Ecuador - Banos and Quito

Keegan Tudehope
Apr 8, 2017
13 min read

Day 43

After leaving the Galapagos in the morning, the rest of the day included the flight from Galapagos to Guayaquil, which took around 2 hours and then a bus to Banos from there. It was a further 8 hours that should have been 5, however, the buses in Ecuador are slightly different to those that we have been on so far. After about 40 minutes, the bus drove slowly along a road with its door open and around 8 or 9 people got on the bus. These people were selling everything and anything, from all kinds of fruits, some already cut and ready to eat, to drinks and other snacks like chocolate, ice creams and empanadas. This seemed to happen every hour or, whenever we passed through a town. In addition to this, the bus served the as transport for the locals, continuously picking up and dropping off passengers anywhere along the road. It was really interesting, but very annoying as time seemed to go on forever.

After not eating for most of the day, we were starving, so at one stop I ran off and got fried chicken and chips for dinner from the side of the road, costing a whole $2 each. Cheap as chips, but it came with chicken. Later, we almost missed our stop even though we were following on our map, in fact we did miss it. When we asked if it was the next stop, they pulled the bus over and dropped us off then and there. Meaning we had to walk back to the city, in the rain. When we got into the city, we had trouble finding the hostel as Google Maps location wasn't accurate and the hostel was some 300m away. Once we checked in, we went to bed as we had already had dinner on the bus and by now it was quite late after a big day of travelling behind us.

Day 44

In the morning, we ate breakfast at the hostel, which was nice and easy. Through word of mouth on one of our previous tours we decided to hire bikes and ride through a valley to see some waterfalls. Along the way, we're lots of extreme sports locations, with canopy zip lines from one side to the other, bridge jumps and swings. It was cool seeing them all, although we wondered how all of them survive. This was especially questionable when at the first one we saw we decided to zip line over and back across the valley for a total of $15 (US) each. Little did we know that there would be another 10 or more zip line locations along the way to the main waterfall, but we had our adrenaline rush. On the way over I went upside down and on the way back in superman position. Ellie opted for sitting at first and superman upon return. Check us out in the video below.

After our zip line experience, we hopped back onto our bikes and continued along the undulating road, skipping the tunnels and riding on the exterior roads for safety and for the views of the valley. As mentioned before, for as far as we rode in an hour, there was an adrenaline sports location every kilometre, sometimes even closer together. Yet, we were still happy with our ride and continued all the way to the main waterfall, called the Devils Cauldron. The only reason we stopped was for photos and to watch some people complete their activities as we passed by. When we arrived at the waterfalls, we stopped in at a restaurant for lunch before we began the walk to the huge waterfall. It was about 20 minutes downhill before we arrived to find the extreme force of water falling around 50m into a small catchment below.

There was a crevice in the cliff face that was big enough to crawl through to get a better look at the waterfall and even go behind it slightly, as you can see in the video also. The rivers here seem to run extremely quickly, part of the downhill sloping mountains where the waters are following gravity. This was particularly evident near Machu Picchu and with these types of fast moving rivers the waterfalls have a huge amount of velocity as the water comes over them. As a result, the sound made from this bigger one was a consistently loud roar and it was easy to see the torrent of water coming down for yourself. It was rather spectacular.

Following our waterfall tour we returned uphill intending to head home, however, not on the bikes as it is more uphill going back. Fortunately, for 2$ a person you can load your bike onto a truck and ride with it back to town. We did so with 4 other people, but had to first find the truck and secondly wait for extra customers, which gave us time to have an ice cream on a hot day. When we got back to the city we decided we would go to one of the thermal baths in the city, of which there are a handful. When we arrived on our bikes at the most popular one we found it to be closed, only opening in the morning and the evenings. With that in mind, we decided to ride around the city to have a look and waste some time until the baths opened. As it’s only a small town it didn't take long to complete a loop and arrive at a lookout over the Francisco bridge and the valley and river beneath it. At that exact moment, we saw someone jump of the bridge.

We had to check this out so we rode to the bridge and watched a few more people jump. The more I watched, the more my confidence grew in the facilities, the strength of the rope and the professionalism of the staff. That is when I decided to jump of the bridge myself. The adventure capital of Ecuador was truly that, so I inquired about the price and for only $20 you could participate. While the price made me question the quality as in Australia or New Zealand and probably most places you would expect to pay a lot more. However, I strapped on the harness, stepped onto the platform, prepared my action camera, tried to jump out as instructed but my legs didn't really agree with me and the rest is easy. After a sudden jolt, I was swinging from side to side on the bridge each time being lowered by the device on the bridge. My heart was racing at first not noticing the whiplash from the jolt until watching the video back. The adrenaline was high and I questioned my sanity at one point but it was a rush and an awesome experience. I was extremely happy to survive and relieved to have my feet back on the ground.

