Day 919
Baños
We had decided to head to Banos for Christmas. Yes, it means toilet, but in this instance it refers to the hot thermal baths dotted around the town.
Getting here was more of a challenge than we had anticipated, so many hills, and the last day, even though Komoot showed a profile of a long downhill, on closer inspection there were lots of nasty red ups. Suffice to say it was another tough day. As we approached Banos we both became concerned as we were riding on the wrong side of the river to the town. The road, which was clinging to the side of the canyon, was deteriorating and we could see no way across. Finally, when we had just about given up hope the town and a bridge came into view, phew!
The views into the canyon were awesome, but we didn’t linger on the bridge, it looked as if it might not be standing much longer. Our Airbnb was in a great spot and so comfortably furnished. The fridge door wasn’t actually attached to the fridge which was a slight annoyance but it was more than compensated by the best washing machine of the trip, so that was Tom’s Christmas present sorted. I pretty much slept for the first day of our break, but after that I was ready to explore. We had a bakery opposite which sold bread not laced with sugar and that, with a packet of butter, was all I wanted for Christmas, it tasted so good! The simple pleasures of life on the road.
We enjoyed exploring the town, attended a service in the Basilica, admired the interior, visited the attached museum, the taxidermy room was a surprise. We found a fab coffee and cake shop and visited more times than we really needed too, but boy the lemon pie was just so good.
Technically we were on a break from cycling but we both wanted to visit the Diablo Cascada, or Devil’s Waterfalls, so decided to keep our legs working and rode the 20-mile round trip. The waterfall would probably never have passed any health and safety regulations in the UK but we felt safe enough. We got to walk up beside it, via a crawl through a roughly hacked out tunnel we got to stand behind it, and despite our waterproofs got wet through. We also loaned out our very wet jackets to a family so they could get as wet as us. What more do you want from a visit to a waterfall? Oh yes, a walk across a suspension bridge completed the visit.
On the way we rode through or besides tunnels, stopped to gawp at some crazy folk bungy jumping etc., but we didn’t need that thrill, honestly, it’s not that we are wimps!
Then to Christmas Day. This was to be our first Christmas ever without our families and we were both finding it tough, especially with memories of last Christmas in Mexico with my sister and nephew Jed so fresh in our minds. Fortunately, we had our road family to reach out too. I posted on our tourers WhatsApp and the result was we were 6 for Christmas Dinner. Silvan, who we had met briefly in Pasto was here with his mum, Mia, for a week, and Peter and Sultan were arriving on Christmas Day. We all clubbed together to create a meal, Sultan made us all a gift, Tom made cocktails and we played many a game of cards, with rules we just about understood. We played extreme jenga. It’s nigh on impossible, I knocked the tower over twice with my first try. We needed diverting, so as there were buggy jumps etc. available just outside, we headed over. Fortunately the extreme stuff was just closing for the day so we took the only option, to traverse the canyon in a metal basket suspended on a wire. It was fun, and even I wasn’t frightened, well until on the return trip it stopped over the steepest part of the canyon. We could see rock climbers on the cliff face, and hear the roar of the lions in the zoo just above us, there were even metal ladders on the rock face tantalisingly close to us. Tom helped the basket swing in the breeze and I went from calm to hysterical in a flash. Fortunately it had only paused to let us admire the view!
Today I finally visited the thermal springs. Mia came too, suffering from the after effects of one too many of Tom’s cocktails, Tom stayed resting as he felt too fragile to brave the pools. Now, our time here is pretty much over. We have said our goodbyes but expect to see Silvan again somewhere down the road. Cuenca here we come!
