The main bus station is near the beginning of town and we did have directions to the B & B where we had reserved a room for the night-La Casa Verde.
http://www.lacasaverde.com.ec/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g312857-d1379770-Reviews-La_Casa_Verde_Eco_Hostel-Banos_Tungurahua_Province.html
We took a taxi- this hotel was about 2 kilometers from the bus station and we were pooped. After a short ride and a $2 taxi , we arrived.
La Casa Verde was a little ways away from town, something we definitly wanted seeing that we were presently living in the center of Quito with all it's accompanying noise of buses, dogs etc. We wanted quiet, and this place really delivered.
Rebecca, one of the owners, greeted us and showed us around the common areas.
Here is the breakfast area- breakfast included in room price.
And a common area for TV or movies
She gave us some literature re things to see,do and restaurants etc, plus a map of town. We then went up to our room to unpack and relax.
A nice big comfortable bed with windows facing two directions.
Some of the views from our balcony
I was in heaven!!!
After finishing a cold cervaza ( available in the common fridge), we decided to take a walk into town. We started out on a small one lane path.
Finally coming into town.
There were several blocks of very touristy shops, restaurants and travel agencies. Banos is very close to the Amazon rain forest- yes, a portion of that is in Ecuador- and tourists arrange and go there from Banos.
We had also read that there was a Brew Pub in Banos and if you are at all familiar with us or our Blog, you know how Uwe loves Brew Pubs and good beer- both of which are almost impossible to find in Ecuador!
Well we found it and as you will note on the picture, the door was open.
Until we were almost at the door. Then some drunk shirtless person closed the metal door in our faces! Can you believe it. We were at the door and they closed it.
Not very nice and can't quite understand as it was supposed to open at 3PM and we got there at 4PM??? I think I'll put a comment in TripAdvisor- so there.
We walked around a bit more- we were starving having not eaten since breakfast. There were several choices of restaurants and even though our hearts had been set on pub food, we settled on a cute Italian restaurant. Uwe had canneloni and I had ravioli, both very good or was it because we were ravenous.
The next morning we joined our fellow guests for breakfast. One was a couple our age , he was originally from England, she from the USA who had met while working in Canada and now owned a B & B in Costa Rica and were travelling around Ecuador. The other was a young couple who were on the last leg of an around the world trip. They were from Australia and had been throughout Europe- Norway, Germany, England, France, Italy, Croatia and then east Asia such as Thailand, Malasia and then to North America and then Ecuador before going home. Wow, was I jealous! So young and already world travellers.
For our last trek around Banos, we went for a short hike to the Chamana Falls. The directions were in the literature Rebecca had given us and were in the opposite direction to town. We walked along the main road till we got to a bridge, second road to the right and ( guess!!!) another 1.5 KM straight up a steep one lane road.
Uphill hiking is our life. Luckily for us there was quite a bit of shade as the sunshine was hot and we were still at 6000' above sea level We finally arrived at the last turn and saw the waterfall.
We both rested on the covered bridge from where we had an excellent view.
From this location you could also see the Volcano Tungurahua which is an active volcano that last erupted in 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungurahua
Today it looked very benign with it's top hidden in the clouds.
We left Banos at 11AM by taxi ( one way $80) because we were tired ( and dare I say put off with buses) with a young Ecuadorian driver who spoke no English. Whoohoo, another chance to practice our Spanish.
We took some pictures of the volcano Cotopaxi, which has not been active since 1877,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotopaxi
but though at the equator, has a crown of snow- amazing!
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