Keepin' it real... again: Baños to Puyo- monkeys, hot springs and an angry volcano

About three or four hours south of Capital City (Quito) is a great little town called Baños, named for the many hot springs in and around the city that are heated by the local volcano Tungurahua. I arrived late on a Sunday afternoon to fog and chilly weather.

the view from my hostel - you can see the waterfall that feeds into the Virgin's hotspring (see below)

the main Plaza and church

The main attraction for me was a 62km bike ride starting in Baños, along the road down to a town called Puyo, which serves as a gateway to the Ecuadorian Amazon. The ride is mostly downhill and during the first half there are several waterfalls to view.

I liked the ride, I did it three times! The first time, I did with two other dudes who wanted to bomb down the ride as fast as possible. We managed to finish the route in less than three hours of actual riding time (we still stopped a few times to catch our breath, drink some electrolytes and check out some of the waterfalls) and was able to manage a top speed of 70 km/hr (43.5 mph- keep in mind we all had mountain bikes with phat tires). This was my second fastest speed ever, going 44mph during my prime on a charity bike ride going to LA.

photo by Andrew Pape (one of the other riders on the second day)

The second trip down was with my roommate in the dorm and another hostel traveler. We biked down in a very casual manner, taking more than four hours, stopping along many of the waterfalls and was forced to stop during a heavy 20-minute rainfall. Fortunately, we were passing a construction site that had an empty shack to shelter us.

I went a third time with another hostel traveler, with the intention of checking out at least one of the waterfalls up close, meaning parking our bikes and walking down to the waterfall. With a name like Devil's cauldron, it has to be worth it, right?

Manto de la Novia waterfall (I think, there was no sign). the first big waterfall along the way

Devil's cauldron- the wooden fence is part of a tiny path to get behind the waterfall. At times, the ceiling of the path was only high enough for hobbits

Devil's cauldron

double rainbow created by the Mephisto (Devil's cauldron)

Devil's cauldron

sunshine after the rainfall - another 15km to go before Puyo

A few kilometers past Puyo is a monkey santuary. Monkeys, parrots and turtles are rescued from traffickers who oftentimes kill the parents to get the babies to sell to rich people who want a pet after seeing them on a nature documentary. Up until a few weeks ago, the monkeys roamed free in the wild, but the Ecuadorian enviromental agency forced them to cage and fence most of the monkeys in to protect the citizens. The effects on some of the monkeys was evident. Some monkeys were going ape-shit by banging on the fences when we got close. Some would bounce from side to side on the cages for minutes on end.

But there are some monkeys that still roam free... and apparently are very curious about salty snacks

monkey fight!

One day that I wasn't biking, I was hiking. There is a trail that leads out of town, past the statue of the Virgin Mary and winds along the valley wall and drops back to town. It shuold just be a casual couple hours of hiking.... Me and a friend missed/ignored the turn off and continued on a trail that went straight up to the top of the valley wall. I don't regret doing this path, but had I known the elevation angle was this steep, I probably wouldn't have tried....

a sharp climb up! each grid box is 1.50km long.

the view at the top of the valley. In the background is the volcano

the view of the city from uptop

so we climbed along the ridge of this valley, starting on the right side and hooking around the hole ridge, until dropping down back into the city.

Hot springs! We woke up early (5am) to be the first (not really) ones in, before every kid and yahoo soil up the baths during the rest of the day.

this is the mineral content of the baths

On another day that I did not ride down to Puyo, I chose to go to the other side of town and ride up the mountain to get another view of Baños. It was a bit more than I could chew and had to turn around after a solid 10km of straight uphill riding (and pushing during a kilometer of supersteep hills)

yeah, this is what I went up for 10 km- thru the valley and to the left

this is a field of tomate-arbol trees... a type of tomatoes that they puree into a juice that is less intense than US versions of tomatoe juice and a bit sweeter

purple corn on the stalk

at the top, ready to go down

On my last day in town, I hired a taxi to take me and my bike up this same mountain and go down a trail that I discovered the day before. Fun times!

My seventh day in Baños was also the town's anniversay of its founding. Big plans were organized and a marching band was practicing all week. On the latter, I was forced to hear drums pounding at 8am every morning. I awoke on this day to a big haze of volcanic ash. The staff at the hostel said that the volcano was angry and spewed ash early in the morning into the sky. There was no concern of a major eruption, no need to evacuate town... this apparently happens every year, usually during the anniversary celebrations.

Everything was covered in fine black ash and (most) people were wearing masks over their mouths and noses to prevent breathing in the stuff. At first I tried not wearing one, but after walking one block, I started coughing and quickly wore a bandana over my face. It looked like the whole city had SARS or else was ready to rob a bank.

For the next two days that I stayed in town, there would be intermittant rumbles that shook the earth, rattled the windows and rain more ash. After the first puff of ash, the ash got finer and whiter in color.