Andrea in Ecuador

Today I am in Baņos which is about a 2 hour bus ride east of Riobamba through some very beautiful, and steep mountians. The town is situated at the base of the active volcano Tungarawa (not sure of the spelling). I tried to take some digital pictures from the back of the bus yesterday but I'm sure they are all blurry. We'll see, when I get a chance I will download them to Eve's computer and check them out. The agriculture on steep hillsides is amazing and reminds me of Mesa Verde because of the creativity with terracing and check dams. This region of Ecuador seems to be the center for growing plants. I saw many greenhouses on the way here and even a little store selling Bonsai. Wish I could have stopped and tried to airmail something to Dad to play with but, alas, the bus whizzed past and continued careening around tight curves with the air brakes hissing. It's amazing that I didnīt even get sick.

Baņos is a very interesting town of about 20,000 people. The center of attention is a church built in 1929 and the city is protected by one of the most powerful Virgins in Ecuador (Virgin de la Agua Santa). There are hot springs here and we opted to stay at a very nice hotel called the Hotel Palace which has a private spa and buffet breakfast included with the room charge. The spa includes a steam room with fresh eucalyptus, a dry sauna, a cold plunge pool, a hot springs pool with jets, and three luke warm clorinated pools (2 outdoors, 1 indoors). The hotel sits at the base of a cliff with a waterfall running down the side of it which you can hear from just about anywhere in the hotel. We all got massages yesterday for $25 each which did wonders for our sore muscles from excavating. We were also all happy to have showers since our water situation at home in Riobamba is still not resolved. Hopefully after this weekend the cistern will have had time to fill up a bit with all of us gone and only Laurie, Ross and Maeve to take showers etc.

Last night we had an amazing meat and more meat dinner at one of the local restaurants. It turns out the owners were Argentinian which explains why the grilled meats were so delicious. I had a giant plate of beef tenderloin, potatoes, salad and corn for $5 which I couldn't possibly finish (sorry Russ but I think I ate about a quarter of a cow... but I'm sure the cow had a good life wandering around in the Andes before it graced my table).

Then we decided to go out for a drink. Claudine and Eve were ready for dancing and after two coca colas I had enough caffeine to be pursuaded. We didn't go to the discotec but instead danced in a very small bar which was painted all over with murals and had an interesting mix of American, Brazilian, Ecuadorian, and East Indian music. We had such fun. The place was full of Baņos hippies...long hair and dredlocks seemed to be in favor. Mike, Claudine, and Eve had several blended drinks with cane alcohol and lime (caiparinhas) which they seemed to enjoy. Today is a lazy day. Check out is at one so until then I'm going back to the spa for some more relaxing. Then I imagine we'll wander around town and shop a bit, have one more non-Ecuadorian meal (i.e., not rice, chicken, soup and potatoes...though the Ecuadorians really know how to make delicious soup), and then take the bus back to Riobamba to get ready for another week of work. If the water usage situation doesn't get worked out I'm not sure whether I'll be doing flotation anytime soon but can help in the field doing more excavation. We have finished excavating at the Lourdas site (and backfilled our holes). Lourdas will be happy because she can now plant her onions. Next Ross will be excavating at Sicalpa Viejo (the old church) where there is a cemetary. I have some pictures of the church which I hope to send in the next day or two to post to the website. That's all for now. I hope everyone is well and enjoying a good day. Love, Annie