It's another misty morning in Banos.  We are wondering if this is how it always is.  We were going to rent mountain bikes for the day but opted not to due to the weather.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  We found ourselves back at the same cafe doing research for the rest of this lag of the trip.  We made lunch and dinner at the hostel.   We went out to grab a snack and a couple beers around 10 PM.  The town is actually busier at night than during the day.  We first went to Cherusker Cerveceria Artesanal Alemana.  The food was good and so was the beer.  The atmosphere was fun and lively.  Then we walked to Stray Dog Brewpub.  It was down a dark quiet street.  The place was almost empty and that should have been our hint to turn away.  The beer was undrinkable.  One was off, one too bitter, and one tasted like yogurt.  The man was awkward about me not drinking my beer and made a scene.  When he asked me why I didn't drink my beer I tried to be nice and said I was full.  He went on and on about how he is a grown ass man and that if I didn't like the beer I should just say so.  It was awkward and so we left it at that.


















July 28th

We rented mountain bikes today.  We went on the suggested route from the tour company.  It was on an extremely busy road and our bikes were junk.  It didn’t feel safe with all of the coach buses merely a foot from you as they passed.  There wasn't room to get over since there was drainage gutters on the edge of the road.  There were even times we were going through dark tunnels that were only meant for one car.  The suggested stops were touristy.  They included cable cars and zip lining.  At a traffic jam we zoomed by while others were on foot.  We couldn't even understand what they were taking pictures of.  It was literally a rock wall.  We obviously passed on these stops.  We had lunch in Rio Verde and decided to catch a ride back to Banos. As we headed back it started to rain.  I wouldn’t recommend this trip to anyone, even though it came highly recommended.  We went to Arepas To Go for dinner.  We haven’t had a cachapa since Madison!  Great arepas, but just an ok cachapa.

It's our first full day in Banos.  We went to Honey Coffee and Tea for breakfast.  We each had a really good cup of caramel cappuccino and a muffin.  Then we walked around the town.  We went to the market to look around.  We found a really long line for a small stand.  They were selling empanadas.  One kind had banana in it and the other a really salty delicious cheese.  We tried the cheese filled empanadas.  There was also an option to put sugar on top, but we opted to not.  It was the most delicious 15 cent food item ever.  Then we walked around and found some stands that make sugar cane juice.  It was good, but way too sweet for us.  We also chewed on some raw sugar cane.  Then we tried some of the local handmade taffy.  After that we went back to the hostel to get ready for the thermal hot springs.  It was a lot of fun and felt amazing.  There were about 8 different pools and all were different temperatures.  We had a good time with the water slides since we were the only people using them.  Then we went to the market to buy some more passion fruit and vegetables.  We made homeade passion fruit juice and tomato juice for cocktails.  Bart made a nice pasta dinner at the hostel.

We slept in as much as possible and then had breakfast.  We packed up and left for the bus station.  The bus ride to Banos was about 2 hours and we had to switch buses once in between.  When we got to Banos we checked into the Athene Moon Hostel.  We are happy with the large, clean, and quiet private room.  We went to Cafe Hood for some Asian cuisine and enjoyed a passion fruit vodka drink.  We just can't get enough maracuya!  Then we chilled at the hostel for a couple hours.  Then we went and got a couples massage.  It was only $35 for 65 minutes for both of us.  Sure it was cold and you could hear the road construction through the open door.....it still felt amazing after all that hiking.  Banos is a touristy town for Ecuadorian and gringos.  It is a pleasant place and is very safe.  We went to Leoni Pizzeria for some amazing pizza for dinner.  We stopped and bought some passion fruit and made our own juice for drinks.  It was a much needed relaxing day!

It's the last day of the Quilotoa loop hike.  Once again, we had communal breakfast and then packed up to leave.  I gave Dingo the dog some of my breakfast and he seemed pleased.  The weather was not on our side this day.  It was crazy windy and got worse and worse as we ascended the mountains. At some points you had to push your body into it in order to keep your grounding.  About halfway through the hike a dog runs up to us.  We had to look back at pictures to confirm it and sure enough it is Dingo from the hostel.  He followed us most of the way to the crater lake.  The hike was the most difficult this day.  The entire time we were going up hill.  Now we see why some people do this loop the opposite direction.  We were very excited for the trek to be over.  Our legs were so tired from the many miles we put on over the past 4 days.  When we got to Quilotoa Lake we were more than relieved.  The wind was whipping and freezing.  The scenery changed immensely as we went along.  It became very dry with lots of sand and limestone walls.  One more hour and we would be relaxing on the bus back to Latacunga.  We were even thinking about trying to get to Banos in the same day.  Then the worst thing happened...  We took the wrong turn around the lake.  We went all the way down the mountain and when we got to the river at the bottom we asked a couple of local kids who were herding sheep where Quilotoa is.  They pointed up the mountain the way we had just came.  I gave them some candy and cried a little inside.  We felt so defeated and exhausted.  We had no energy left in us to get back up that mountain.  Up we went.  It was so tiring.  Eventually we got up towards the top and saw other gringos.  It made us feel better to see others had also taken the wrong path.  A local lady, wearing no shoes, helped us all towards the right path.  We were grateful to not have to go back the exact way we came, but also annoyed when she tried to get $5 per person for helping us.  We gave her $5 total and she was absolutely livid with us.  It was only a 30 minute walk to Quilotoa from there.  The detour ended up costing us an extra 3 hours.  We were so so so happy to get something to drink and to get onto the bus.  Everything hurt on our bodies.  It was a 2 hour bus ride back.  Once there we got a cab back to the hostel and they stuck us back in the dungeon in an even smaller dorm room.  We repacked all our bags and then went out to Pizzeria Buono again.  We gorged ourselves and then went to bed.  What a day.