Senor Vice Presidente is eating an empanda

The town of Banos is a small resort town, tucked in the foothill of the most recently active volcano in Ecuador (last eruption was Feb this year), Tungurahua. The town is popular for the thermal baths that surround the town, heated by the volcano and famed for their healing abilities.
In recent years it has become a super popular stop on the adventure sports circuit.
Unfortunately, you can't climb to the top of this volcano, due to the fact it may spit boiling hot magma on you... BUT I figured there had to be some type of jump, diving, or falling activity that would upset my mother.

We decided to start the day early with a hike in the surrounding hills, to maybe catch a glimpse of the big girl... seriously, it is like all the volcanoes got together and said "HA HA screw these two, they aren't getting anything from us."

The plan was to hike to the smaller village of Runtun, which overlooked Banos, and given the volcano peak was shrouded in clouds, we could at least catch a great view of the town from above.
About half way up, we discovered a path less taken, and well you know what they say about the path less taken... umm, you should take it?!?!

Well apparently, there was a solid reason why not to take THIS particular path less taken... does anyone know the Ecuadorian Spanish word for switchback? No? well that is because there IS no freakin word for switchback... just straight up.

The path eventually dead ended before the top, but...

Turn around, and killer view... the town of Banos from above...

The path was very well marked, so it should come as no surprise, we got lost on the way down...

And ran into a machete and a very protective angry dog... we thought we may have stumbled on a little grow operation in the hills, so we just gently as calmly repeated "nice perro, easy perro, no perro"... and disappeared into the bush.

We spent a solid 4 hours aimlessly wandering the hills, occasionally popping out of the jungle to catch a stunning view, then pressing back, in search of civilization.

We finally stumbled back into town and marched ourselves straight to the market for a bite, where we were pleasantly surprised with TWO super cool things...
super cool thing #1: a family style dining hall...
"hey strange Americano backpacker couple, please come sit down and eat with this giant multi - generational Ecuadorian family"... Heather and I smiled and nodded through the entire meal... I am pretty sure we were a hit, and are invited over for dinner.

super cool thing #2: the vice Presidente of Ecuador held a rally in town earlier that day and decided to pop by the market for a bite and a few photo ops.
We couldn't quite muscle over to get a group shot, but came close...

Can the horse just take us?

As much of an adventure getting to Cotopaxi was, getting out proved equally challenging.
We decided to hitch a ride with a local heading out.
Andy, our new best mate from Australia, decided to tag along, as he was also headed in that general direction.
We had a few hours to kill, so we decided to give horse back riding across the high Andean plains a go...

Bangs are so hot right now...

The next few hours as a gong show of pickups, cars and buses... we hitched a ride from Cotopaxi to a petrol station along the Panamericas freeway, a major thoroughfare where we were assured that plenty of buses would drive by and just pick us up... umm nope.

So we hitched another ride from the gas station to a small town called Latacunga.

We were dropped in front of a video store, yep, a video store, they still exist and are going strong in Ecuador.

We finally managed to flag down the right bus, snagging the last 3 seats. Two hours and a badly dubbed Jackie Chan movie later, we arrived in Banos... love love love third world travel.

This is the third trip in a row when we have met and hung out with the coolest fellow travelers from down under... To whomever in Australia is in charge of building backpackers, keep doing what you are doing,(does it involve throwing another shrimp from the barbie?),,,

Always bet on the volcano

Spending hours chillin' in the lodge, waiting for the weather to break, allowed us to meet more new friends... including Katie and Dana from West Seattle.

They are a super cool couple attempting to bandit bag (without official guides) a few of the major volcano peaks through Ecuador.
As I mentioned in the last post, you can actually hike to the glacier without gear or guide, so the four of us adventurers decided to give it a crack... test the ole girl and her willingness to let us in.

We drove to the start of the trail head, err... so not so much a trail head as a general open face up...

To get a better sense of the sheer misery, check out this short video...

We finally made it to a small refuge, a way station for climbers to stay the night before a summit attempt, just below the glacier.

The crew universally agreed that the sound of a warm fire and a hot cup of tea was better than pressing on.
Judging from the weather, it was looking like Cotopaxi was out of our reach... oh well, plenty of other things to do to piss my mom off.
For some perspective, we climbed to just underneath the snow field in the photo below... not too shabby.
Katie and Dana are going to give the summit a go tonight... praying for you both to be safe.

