Baños

Above: Otavalo, Ecuador.

Wednesday 2nd March 1988

Hannes knocked me up at 07:00 hrs. and we went into town for breakfast. There were quite a few Indian craft stalls in the Plaza de los Ponchos, which we reached by jumping across the ditches dug for the new drainage pipes.

We then began to slog uphill en route to the Lago de San Pablo, also called Imbacocha, is a body of water located in the Province of Imbabura and is one of the most important tourist attractions of the Otavalo canton. It is located at an elevation of 2700 meters above sea level.

Located 4 km from Otavalo, capital of the province, in the Parish of San Pablo del Lago, whose town surrounds the lake. This is recognized as the largest lake in the province, nestles at the foot of the majestic mountain or volcano Imbabura. On all its banks there are large distributions of totoras or reeds that are used to make handicrafts such as mats (equivalent to carpets or floor tapestries), baskets and totora horses. This area is a region populated by high concentrations of indigenous communities.

San Pablo is counted as one of the 28 lakes that can be found in the province of Imbabura. It is occupying an old, isolated basin and settled at the bases of the Andes Mountains itself, even so, there are areas of shallow depth, particularly in the coastal areas.

Initially we followed a stepped mud track which led up through Indian houses and allotment patches. The terrain levelled out after crossing a couple of railway tracks and there was a good view looking out over Otavalo.

We checked that we were on the right track by asking some children and we continued to follow narrow access trails through young tree plantations and fields planted with sweetcorn and root crops. It was very quiet and lonely with just the whistling calls of birds to break the silence.

There were huge spike-bladed plants with radiating thick stiff leaf/branches on most of the embankments which divided the fields. Googling in 2022 reveals that these would have been eucalyptus trees and aloe vera plants that we passed.

We wandered slightly off track, watching some hummingbirds high in the trees, before an old crone pointed the way to “the laguna”. We crested a rise and saw the lake spread out below us. Hannes snapped away with his camera, but it was gloomy, and all the surrounding mountains and volcanoes were obscured by low cloud.

We walked down through a village where cows, sheep and pigs grazed on the rough patches between the cultivated fields. Locals smiled and greeted us but the dogs were not so friendly, barking and chasing us, but stopping each time we turned and faced them.

We got Coca Cola in a green wooden shack with a jetty on the lake. Occasionally the top of the volcano peeped between the clouds. We followed a road along the side of the lake and watched the Indian women washing their clothes and themselves in the lake and it’s drainage stream. Other women were digging in the fields.

We jumped on a local bus which did a tour of the local villages before returning to Otavalo. This cost us 15 Sucres. The Indian men wore trilby hats or scarf headdresses, ponytails wrapped in woven bindings and ponchos. The women wore long colourful woven belt bands wrapped about three times around their waists. Many of them carried a baby, wrapped in a blanket slung across their backs.

It was hot and sunny by the time we got back to Otavalo. We walked back through the streets with the now familiar political murals and graffiti. Each political candidate had a number which went alongside his name, an aid memoire for illiterate voters (or non-Spanish speakers).

There were only three stalls left in the market, so we jumped the roadworks and went back to the hotel. Hannes was doing his washing as I packed my bags and said goodbye to our host.

I walked into town and bought ticket number 1 for 165 Sucres for the Quito bus which left at 11:15hrs. We raced back to the Terminal Terrestre Quitumbe de Quito with the driver going fucking berserk on the dangerous bends giving us a real hair-raising fun fair ride.

The green scenery was much nicer in the sun under a blue sky. At Quito I had just time for a piss before running 300 metres to board the 13:30 hrs. bus to Baños which was just leaving. I paid 300 Sucres. The full name of my destination town is Baños de Agua Santa, meaning “Baths of Holy Water.” Located at the foot of an active volcano called Tungurahua. Found at an elevation of 1,820 meters (5,971 feet) above sea level. It is known as the “Gateway to the Amazon.” Baños is home to more than 60 waterfalls.

Baños promised a mixed bag. The setting is amazing: you can see waterfalls, hike through lush forests, rest your bones in steaming thermal springs, hike down impossibly steep gorges, bike or boat all the way to the Amazon Basin, and marvel at the occasional eruption of nearby Volcán Tungurahua.

The green carpet lined interior of the minibus was quite comfortable despite me sitting over the wheel arch. We met a traffic jam just out of Quito, which finally halted our bus after a valiant attempt bypass the queue by driving on the wrong side of the road and then on the pavement!

The driver finally resolved the traffic jam problem by nipping down a back alley, crossing a railway track and racing through a small town before re-joining the Pan American Highway. The scenery was green and mountainous. We passed through Ambato and caught a glimpse of a snow-capped volcano. We rushed along the side of a huge valley and into Baños at 17:00 hrs.

I jumped of the bus and crossed the square, where a volleyball match was in full swing, and found my way to the Residential Patty. I paid 300 Sucres and a young kid showed me to room 8 and pointed out the bathroom, showers, kitchen and laundry facilities.

I met Anja and Aneka in the central courtyard and sat down to talk to them and fellow travellers with a bottle of beer. The guests here seem to have been to all parts of Latin America. For anywhere that you are interested in visiting there is somebody here who has been there recently and can offer you advice and recommendations.

Aneka offered to share her home cooked meal of pasta and tomato in return for me doing the washing up. After a while I had to leave them and write up my diary in my room while it was still fresh in my mind.

Several of the guests are interested in climbing the nearby volcano so information was shared by those that had already done this. Tungurahua, also known as "The Black Giant," is the largest volcano in Ecuador yet the most easily climbed, since Baños is already set on its hillside. It is 5,016 m.s.n.m. (Metros Sobre el Nivel del Mar, or Metres above Sea Level), 14 km. in diameter and has a crater 183 m wide. The volcano is part of the Sangay National Park.

It is warm here and pleasantly situated among the overshadowing mountains. I returned to the eating area to have another beer and a chat but there was not a soul in sight. It was 22:00 hrs. and everyone seemed to have gone to bed so I did likewise.