Day 35 Monday, April 8th Banos , Ecuador

The bus to Ambato costs just $8 each and leaves Cuenca at 9.30pm and arrives in Ambato at 3.15am. The seats are like coach class plane eats and we cannot sleep, also the bus is moving through hair-pin bends and so we have to clutch the armrests the whole way. Perhaps good that we can’t see the road..

We arrive at Amb

ato bus station and wander around amongst all the local travellers (no-one speaks any English at all) trying to find a bus to Banos but can’t seem to find one. Eventually someone understands us and we get pushed toward the next bus and we pull out at 4.00am and arrive in Banos at 4.45am and are dropped on a dark street corner. I think that we are wearing a sign to all muggers that says “here are the muggees” but there are local people all around us beginning to start their days. It is still very dark.

We manage to find a taxi and he takes us to our hostel for $3 and wakes the place up. Carolina lets us in (we don’t have a reservation but she has spaces). Sarah stayed here at Casa Verde last year and recommended it to us and it’s great. $52/night for a big double room with a king-sized bed. Great breakfast with home-made jams and honey, toast and coffee.

We go on a steep 4-5 hour hike with Mark, a fellow traveller, and we meet other hikers, and we all hike together and then have dinner together in town at the “Swiss Chalet”