Camping at Mama Tungurahua

Before I came to Ecuador, my friend introduced me to her friend in Quito via facebook. My first week in Quito, he invited me on a camping trip to see Volcán Tungurahua. Now, this volcano had been in the news because it had been erupting… so naturally we wanted to see it! On Friday night, Nicolas and Santiago picked me up and we went to Nicolas’s apartment where we hung out with a few of his friends. The next morning we picked up his friend Ivan, or Pili, and headed down south. On the way, I learned a ton of new words in Spanish- mostly bad words. We stopped in the town of Salceda and bought their famous ice cream popsicles and then ended in Baños. There, we ate lunch, walked around a bit, and asked where the best places were to camp.

We decided on a mountain in between Baños and Mama Tungurahua so the view was incredible. Driving up the mountain was amazing. The valley was filled with clouds and all along the path you could see rose farms and small cottages. We arrived on top and hiked up a hill to find Casa del Arbol, a place where a lot of people camp. Since it was only mid afternoon, we went back to Baños, found a bar and hung out. We returned again to Casa del Arbol just before dark and set up our tent. The view was just as incredible at night- the lights from the city dotted the hill and the clouds were illuminated from the moon.

For the rest of the night, we roasted marshmallows for s’mores and had conversations that were, for me, very interesting. May I remind you that there were three boys and me. The topics ranged from: Where would you rather get shot- the balls or the stomach? to Would you rather have a penis the size of a ping pong ball or the size of your arm? Needless to say, I was laughing the entire night.

The next morning we had a big breakfast, swung on a swing over a ravine, and said goodbye to the family of kittens at the campsite. Although we couldn’t see the erupting volcano right above us, the views were amazing and it reminded me again how much I love the outdoors. It was an amazing weekend with new friends and new adventures.

Baños

Baños at night

This weekend, Taryn and I decided to head to the tourist adventure town of Baños which is on the edge of the Oriente (Amazon rainforest). On the bus ride there, we met three people: two Ecuadorian guys named Ivan and Marco and one Austrian girl named Victoria. Since we didn’t know where we were going to stay and it was already dark, we found a hostel with them complete with a flirty owner, hard beds, and a cold shower. About five minutes after arriving, Ivan asks us if we wanted to go on a tour up the volcano for $3. Of course we said yes and so we hopped aboard an obnoxiously bright party bus complete with blaring reggaeton and flashing Christmas lights. We drove up the side of the volcano for about 45 minutes until we got off and went to look at the amazing view of the city lit up in the darkness below. Our tour guide took great pleasure in pointing out the black volcanoes… against the black sky. We watched a “comedy show” that consisted of two men asking for money in a funny way and then headed back down the volcano.

The next day Taryn and I found a better hostel complete with a giant rabbit and a group of worshiping Jewish people. We wandered around Baños and ran some luxurious errands such as going to a post office and calling home. The town is very small- the main strip consists of two blocks filled with taffy, crafts, and adventure sports. Since neither of us wanted to spend much money and didn’t have the balls to go base jumping, we loaded the party bus once again for a day tour of the waterfalls around the city. The ride was just about the exact same as the night before, but this time an Ecuadorian family sat in front of us and when the teenage girl’s iPhone flew out of the bus, she screamed bloody murder and jumped out of the bus. It was sure worth the $2 extra we paid for the daytime tour.

The night scene

At night, Taryn and I went out and once we hit the street with the bars, we were ushered into a bar where the bouncer stamp attacked us and introduced us to the bar tenders in the “VIP” section. The bar tenders gave us free drinks and wanted a kiss on the cheek as payment. It’s so funny being a white girl here. I don’t feel like it’s that uncommon, especially in Baños, but it’s hard to ignore the special treatment that we receive just for being white. When an Ecuadorian does not automatically assume I’m from the United States or Europe, I do a little victory dance in my head. After the first bar, we headed across the street to a bar with mostly Ecuadorians. A few songs in, the Macarena came on and Taryn and I were really excited and started dancing. As I was showing off my Macarena skills, I looked over to see two guys pointing and laughing at us and only then did I realize that no one was doing the Macarena. Taryn and I flew out of that bar. 

The next morning we went grocery shopping and then tried finding a bus to Quito since our stop was along the way. All the buses were full, but one of the drivers looked us up and down and ushered us into his bus where we sat directly behind the driver. The ride was uncomfortably long since our seats weren’t actual seats but we made friends with the driver. When there was a lot of traffic on the road, the bus driver went rogue and swung the bus onto the field next to the highway and just passed the entire jam. It was cool.