Cuenca: Day 4 - Laundry and Leaving for Banos

I woke up early to pack and was super excited to get to Banos! I was hoping that my clothes would be ready early so I can leave early for Baños but they wouldn't be ready until 12:30PM. Serves me right for getting someone else to clean my clothes. I should have just washed them and hung them to dry myself.

For breakfast, I ate in a small Columbian restaurant in front of where I was staying and next to the Landry service. I chose the 'desayuna sencilla' which consisted of scrambled eggs, a kind of goat cheese, a tortilla pancake and a cup of hot coffee con leche. I had to ask for salsa de tomate. Breakfast cost me a whopping $2.50US. I left them a .50 tip in the end because they were very nice to me.  The food was OK.

I passed by the laundry place around 9am and subsequently at 11:30am and my clothes were still not ready. I got into a little argument with the lady and explained that I had a bus to catch and she did promise me my clothes would be ready in the morning.  The lady running the place said they will send a taxi to deliver my clothes and she will call me when it is ready.

I went back to my hostal a little bit disappointed for not being able to leave Cuenca early, but something dawned on me when I was resting on my bed. I was speaking Spanish without realizing it! I even gave the laundry lady a little attitude when I told her 'en serio!' (means seriously!). LOL..

Anyways, I felt better with the discovery of my new found ability - that I could speak conversational spanish when I turn into the incredible hulk LOL.  Ok, I wasn't that bad!  The call from the lavendaria came at around 12:30pm so I quickly grabbed my laundry and set on my way to the Terminal Terestre to continue on to Baños.

If you ever see backpackers in your own home town strolling around with a small backpack strapped to the front of their bodies and their big main one on their back, you can imagine me. walking through the streets of Cuenca passing stores, schools, markets, and got the occasional smile.  It was about a 25 minute walk to the Terminal Terestre (bus depot).  I knew the way well, because it's the same way to Homero Ortega where I got my Panama hat yesterday.

Trip to Baños

I arrived at the Terminal Terestre at around 1:15pm and with my spanish I was easily and quickly able to buy my ticket to to Amato which departed at 1:30! Great timing! There is no one-way bus to Baños (that I know of?).  I asked the bus driver to stop in Ambato at the gas station called "Mercado Mayorista; the bus stop to Baños is 200m from the gas station. There I could wait for the bus to Baños which will take about 1 hour. I read all about this the night before. The trip from Cuenca cost me $9US and came with a bottled water.  Good deal!  The total trip time from Cuenca to Baños was 8-10 hours!

OK, so boarding the bus was a little interesting. I heard horror stories about bags being slashed, things being stolen and bags gone missing, so my goal was to keep my bag as close to me as possible. I was one of the last persons to board the bus and all eyes were on me. My experience taking these big buses was very limited so I took my BIG backpack in the bus and tried to place it overhead above me but the overhead compartments were too narrow. I felt a little stupid as I exited the bus and ended up placing my bag below the bus. I asked the bus driver helping to load the bags if my bag was safe being stored below. He told me it was. So, all I could do was hope for the best.

The ticket lady gave me a choice of seats. Both were aisle seats. One was near the front. The other in the back. I chose the one in the front. I learned before that Ecuadorians have no shame in staring. the dude sitting next to me was a smaller guy with a mean stare and looked like he made enemies the night before because it looked like he had a broken nose. So, as I was settling in, I did what everyone told me not to do (including Kary).... I said 'hola' - which means hello. You just don't do that because it's not the norm. I was only told to say hola to cute girls or people I know. Anyways, he kept his cold stare at me! Anyways, as the bus was departing, I took out the cherries I bought at the market the day before and offered him some. He obliged and I felt us becoming friends? We exchanged information about where we were both going. He was going to Riobamba which was along the way. I am sure he is a nice dude, and I thought if I kept feeding him cherries, he would remain kool. I had rememberd that I also bought some chocolate bars in Guayaquil so I'll keep those for other peace making efforts in the future.

The bus makes stops on all the major cities along the way. The views are amazing as I was treated to beautiful lush Greenwich of the Andes mountains.  I snapped up some fotos while my friend was sleeping.

Alausi Stop
The bus stopped in Alausi for a washroom break. I was so hungry, I bought something to eat.  The small rest stop was selling fritado con mote (which I later found out what it was).  Mote is corn and eggs and the dish had fried pork (Fritada = fried pork).  It was delicious! And for $1USD, it was a bargain!

Ambato

I arrived at Ambato at around 9PM at saw where I needed to take another bus to Baños.  It was on the other side of a 4 lane (busy) highway! Not really convenient for me especially when I'm hauling a 30lb backpack.  My Frogger skills were put to the test as I navigated my way across the highway where a bus to Baños was already waiting.  Two Indian looking guys were eager to help me stow my bag below but I was cautious to not to trust them at first, so I waited for the driver to come out and spoke to him directly and asked him if this bus was indeed going to Baños and where I could store my bags.  He helped me to stow the bag under the bus.  I noticed the 2 indian guys were legitimate helpers for the bus.

Baños - ¡el fin!

It took about one hour to arrive at Baños from Ambato and I got to my hostal around 10PM.  I stayed at Hostal Carolina which run by a family.  The room was comfortable and safe.  That's all I needed for a room in Baños because I didn't plan on spending much time in my room during my stay.  There was no air condition, but you don't need it in Baños because the temperature is cool enough to be comfortable with daily temperatures sitting at 20C and falling to 10C at night.

I was also so hungry when I arrived, I went to get a hamburger restaurant stand on the side of a building called Hickory Gourmet. It was a really good burger but then again anything I would have eaten would have tasted great!

I went to my hostal and went to bed early after catching up with some blog writing and emails. I wondered what the next day had in store for me.