A nice taxi driver took us to the bus station at 8 and we found our bus and some breakfast to bring for the drive to Banos. Not the worlds longest trip but narrow mountain roads and we should not be there until the afternoon. A nice girl on the bus told us to sit in the left side in order to get the best view of the mountains and valleys so we skipped our assigned seats and sat in the other side. Not a problem since there was only 8 of us on the bus in total. Including the two girls we met on the trip from Mancora to Cuenca the other day. Its a small back-packing world.
The drive to Banos was really impressive passing through one green valley after the other, some sections of the road going up the mountain until we passed the clouds and then down the other side. On the map it looked like we didn't move at all. Occasionally we'd pick up a passenger or two but the bus never really got full. At 2 PM the driver and his assistant stopped for lunch and while we sat there in the bus waiting for them to finish their soups the rain started. And then the windows got kind of dirty - like grey-brownish dust covering them. A bit confused by what was happened the only explanation appeared quickly - erupting volcano somewhere close. Or maybe far away. The fine ash can be carried by the wind for many kilometres so it could potentially be from Cotopaxi who is some distance from Banos.
We arrived in Banos in the afternoon only to realise that there was a very nice active volcano in the back yard of town - Tungurahua. Today it was sending the most impressive puffs of smoke and ash high up in the sky so that explained perfectly why it was raining ash a bit from town. Interesting.
At our hostel they calmed us down - the volcano was erupting but had been active for many years now and there was no danger in town. We were a bit sceptic though. We headed for the roof top terrace at our hostel and had a pretty good view of the volcano - still smoking a lot :-)
And the rest of the evening was dedicated to walking a bit around town. We had the $4 chicken/rice/potato-meal as a late lunch/early dinner at the market and then relaxed in the evening. Planning for a bike trip tomorrow.
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| Four Wunderbaums in the trunk of our taxi - no questions asked |
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| Stocking up food for the bus trip |
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| Impressive landscape |
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| Dirty bus |
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| Tungurahua letting off some steam |
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| Venezuela-Ecuador football match |
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| Good food at the market |
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