It is our last day in Banos (pronounced Bahn-yos). We will be jumping on a bus to Quito, Ecuador's capitol city in a few hours. It should be about a four hour bus ride winding through the Andes and up in elevation. I really hope our driver takes it easy. It is such a beautiful area but much harder to take it all in when you're swerving around ridiculously tight corners.
'Donde esta el bano' means 'where is the bathroom' in Spanish. Banos is named for its thermal baths. It is situated quite close to a Valcano most recently erupting in 2010. Its popularity has arisen due to its thermal baths. It is a small town nestled in a valley but a great volume of people come to visit each year. It has many hostels, restaurants, shops, and tourist agencies to meet its visitors needs and desires.
We have visited other tourist towns but we haven't liked very much. Banos is much different. That is because there are options in Banos. We can enjoy the scenery, the town, the touristy things, whatever we want. We are not pressured to do anything because we are gringos, the paid for activities are reasonably priced, and the restaurants have tasty food that offer variety. In short we have greatly enjoyed our time here.
But it is time to move on. In Quito we are hoping to see the city and its museums, what is reported as the best market in South America by our guide book, Both the real and fake equators, and a cloud forest that houses hundreds of different birds and butterflies. It should be a full trip and fast paced compared to how we have been travelling the past two weeks.
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