Mountain Biking

Bloody hell. I was woke up at 5:30am by a marching band and what sounded like a cannon firing, over and over. It finally stopped after 6:00, and I fell back asleep.Up around 9:00, had breakfast, then met Jason at 10:00 am and rented mountain bikes. We biked from Baños east out of the mountains toward Puyo, on the edge of the Amazon basin. Awesome scenery, lots of waterfalls, including Pailon Del Diablo, an awesome thundering waterfall, where you can actually climb in behind the waterfall.Kirsty and me made it to the 40km mark (about 4:00pm), where the road then starts to climb. The seats on the bikes were terrible, and my ass was killing was me. Lisa and Jason decided to continue the uphill road to Puyo. Kirsty and me caught a truck back for $2 each.Kirsty and me waited for Lisa and Jason at the hostal, they got back about 7:00pm. They ended up paying $20 to get back from Puyo. They arrived in Puyo just before dark, and Lisa mentioned there was lots of police in Puyo, with riot gear ready (like those big shields). We had noticed a significant police presence in Baños today too, they're all over the place. We were curious as to why.The four of us went for gross burgers and beer, then we used Jason's Macbook to transfer pictures between memory cards. I put a copy of all my pictures onto Kirsty's memory card (which is actually mine, that I loaned her), and she's going to take them all back to Canada, so I have a backup.Around 6:00pm, while we were waiting for Lisa and Jason to get back, the band and cannon started up again. Kirsty was outside, and she came back to the hostal and remarked that it was firecrackers, not a cannon. It sure is loud, though. Obviously some sort of fiesta.

Steak in Baños

Up early, 4:40am, and walked to the road in front of the Black Sheep Inn. We waited and waited and waited, but no bus came. The bus finally rolled by at 6:15. $1 for the bus ride to Zumbahua. In Chugchilan, the bus stopped, and pigs were loaded onto the roof of the bus, squealing and kicking, as they were dragged by a rope around the neck to the roof.In Zumbahua, had to switch to a different bus. Packed, Kirsty and I had to stand. Bus was also super tiny, when Lisa stood, she had to hold her neck crooked. We also got charged tourist prices. All the locals were paying $1.25, he charged us $2.50 each. Lisa confronted the bus dude, and everyone else on the bus was behind us, asking the bus dude why we were paying more, and the bus dude didn't have an answer, finally telling Lisa he'll talk to us at Latacunga, when the bus stops. At Latacunga, Lisa had a talk with the bus dude, and ended up getting $3.00 back, so the bus cost us $1.50. Lisa couldn't be bothered to try and get the extra 75 cents back. The bus dude totally assumed that we didn't speak Spanish, and could get away with it. Fortunately, Lisa is totally fluent in Spanish.We had to change buses in Latacunga, then do yet another bus change in Ambato.Arrived in Baños around 1:00ish, went to Plantas y Blanca Hostal and stayed in a 4-bed dorm for $6.50/night.Walked around town, I bought an Ecuador soccer jersey ($9), we checked one of the hot pools. This town is like Queenstown in New Zealand, very picturesque and full of adventure activities.We napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Then met Jason (from Black Sheep Inn) for supper for awesome steak, then to bed.

Waterslide of Death

Kirsty and me decided to do a "nothing" day, Lisa decided to do a hike from Quilatoa back to the Black Sheep Inn with four others from the hostal. They left on a rented truck with a guide at 9:00am.Kirsty and me lounged in the yoga room, listening to music and reading all morning, had a cheese plate for lunch (there's a Swiss trained cheese factory out here in the middle of nowhere), then played a round of disc golf, the highest disc golf course in the world. Great course, very steep, and hazards include sheep, mules, cows and pigs.Lisa got back around 3:00, then a bunch of us wanted to do the waterslide. The waterslide is made out of concrete and starts at the tp of a hill and goes down into a pond. It's steep, with twists and turns. You go down on a plastic mat. Andres (owner of the Black Sheep Inn) said it's the highest solar powered waterslide in the world. I went first. HOLY CRAP! AWESOME! It was so good, I had to go a second time.A bit later, some of us did the zipline, which was fun, but not nearly as exciting as the waterslide.At 7:00 was supper, then we paid our bill, as we have to catch a 5:00 am bus tomorrow morning.There's a younger American couple at the inn, and at supper time, they mentioned to Andres that they don't have enough money to pay. They've been splurging, having wine with meals, staying in a private room, wanting to do a horse trek the following day. They asked Andres if they could pay with Paypal. Andres was quite upset, because they were specifically told that they HAD to bring cash (there's no bank machines in Chugchilan, and the inn doesn't accept credit cards). So, Andres kind of reemed them out, telling them they have to make some decisions considering their financial issue. Andres ended up letting them pay with Paypal, but it was an issue. Everyone else in the inn thought it was a "typical American" thing to do.

