Banos

From Galapagos we flew back to the mainland via Guayaquil. A city that at this moment in time has an avoidance advisory. We are careful to listen to government guidelines and local knowledge, but equally we listen to our own hearts as well. Guayaquil was not an exception. It is not a safe city at this time, albeit less so for tourists, but we like safe. So, straight to the hotel we went. Take heed wandering tourists, the German family also from our hotel chose to ignore advice, attempted to navigate the local district, got lost and were promptly bundled into a taxi by concerned locals and told to go back to their hotel. Mr Bunny heeded all warnings and surpassed himself by ordering us Pizza via delivery. Expensive? yes, worth it? oh yes!!!! sometimes a little splurge does wonders for both bunny bellies and blissful contentment. Pizza, Netflix and Ecuadorian chocolate, an evening made in heaven. So, Banos.

Banos, adventure capital of Ecuador. We had an idea what was there, and why we wanted to go, we just didn`t research it in too much detail to allow for that element of surprise. Surprise number one. It took 7 hours and 2 buses to get there , not the 4 hours on one bus that I read online. It should have been one bus, but it broke down. The 7 hours part was actually correct, I had misread the bus timetable, 4 hours was just the journey to the town of Riobamba where we got dropped off with several other bewildered local bunnies at a small bus tour shop as apparently our bus was having difficulties. We were each given tickets that said 3 to Banos (or 2, or 1 etc) and got told to sit. So sit we did. After around 20 mins, another bus came and on we piled. 3 bunnies and our fellow bunny locals back on their way to Banos. One hour said the bus timetable, 2.5 hours was the reality. We landed in the late evening into what I can only describe as (for UK bunny visitors Blackpool/ Or US bunny visitors, a mini Las Vegas) Oh I was so gutted. Talk about awful first impressions. Neon lights, music, party buses, young people milling about on the streets, burger bars and street food vendors. We got a taxi straight to our lovely little hostel Timara, see booking.com, shared kitchen but lovely family and perfectly nice rooms, deciding to shelve our disappointment and see what daylight brought. Morning came and I realised that our mini Las Vegas and the disappoint of, was actually Saturday night fun and nothing more. We were in the most gorgeous little town, best described as super touristic, safe, relaxed and surrounded by the most awesome hills. We quickly came to love Banos, for its friendly relaxing happy vibes, ( awesome Chocolate Shop. Blanco Hot Chocolate and Dulche de Leche crepes, wow just saying..). The neon party bus was back in the garage, and all we were left with was a million shops all selling one thing. Adventure!! Canyoning? Abseiling? White Water Rafting? Zip lines? Bungee? When we thought Banos was a small town with one area of adventure, the reality is many choices of adventures and tours all in different places around the valleys and hills. Where to begin. Spa waters! After so many weeks on the road the pull of hot springs and total relaxation was too good to miss. El Salado was our first destination. A place where you really do need to know that the book is so much better than the cover suggests. A grey concrete mass of bland looking buildings, muddy looking brown pools, less than inviting looking changing rooms and showers, and the most glorious hot natural pools. 3 hot or varying warm temperatures pools and one one freezing (to be ignored lol) pool.

Day 2 saw us visit the Amazon. Without doubt the most cringy tourist tour and one that I would normally avoid like the plague, but definitely had its merits. Picked up at 8.45, first stop the View Point, Just a stop at the side of the road but a place where you could pause to admire the size and majesty of Amazonia, or at least one little corner of it. From there to the waterfalls. A lovely quite easy, semi paved, walk through the jungle (I did say it was touristy) to the waterfall. Very nice, one of the better waterfalls seen to date, even semi impressing this normally unimpressed wet stuff bunny. From there we went, in the little tourist bus, to the `Indigenous` village. Greeted by the village elder with his parrot feather hat, he proceeded to talk about Chicha, the local drink and the making of, then each of us was given a drink of to taste, from the same cup each time (Who remembers Covid?) Time next for the children in their `native costumes` to come and paint our faces with traditional face paints, showing my age here, but Adam Ant eat your heart out, we rocked the war paint look. Women next, in their fancy grass skirts dressed up the female bunnies in multi size grass skirts and they proceeded to dance around the fire whilst the male bunny variety banged their drums. boys and drums, boys and toys. Mrs Bunny here would have partaken, but alas someone had to take the pictures. Time for the snake picture next, ( I did warn you, proper ts tour) Mr bunny was nowhere to be seen as the snake was brought out, but little bunny quite happily posed with said legless creature. What do they say about every good ride? Ends in a shop! We each bought a souvenir of the day, and left waving goodbye to the `local indigenous people` who were now wearing their presumably everyday attire of jeans, trainers, and the children in their mickey mouse t shirts /nike jumpers.

Day 2. We hired a jeep for 3 hours and drove the road along which are 7 decent waterfalls. Making the decision to miss them all on the outward journey, we headed directly for El Pailon del Diablo. so glad we did. This particular waterfall is quite something, as is the walk! the steps were fine, the views were amazing, then we encountered that bridge. The bouncy, high, rope type bridge, that had to be crossed to continue the waterfall walk. After walking, or rather crawling over a very solid stone bridge that was a whole 8 feet high near home, I was super impressed when Mr Bunny hopped across it with apparent ease. Took Mrs bunny a couple of false starts before venturing across, but of course fearless little bunny just bounced across it with barely a pause. As waterfalls go, Pailon del Diablo is well worth a visit.

Several days passed with us choosing to do very little, the weather was a little unkind, but the chance to catch up with some online work was much needed. On our next blue sky day we caught a local bus to the Casa Del Arbol, perched on the top of the nearby hill, this is known as the original Swing At The End of The World. Just a little tree house with a swing, perched at the edge of a very big hill. So much fun. Suitable for all age bunnies. Very small bunnies have their own little swing nearby if required. A nice little viewpoint, a bit of fun, and back home we went. An evening spent at another brown water super hot spa pool finished off the day and our time in Banos.

Cuenca. Yet another long bus journey. But what a journey, I don`t think I took my eyes off the window view for one minute. Ecuador is just so dramatic. We climbed and climbed so many times, getting higher and higher until we were looking down on the clouds and valleys below us. We finally arrived into Cuenca late in the evening to one of best hostel stays to date. Posada Todos Santos. Easy walking distance to the town, cute little rooms, with gorgeous wall paintings. Cuenca, what can I say except that I wish we could have stayed longer. Totally unlike any other city or town we have been to so far, this place is almost elegant, smart and just different. Ecuador in general is a very tidy clean country, (especially compared to Colombia (sorry Colombia) and Cuenca was no exception. find a little hotel called Terra Rooftop 360 to be rewarded by the best view of the city. You can eat there if you wish, but beware, your little bunny pockets need to be quite deep. we settled for coffee and hot chocolate. We met a couple of fellow bunny backpackers back at our hostel who were hoping to enjoy the national park which was an easy bus ride away. We too fancied this national park, and agreed to join them for a walk. Aron, the owner of our hostel, offered to come with us all to guide us through the maze which is Cuenca bus station, and onto the Park itself. First you buy your bus tickets, then you buy another ticket (only a few cents) to leave the bus station to catch said bus. the National Park was around 45 mins away, and is best described as Ecuadors answer to the Scottish Highlands. Lots of hiking trails in this area, but we chose the easy walk around the large lake. 2 hours with stops for photos, is all you need. A nice break from city life.

Our time in Ecuador has come to an end. We are sad to be leaving this beautiful country. There is so much more to be seen in Ecuador, a country this diverse deserves time to appreciate, time which alas we do not have. Good bye Ecuador, we love you.