Counting Ourselves Lucky(ish)

After our slightly extended stay in Latacunga Richard felt well enough to travel and we got on our way to Baños, which is apparently a mecca in Ecuador for lovers of the outdoors and adrenaline junkies, with hiking, biking, climbing, white water rafting and even bungee jumping amongst the activities on offer.

Whilst we were here mostly for the hiking and biking, Baños was also meant to be a good stop off on our way through to Tena and our first taste of the Amazon rainforest.

Waking up the morning after we arrived, Richard felt much better, but I on the other hand felt pretty ropey. However, as it had lashed it down all night and was still chucking it down, it was hardly the best weather to contemplate being out anyway. So after a lie in, I decided to treat myself to my first shower in days (no, I’ve not become a complete slob just yet, but we’d not had hot water in our last place and I really hadn’t fancied a freezing shower!) – only to find the water had gone off.

Several hours later it was still off, and we eventually found out the cause was a landslide on the edge of town. Sadly this turned out to have been a pretty big and ultimately fatal landslide and so my moaning about not being able to have a shower was somewhat overshadowed by simply being grateful that we were safe.

Skip forwards a few days and we were still in Baños, still without water, and me swinging between feeling fine (and managing a hike in the hills surrounding the town) and having a dodgy stomach, whilst also becoming ever more stinky and greasy haired, and with no way onwards to Tena as there road was still closed…

So reluctantly, after 5 nights in Baños and having ultimately done few of the things we came here for, we had to make the decision to skip the rainforest in Ecuador as there was no sensible alternative way to reach it from where we were (and no immediate prospect of the roads reopening) and head south to Cuenca and towards Peru.

Nonetheless, we did manage at least one really beautiful hike (and collected a few stray dogs along the way, including one which insisted on walking with us for about 2.5 hours! Oh and for those that know us well, we conveniently found a nice place for coffee right at the top!); so here are a few photos (of the hike and the dogs!…