, and picked up another bus to Valle de los Chillos where her sister Veronica, a veterinarian, was at work. We were going to Baños with Veronica and her two kids, Erica (12) and Nadia (19).
We stopped in Salcedo to get some mora ice cream (remember: Ecuadorian carbs don't count) before we went to Veronica's house and picked up the kids and headed out toward Baños. On the way there, we were talking about the recent (repeated) special on the Discovery Channel about the volcanoes in Ecuador... and we started kind of debating whether we really wanted to stay in Baños because if Tungurahua blew, there was only 5 minutes (on the outside) to get out of town. They said the special said only THREE minutes.
So we all decided to stay in Ambato instead. But when we got to Ambato, the hotels we checked out in the area just didn't measure up to where we wanted to stay, so we thought maybe we'd go to Patate. However, when we headed out of Ambato, we decided we would go ahead and go to Baños anyway. Veronica said she had a friend who had a house there and we could use the house.
We drove into Baños and stopped at the friend's house. After flipping the main switch to get the lights working, we looked around. There was no furniture. Erica and Nadia wanted nothing to do with the place. In one of the bedrooms there were two beds, but the drop ceiling was only partially there. The girls were adamant about not wanting to stay. I kept my mouth closed. I was along for the ride and wherever they slept, I slept, and I wasn't going to rock the boat any direction. It was eventually decided that it definitely was NOT where we wanted to stay... so we went back into town and looked for a hostal. We ended up at Hostal La Isla, in a room that had a double bed and a bunk bed.
At first, they offered me the double bed. I replied that I wasn't that fat that they would have to share the bunks 2 people per bunk! It was decided that I would get the bottom bunk, and Erica would take the top one. Veronica, Sonya and Nadia would sleep on the double bed (Veronica was lying across the bottom).
Did I say sleep? About 11:30, after chatting with Jeff on the computer in the lounge area, I went to bed. My sunburn from Papallacta the day before was very painful, and it was hard to find a comfortable position, but I managed to fall asleep for a few hours.
I woke up about 2:30, to the dogs barking, and then silence... and then I heard it. It sounded like a blow torch... or like the gas burner on a stove top when it first catches and lights (only longer) and then breaks of silence... and then dogs barking... I realized that I was actually listening to Tungurahua. This pattern went on for the rest of the night. It was an interesting feeling. Kind of quietly awesome.
Veronica woke up at 5:00 and almost jumped out of bed. She had had a nightmare about the volcano erupting and in her dream only one of her daughters made it out. She couldn't go back to sleep, so she gathered her suit and got dressed and went off to the hot springs.
It was my anniversary, so I had made arrangements with Jeff to get online early so we could chat.
After chatting with Jeff, I joined everybody at the table and had a breakfast of eggs, buns with butter and capulí jam, coffee and grapefruit juice.
Veronica arrived as we were finishing up breakfast and after she had some juice and bread, we went into town where I found a Baños/Tungurahua T-shirt, and bought some fresh-made taffy for everybody. For those who have never been to Baños, the taffy-making there is famous. The manner in which they stretch it is famous, too. They have coat hooks on the doorways, and they loop the taffy over the coat hook and pull it, loop and pull, loop and pull, until it's stiff enough to break off into bars. We chewed on taffy and left Baños, heading back through Ambato to go up to Quisapincha.
There are stops along all the roads where the police check licenses and matrículas (registrations). One of these stops was outside of Baños. Veronica couldn't find her matrícula and we had to pull over until she could find it.
We stopped several times along the way for me to take pictures. I couldn't believe my eyes as we drove through Pinllo, though. Murals and advertisements painted on walls are not unusual, but this was: We rounded a bend going up the hill to head out of town to Quisapincha, and there on the wall was a free-hand mural of Marvin the Martian and his space ship with directions to Ambatillo and Quisapincha. Of course I couldn't help wanting to take a picture. What other Marvin the Martian collector will have THAT as a part of their collection?! We decided to stop and get a picture on the way back.
We drove on up to Quisapincha and Sonya and I walked down the road, checking in store after store of leather goods of all different kinds. I was looking for a matched set of leather jackets for Jeff's and my anniversary present and after looking everywhere, I found a set - Actually, Sonya found it for me! Fully lined, beautiful leather, well worked... (did I mention the prices?? -- only $28 apiece!) I did manage to also find a jacket and hat for Melissa, a wallet for Jeff and a really pretty crocheted / leather sweater, and some gloves for me. Very beautiful. We got some sweet tamales and then headed back into Pinllo for their (apparently) famous "Gallinas" (Chickens) at a restaurant there.
Veronica dropped the others off at the restaurant and she and I drove around to the other street where the wall mural was, so that I could get a picture of it for my collection, and then we went back to join the others.
This restaurant is three stories high, and dining tables on every floor. It was 2:00 when we arrived and it was pretty full! We were greeted by the municipal band playing across the street from the restaurant. When the band stopped playing, a guitar/vocal trio sang ballads inside, at the tables, and the two musical groups continued to play and sing at intervals throughout the meal.
We left about 3:30 and decided not to go to Cotopaxi Preserve because the mountains were overcast anyway. Tungurahua ALMOST came fully clear, but kept somewhat cloud-enshrouded, and you could see some of the "clouds" were darker - most likely ash from the smoking volcano.
Veronica was driving the whole time. We stopped in Salcedo. I had to use the restroom (we had to buy a roll of toilet paper since they didn't provide it in the restroom) and Erica got everybody ice cream (Avocado ice cream anyone? That's what Nadia had!) I had rum-raisin (one of my favorites), and everybody else opted for mora. Sonya and Erica fell asleep in the back seat next to Nadia (I got a picture of them sleeping - Sonya won't know it until she develops her film. I took one with my camera too).
Veronica was trying to stay awake, and I suggested singing Ecuadorian city patriotic songs. She knew many more than I did, my being limited mostly to Quito songs, but I joined in when I knew them.
We drove into Valle de los Chillos at about 6:00 and Veronica dropped us off in front of her veterinary clinic. Sonya and I caught a bus into Quito, where we changed to another bus and I got back to the guest house. Sonya continued on home from there.
I was going to hurry and get my bags sorted out, take one next door that I wouldn't need for the next two weeks, and then go to the Bed & Breakfast, but I was really tired, and didn't really want to go to all the effort.
I was told that I could stay at the Guest house that night, so I called the B&B and asked when my Spanish lessons were scheduled. They told me my lessons started at 1:00 in the afternoon (which meant they'd go until 7:00 - or 8:00 if there was an hour break for supper). I told them I would be checking in in the morning instead of that night. That was fine, so I stayed one more night, a bit more relaxed, at the guest house. I would get to check out the B&B more thoroughly that way, too, instead of just going and crashing to sleep.
I chatted with Jeff and dad on the computer for a bit. Ben Cummings walked up the stairs. I was a year ahead of his daughter, Cathy, in school and I haven't seen him since ... the late 70s! He, and the Canadian tour group (which included Dave Findlay who chatted with dad last week,) all watched a very very old mission film (c. 1956) of the jungle hospital. I know my family didn't get to Ecuador until '64, but a lot of the place still looked the same on the film as how I remembered it. Nostalgic.
I decided I would try to sleep in a bit the next day, if I could, although I needed to check out by 10 so they could clean the room for someone else who will be there the next night.
Current Temperature: 63 ° F Wind Speed: N/R 14 mph
Feels Like: 63° F Visibility: N/R mi
Current Conditions: Partly Cloudy AM Barometer: 30.18 in. S
Humidity: 59% Sunrise: 6:15 am
Sunset: 6:22 pm
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