Following this adrenaline rush, we then went the opposite way to a relaxing thermal bath. Just what I needed to calm the heart. After returning the bikes and walking to the spa, we found a huge line queuing. When we eventually got in we had to hire some swimming caps, unload our belongings into a locker and shower before getting in. The first spa we entered was extremely hot, the water was an unappealing murky brown colour and the spa was full of people. Mostly locals and Ecuadorian tourists, but a few gringos as well. It was relaxing but after 10-15 minutes it got a bit too hot so we ventured around to try some different baths. We both tried an ice bath before entering the hottest spa. Due to this we felt a burning sting when entering the hot water but it was nice after a few minutes. As it was so hot you could only stay in it a short time and after this one we decided to head home to shower and head out for dinner.

For dinner, Ellie didn't feel like anything South American, she felt more like European. The food hasn't really ever been great, just sometimes good and mostly only ok. We went for a staple dish, pizza at a restaurant on one of the pedestrian streets in the city. Mine literally was a staple dish as when I was chewing I bit into and actual staple. With great persistence, Ellie demanded the meal be discounted or made free with great difficulty due to the language barrier. Even using Google Translate the women pretended not to understand but eventually gave way. With one free pizza, Ellie had resolved our disbelief of having stapled on mushroom and assisted our budget although it wasn't the intention of complaining. Evidently, we went home to bed happier than we would have been. I am hoping there was only one staple in the pizza, although, I may lose weight having my stomach stapled.

Day 45

The second day in Banos was an early start with cloudy weather looking to spoil our day. We ate breakfast at the hostel and then took a taxi up a mountain to 'swing off the edge of the world' at La Casa De Arbol. As we ascended up the mountain the skies became clearer and when we arrived at the swing the place was empty. We had the whole place to ourselves and for $1 each we could swing for as long as we wanted. We discovered later that it's usually so busy your only allowed 3 swings and your turn is up. The views were great, although the apex of the nearby volcano was covered by cloud but as you can see in the photos there was blue sky and a valley full of green trees below us.

The photos were really cool as you can see and our taxi driver who stayed with us assisted and pushed us higher and higher so the other could take photos. We made sure to give him a tip once he returned us to our hostel. From there we gathered our things and made way for the bus station to buy our ticket and head to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The buses left every hour so we had a bit of a wait and took the chance to have some lunch. I had a hamburger and chips while Ellie just had a small snack. Soon enough we were off to Quito, again with a bus stopping frequently to gather local customers and varied street merchants.

One of the men was almost a portable duty free store, carrying watches, sunglasses and perfumes, except I wouldn't have thought any of them werereal. He advertised on the trip for a good 45 minutes before exiting the bus in another town. Others sold the regular fruits, snacks and drinks although we had all our supplies handy. The journey time was 3 hours and with about 15 minutes to the terminal some commotion began at the back of the bus. Although we never actually found out what the argument was over we were soon in the thick of it. If you don't want to hear about the fight in the bus, skip the next paragraph.

The argument was between a local customer, who had entered the bus about 30 minutes before the action, and the bus attendant who collected the money. For that reason, we figured he hadn't paid or was evading the fare as we found out he kept swapping seats. This was also aligned with our theory that he was trying to steal from people by changing seats to see what he could get. Either way the attendant demanded him to get off the bus before being shoved by the customer. The little man, who had been really friendly to us didn't hold back in shoving the customer who was almost a foot taller. After some aggressive verbal back and forth the customer moved up the corridor to the front of the bus where we were sitting. He still refused to get off and when the attendant came to insist further some punches were thrown. When the customer got the upper hand, the attendant grabbed him and held him close to avoid his punches. They wrestled to break free and fell onto our row of seats and the customer was throwing punches whilst wresting. I intervened a few punches by grabbing the crazed man’s wrist and holding him back, allowing the attendant to free himself and avoid further punches. When they went to re-engage another man from the back of the bus stepped between the 2. Not long after when the police were mentioned the customer exited the bus and was no longer to be seen. The attendant untied his tie and adjusted his now ripped shirt. No longer concerned by his job and gathering himself understandably. When we arrived in town not long after, we tipped him as we believe he was sticking up for the other customers in protecting people from a possible thief. But realistically, we still don't know exactly what it was all about.

At the terminal, we shared a cab with a nice American couple who were on our bus towards the city. We first shared our brawl experience with each other before parting ways after dropping them at their hotel. We continued to a bus office to book a bus for the next morning from Quito to Bogota, Colombia. The bus was going to take 36 hours and would leave at 6am. Yes, you read correct, 36 hours. As we requested to book, we were advised there were no buses available for at least 3 days. Due to the flooding and flood damage in Peru not allowing the buses to get through. This would severely affect our later plans so we needed an alternative. We knew the alternative was flying. The 1 hour flight, was much better than the 36-hour bus trip. However, the 1 hour flight was $300 one way per person. Not ideal for the budget but it had to be done.