Wide Open Spaces

Despite all the unusual charm, at the end of the dia, Quito is just a city, like countless other cities... we craved the great outdoors.
There are 10 major volcanoes in Ecuador, and the world's tallest active (it has erupted in the last 100 years), is called Cotopaxi, which happens to be a few short hours from Quito.
The preparation of this arduous undertaking went something like...
Riad: "Hey Heather, anything to do in Ecuador that will freak the heck out of my mom?"
Heather: "hmmm, well we could climb the world's tallest active volcano"
Riad: "Perfect!!! "umm do we need to bring our own virgin, or do they provide?"

The details were very sketchy, mostly because we don't speak Spanish and Ecuadorians volcano climbing guides all tend to speak Spanish...
But details can be worked out at the volcano,..
After an interesting and arduous drive, which mostly involved constantly gesturing to the bus driver that we wanted to go closer closer closer to the volcano, we were dropped off at the only hosteria in the National Park, a few miles from the start of the volcano traverse.

Once we secured a room, and by room, I mean two singles in a shared room with an Aussie on summer school break and two Chilean runners (training in high altitude), we immediately inquired about the volcano, how do we get up? guide, gear, virgin requirements etc.

Juan Carlos, the inn keeper, gently walked us outside and pointed... see the volcano? No? right so no one can see the volcano due to all those darn CLOUDS. (sarcasm needs no translation).

Apparently clouds live at over 19,000 ft (5900 m), which happens to be the same height of our friend the volcano.

We could acquire all the necessary stuff to climb, which included crampons, an ice pick and ropes, however if you climb to the start of the glacier and the weather sucks... no mas, you are out o luck, go straight to bed, do not pass GO, do not get back your dinero.

By the way, the crampons, an ice pick and rope are necessary since there are giant crevasses covered in snow, which can sometimes break, and plunge climbers to their screaming deaths (freaked yet mom?).

Nothing left to do but sit, and pray for the clouds to part.
It just so happens that the volcano sits on the high Andean plains, which is stunning in its raw, naked, unadulterated beauty.

We went for a bit of a walkabout, aimlessly wandering the soft rolling hills, constantly glancing over to the volcano and the cloud situation.

We followed this stream for a few miles...

finding a small trickle and sense of serenity...

and some new friends... herds of wild Andean horses.

Oh my dear dear Cotopaxi, please sleep tight, but tomorrow, open up your warm embrace to us weary travelers, let us gently scale your glacier, skipping across your delicate rock scree and dance over your menacing crevasses, finally allowing us to plant our flag into your soft pillowy summit.
The above was strictly Riad's interpretation of what he believed Heather to be thinking the moment this photo was captured.

awesome creepy mannequins take 3

So for those of you who have been with me since the beginning, you know I have a deeply disturbing attraction to the developing world's crazy creepy mannequin fixation...
Without further adieu, I bring you the Ecuadorian version... sit back and be freaked...

Do men really need this incentive to buy? "Ahh now I see exactly how my package will be cupped, I can go ahead and move forward with this difficult purchase decision"

This was a special treat, a two fer, could not decide which one was worse... err more awesomer...

But after getting up close, gotta give it to blondie... love love love the combination school boy cap, casual sunday lounging attire, still developing Amish beard, crazed smile AND not one, not two, but three, freakin' neck tattoos.

easy man, that's the only neck I got

As you might be aware, South America is very very very Catholic and Ecuador is no exception... Old Town Quito has over 40 churches, and these are not just a room with a couple of parishoners... words like Cathedral and Basilica are attached.

They are breath taking in there beauty and attention to detail...

The day turned out to be an absolute stunner, with clear blue skies, so we stumbled upon what most Quitoans do on a beautiful day... they head up into the clouds... TeleferiQo, a gondola ride up the lower slopes of Volcan Pichincha to a base at 3050m (~10000 ft).

For Riad von Trapp, the hills were truly alive with the sound of Bacchus...

We continued getting to know the locals better... the more charming they are, the less likely they end up a sweater.

At first we thought this might be a Andean raccoon, but no, just a dexterous little pero intent on a meal... he had is back paws and butt balanced just so, to bend in and snag a leftover... so good.

The cab ride back from the gondola stopped right in front of a old skool barber shop... a number dos cut and a straight edge shave... in the world of MEN, there is no language barrier.

Riad: "Excuse me sir, why are you wearing a white lab coat?!?"
Brilliant fellow wielding the blade: "I need it to protect the nice shirt and tie I have on underneath from the inevitable blood splatter"
Riad: <gulp>

Ended an amazing first day, chillin' on the steps at the foot of Iglesia y Monasterio de San Francisco (yet another magnificent church), nestled in the Plaza San Francisco, watching the sun set over the surrounding rolling hills...