Wednesday 3rd May 2017
Banos
Collected by an open-top double-decker bus, luckily with a
temporary roof as it was pouring with rain. Drove around the one-way streets in
town collecting a few other ‘touriste’ and then off through the cloud forest to
see some canyons and waterfalls. Bit of
an odd tour as no timings involved and it was left loose as to whether we did
anything at each of the stops. The first
canyon had a very dodgy-looking cable ‘car’ to get a birds-eye view. At the huge cost of $1 we indulged! At the other side there was the option of
taking a zip-wire back for $10. Diane
and I went for it. Fabulous fast zip
wire with a very interesting finish – some poor bloke having to hang on to a
trailing rope to stop me going back out onto the canyon, nearly taking him with
me! The next stop had a similar zip-wire
for tandem flyers, but raining by that stage so we didn’t take part. I took
another cable ‘bucket’ across the canyon to get a better view of the confluence
of two rivers into a waterfall, coming from the hydro-electric dam. The last stop was a huge waterfall (Bride’s
Bell) which was fast and furious. The
last part was accessed by a bouncy rope bridge which was only a little
rusty. Some brave/stupid people went
further down to stand near the drop and get completely soaked. Not great idea when not particularly hot to
dry out.
Last stop was on the notorious Ecuadorian death road, which
has now been somewhat renovated with actual paving and a small wall to save you
from the sheer drop. The bus wasn’t allowed further along, so we walked a short
way. How this was ever a two-way unpaved road beggars belief. Twenty six people died in one bus that went
over the edge, and others lost their lives when they exited the tunnel into
blinding light, just as the road veered to the left.
Another tunnel was so low we were asked to not stand or put
our arms up on the top deck.
Happy to return to Banos where we had a late lunch of fish,
chips (and of course the usual rice) with beer, at a little family-run
restaurant. Lunch was $5. Ed, Jude, Iain and I then went in search of
a grog shop that we’d spotted from the bus. Eventually found it and bought a
couple of bottles of decent rum. Then
celebrated with a cappuccino at the Blah Blah café. More Dollars from ATM machine – need to pay
$200 cash to Galapagos Nature Reserve. On
way back to the hotel, Iain tried to escape my clutches but failed miserably
and I dragged him into a pelluteria (hairdressers). He was finally given a decent haircut ($7) and
I tipped handsomely.
Sorted out some finances and paid the balance of the
Galapagos cruise. We’d been given the bad news that our boat the Floreana had
developed engine trouble, but luckily an alternative boat had been found. Not sure where it departs from though and our
plans to drop luggage an onward hotel may need to be changed. Internet not working very well so tedious
sorting out emails and couldn’t get on to Facebook.
Evening was another rum/coke and crisps session. Put the
world to right.