After having returned to the hostel and booking this flight we went out for dinner, opting for an Indian restaurant nearby with good reviews. The food was awesome and was a good contrast from the South American food that Ellie is slowly getting sick of. It was cheap too, which we now need to do considering the extra cost we face with the flight and extra accommodation needed as we wouldn't be on a bus for one of them. In one of the most eventful days of the trip, swinging off the edge of the world, avoiding swing punches and unexpectedly swinging the itinerary, we were worn out. This brings an end to our transport on buses for the rest of the trip.

Day 46

With an extra day in Quito, we attended the walking tour which started in the Old Town. We visited, as you commonly find on the walking tours here, the Main Square or Squares, churches, important buildings, sweets shops and markets. As many towns are influenced by the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, they are all similar and have similar histories including the independence revolution in each. This was particularly evident in Peru and Ecuador. It was a pretty good tour and ended with a suggestion for lunch.

We took up the recommendation and headed to the restaurant where we ate a tradition set lunch, which include entree, main and a juice. You could choose from fish, chicken or beef for main and had 2 options of soup and a fruit juice. The meal wasn't our favourite type of food, but it cost a whole $2.25 each, so it's hard to complain at that price.

After having lunch, we walked to La Basilica Church. It is set upon a small hill and stands tall amongst the city. It's not the cathedral, which is a smaller church attached to the main square but it was nice. It was only built 100 years ago, but it is built in similar styles to much older churches. We went to the top of the towers to find some steep ladders and great views of the city.

We made our way home by taxi, which are cheap in the city. When we got home we made good use of the good Wi-Fi to upload some photo albums, blogs and so on. Ellie continued to consider things to do in our next locations and later we went out for dinner. Since we ate traditional for lunch we gave ourselves a pass to eat non-South American food again. Knowing the quality from the last nights experience we opted for the Indian restaurant again and we were not disappointed. The food was once more fantastic and still cheap so we went home just as happy as the last night and went to bed.

Day 47

Our last day in Ecuador was spent driving to the equator, a 40-minute drive from the centre of Quito. We found a taxi driver, turned tour guide, who took us out and back for $50, including 3 stops. The stops were first to look at a volcano from a viewpoint, the Intinan museum, and the equator monument. The volcano disguised as a mountain was just that, it looked like a mountain. Not that I wanted it to erupt, however, I feel that was the only way to make it more appealing.

The second stop was the Intinan museum, which was much better. It included an English-speaking guide, who first talked about some local traditions and people unrelated to the equator, including an Amazonian tribe that shrink heads of their enemies to assert fear from other tribes. However, the main attraction was a line on the ground. While it doesn't sound exciting, maybe less so than a dormant volcano, it was cool to be standing on the middle of the earth. You can stand on both the southern and northern hemisphere at the same time and there are several different effects that come from being on the equator that were quite interesting. Firstly, there is the fact that you are 1kg lighter due to gravity (and other reasons), then there is the fact you are weaker because of the loss of that weight. The guide did a demonstration that proved the second point clearly. She also completed another demonstration to show how water on the Northern and Southern Hemisphere drain in a toilet or sink in the opposite direction and that on the equator the water goes straight down. Look carefully at the video below to a sink drained from each location.

In addition to this, it is possible to balance an egg, also when you walk on the equator from heel to toe with your eyes closed the forces from either side pull you from side to side, although this didn't affect Ellie and I as much as it did the others in our group. We just thought they didn't have good balance but maybe the force is strong in us. The tour finished with some more information about the community that once lived on the site of the museum as brewers of chicha, a not so tasty fermented corn beer.

After the interesting tour, we then went to an uninteresting one at the monument of the equator. The larhgge monument is in fact not on the equator. It was only discovered after the creation of GPS devices that the site was around 300 or 400 meters off. Thus, there is a purposeless Disneyworld like park with a monument and line marked throughout that isn't accurate. Despite going there, we weren't that interested so we didn't stay long. We took the taxi back to the hostel and gathered our belongings and then made our drivers day by giving him another big fare to the airport.

That was the end of our time in Ecuador, a country using the US dollar but everything costs a lot less. That is not the case however, on the famous nature reserve of the Galapagos Islands. Regardless of the expenses we faced it was a great experience, one we recommend to anyone who can get there (stay longer than us though – it will be worth it). To top off our time here, we were in Quito on the March equinox, which is when the sun crosses the equator. This meant we had no shadow at midday, at least close to no shadow as we were still 45 minutes away from the equator, but it was pretty cool. Check out the photos below and I will keep you posted on our last South American country we visit soon.