Baños de Agua Santa, Gábrovo and Irishmen
| Friday night... Mari, Gato Raúl and me took the bus for Baños de Agua Santa (holly water bathes), or Baños for short, a beautiful highlands town... We were supposed to meet Mutter, Gábor and Bea there... After many hours in an over-dynamic bus, we arrived in Ambato... I named this picture "Irishperson waking up" or "The Irish also cry"...  Mini breakfast in Ambato... The Holly Child at the bus station... Finally we arrived in Baños, land of sugarcane... First, found a nice hostal, second, a proper breakfast!  I'm a man of contradictions... for instance I stand for the end of the brutal "corridas"... ...but at the same time I think eating pork is good... Ecuadorian highland towns are very catholic... I enjoy the catholic iconography... And Gato the Irish too! Finally mother and bro arrived... We had a second breakfast to celebrate Gábor's arrival... Me bro had the most delicious trout ever... Baños is also land of trouts... We got a pickup and headed to the waterfalls route... of course, pee-standing men we went in the trunk... We arrived to the bungee-jumping area, but mutter didn't allow us to give it a try. Thanks God!  Next, el Manto de la Novia.... We were supposed to walk that bridge, but we took the "tarabita" instead... This is a tarabita, a market basket hanging from a cable.... At the tarabita, including guide's fingers...  Tarabita views of the canyon... It was just outstanding!  Mamotte iru yo attitude... Spider-monkey... A forest swing!   Kept moving to reach the very waterfall... Man holding his trout... Waterfall, an upper view! More tarabita...   Last view of el Manto de la Novia... here it feels like if the earth touches the sky... Next destination, el Pailón del Diablo! this is the stronger waterfall in the area... To reach it you need to walk a lot... Here, Pink Ridin Hood lost in the forest... There is beauty everywhere, especially in the small things... But also in the massive ones... Forest people... Thanks krsn it wasn't sunny... Love at the devilish waterfall...  This waterfall is really strong and noisy... we were all wet because of the splashes and rain...  After some rest, we started the really hard way back, climbing... Plenty of beautiful stamps!    Once outside the waterfall area, we had another break and then headed to the local zoo... During the break I noticed some things... for instance: Mickey is evil! God lives in the Andes... In the way to the zoo we passed a couple of tunnels... Here, some tunnel pix...   We walked the whole zoo and saw plenty of animal, for instance: Tapir or danta...  Negritus omnívorus Europaensis... Foxes... Colorfull birdies...   Etc.... lots of beasts... From the zoo, an open view of the canyon, ideal for pix taking... Especially lovers' pix... That night, we went to have hot soup... we really needed it, after being wet the whole day... But plain soup is never enough! Some trout was needed... After meal, we (the youngsters only) went to the hotsprings... In the way to the hotsprings, we found the Evil Church... Notice the face of Shaitan under the blue cross... Almost no pictures in the hotsprings... By the way it was raining, and hotsprings are open air... Like Japanese onsen, but clothed... Here Gábor und Bea, after bath... Mari and me, wet and freezing... Succubi praying before the Evil Church...  Love, wet undies and saints...  Baños main street, at night... Men who eat human flesh, and women who love them...  The next day, my jeans and shoes were still soaking wet inside... I was to spend the whole day in sandals...  After breakfast we climbed a misterious mountain, from which is possible to see the whole valley....  Gruppen piktures...   Green fields...  The Kiss... Mutter und Irishperson...  Baños, the way God sees it...   Creek...  Back in town, I captured this lady making "melcocha", the sweetest candy ever...  We spent some time shopping some souvenirs... Gábor the Kid...  Gábor Manuel de la Santísima Trinidad Caizaguano Carchipulla Condorazo....  The thoughts of Presidente Ezequiel are my guide!  The irish humahuaqueño....  Obviously, we couldn't leave Baños without having some traditional food! Here, delicious "cuy" (guinea pigs)...  We had a "yaguarlocro", a potato and guts soup with coagulated blood...  Gábor also had some cuy. We all tried it and it was really oishii, despite of it looking like a rat... Mari...  Finally we took the bus and prepared for 7 hours of uncomfortability...  First stop to pee was in a very indigenous community... These facilities are intended for people to wash clothing, cause many of them do not have running water at home...  The bus was a small one with no toilet, and on top of that, the driver allowed some people to travel standing, and he drove like crazy... That's my beautiful Ecuador, feel free to visit me! Perhaps my favorite landscape in the highlands: the "páramo", some sort of cold highlands grassy meadow...  In my mind, its as soft as a dog or a sheep...  When the fog rises in the páramo, you cannot see anything...  Gato the Irish had some "choclomote" with "hornado" (corn+pork)...  Another stop at a road town...  Sunset, while entering Guayaquil...  Bus from bus station to home... The final walk home...  The power of good-bye... Some of us won't see Bea again, she's leaving the next morning...  We went to pick Wally the dog from the dog house, and finally home sweet home!!!!!!!!! Irishman and me went to have some chinese food and eventually had a well deserved rest... Some random stamps of the weekend: Doggies...  Pig and pork... Hen & Shite...  Shite-centrism... Happy pork face... |
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