Black Sheep Inn

Up about 8:30, had breakfast.At 9:30, Lisa, Kirsty and me left for the cloud forest hike. We are situated on the east side of the last mountain range before the ocean, so hot coastal air rises up the mountains and produces the Andean Humid Forest. It's an ecological reserve, but there's no control in the area.The hike goes up over the paramo (3500 metres), then down the other side. When you're up on top of the paramo, you're above the clouds over the forest, so it's way cool. As you descend down, you can walk under the canopy of the cloud forest and explore. We had lunch (provided and packed by Black Sheep Inn) under the canopy at the edge of a steep ravine, and watched the clouds roll up the valley toward us.We hiked back via a different route, amazing views.Got back around 3:15, showered. At 4:30, some children from Chugchilan did a dance presentation (for tips). It was real good.There's so much to do here, zipline, Waterslide of Death, Fred Flinstone weight room, sauna, hot tub (which is funny), yoga studio, volleyball court, horseshoe pits, disc golf.Kirsty's camera "lost" most of her pictures. Another guy had his Macbook Air, so we checked her memory card, her camera moved most of her pictures to a different folder. I used his laptop to backup all my pictures to a 2nd memory card.7:00 was supper, then read, then to bed.

Chugchilan

Quilatoa is sooooo windy. It howled all night lng. I had dreams of the roof blowing off of our hostal. It was cold last night too, but they provided lots and lots of thick blankets.We got up about 6:30, they said that's the only time of day to see the two sisters ad Cotopaxi without clouds, but it was quite unimpressive.Back to the warmth of the bed and slept again until about 9:30. We got up, got breakfast, packed, then sat around, played cards and whatever. We're heading to Chugchilan, but the only bus rolls through between 1:00 and 2:30 in the afternoon.Around 11:30, we backpacked to the lodge where the bus wuld stop. We waited in that lodge, got some tea, played chess.This town is quite depressing. It's sooooooooo windy (and apparently always like that), cold and dry. It's nice to move on.About 1:30, we moved out to the road and waited. The bus rolled up about 2:00. It was packed, no seats, and there's cement, pop, building materials, bananas and everything else a local might need packed in the aisles. A sheep was tied down on the roof with all the other baggage, two other sheep were stuffed into the rear baggage compartment.We had to stand, cramped, for part of the rid, but eventually seats became available. The road was dirt, potholed and rutted, sheer cliffs, very exciting.Got to Chugchilan and walked the half kilometre to the Black Sheep Inn, an eco-tourism resort. The dorms are $32/night. That includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.We did a short hike to the plateau, a plateau overlooking an impressive canyon, about a 2 hour hike, with nice views all around. There's lots of hikes to do around Chugchilan.Supper (family style) was at 7:00. It's all vegetarian, and quite good.The toilets here are amazing. They are dry composting toilets, you go poop or pee, drop in the toilet paper too, then put in some "dry stuff", and it all composts, and they use it on their fruit trees. The toilets also have great views, I have another entry for my Worlds Greatest Thrones website!After supper, I read, ten to bed around 10:30ish.

Quilatoa

Up early, about 7:00, showered and had breakfast. Not in a hurry, the first bus to Quilatoa doesn't leave until 10:00am.Walked to the bus depot around 9:30 and almost had to stand on the bus, we arrived just in time to get the remaining seats. 2.5 hour bus for $2. The guy (local) sitting beside Lisa had bad armpit smell.Got to Quilatoa (elev. 3850 metres) around 12:30 and a little boy convinced Lisa to come to his parents hostal (Hostal Pacha Mama), $12 each, includes breakfast and supper. It's pretty cold here, gaining lots of altitude.We wandered around town, which is nothing more than one street and maybe 20 buildings. Lisa and Kirsty each bought a sweater from the local market, then we ate.Quilatoa is a tiny village, population 50 people. It's a tourist place because of a crater lake. Most hostals are just extra rooms the Quechan locals have in their homes. You're really staying with the locals here.We then made arrangements for horses to take Kirsty and me back up from the crater lake. $5, and so touristy, but oh well. Lisa decided to hike back up. The three of us hiked down, about a 30 minute hike, quite warm on the way down, out of the wind. Once down, we waited for our horses, then went back up. My horse was nursing a foal, Lisa figured she was not being fed enough and she was pretty slow getting me back up. I was the last out of about 12 horses to get back to the rim.We then visited a local artisans shop and bought some small paintings, then hit the local supermarket and bought some Oreos. You can find Oreos anywhere on this planet, along with Coke and Heineken.Watched a game of handball.About 5:00, back to the hostal, wrote in journal, played cards and made protest signs supporting the new elephant statue at the Calgary Zoo. ("We support all elephants!", "Keep Ganesh at our zoo!", "Equal rights for all gods!")Electricity and running water only in the evenings here. He turns it on for us to shower, but it was off all other times. We collected quite the mix of pee in our toilet. Fortunately no one had to poop.

Latacunga

Slept awesome last night. Woke up about 8:30, 10 hours sleep or something.We got our laundry, had breakfast, then we (with Rafael) took a taxi to the southern bus depot to catch a bus to Latacunga. Rafael is going to Riobamba. Bus depot is brand new and is amazing. It's like a brand new airport.Caught a bus to Latacunga (elev. 2800 metres), 1.5 hours for $1.25. Buses to Latacunga leave every 5 minutes.Found a hostal (Hostal Tiana) that we happened across while looking for some listed in our guidebooks. $10/night, includes breakfast. Had some lunch, then wandered around town. Huge market, I bought a light jacket, because I didn't bring one. $12. Lisa tried to buy jeans, but none would fit her properly.Then we walked around town, seeing some other somewhat uninteresting sights. They have some pretty nice urban parks here, though.Back to hostal, I used internet and whatever. We had an amazing hot chocolate and started planniing out what we wanted to see in Peru. I need more time!