Whiteout In Banos

We drove the short journey through the jungle from Misahualli to Tena on the 29th January. Changing buses was a bit of a pain in the ass as the bus station in Tena was small and hopeless, but we managed it and continued on our way to the extremely touristy town of Banos. Well known for many years as a backpacking mecca, Banos is full to bursting with tourist shops, tour agencies and hotels galore.

We found a pretty cheap hostel and walked around the town center. Banos was the first town center we saw that was completely encircled by mountains and waterfalls. In the middle of the town we found a pretty little plaza with a gothic church in it – this was called the Basilica Agua Santa, named after a ridiculous local Catholic myth. Apparently the Virgin Mary appeared in a local waterfall, a ‘fact’ backed up by numerous paintings in the church that tell of miracles performed at times of crisis when Mary turned up and saved the day like Wonder Woman. One such time was in 1999 when the local large volcano Tungurahua exploded and forced the town residents to evacuate. Other tragedies were also depicted in the paintings, including flash floods and bridge collapses. More recent events were not so distastefully exploited, such as when an American tourist died doing zip lining in the jungle canopy a few years ago.

The next day and Francesca decided to rest up after we had been travelling so much recently. I went on a very long and arduous hike up through the mountains to a viewpoint overlooking the volcano to the South. The trail, called Sendero Bellavista, climbed up and out of the town, and was supposed to take about 4 hours to the viewpoint. It was fairly easy to get lost, but I asked around and found the right way eventually. It was very tiring to climb up the steep roads and pathways to the top.

I saw Hummingbirds, lots of Horses, Cows and Dogs, and the views over Banos were very nice. The walk itself was totally overrated though, and when I arrived at the famous Casa de Arbol, the views of the volcano Tungurahua were totally obscured by cloud. Pictures of Banos are inevitably of people sitting on a large swing, swinging outwards at the top of a hill with Tungurahua in the background, but there was no chance of that when I was there. Total whiteout.

A busload of tourists were sitting around looking extremely glum. The entrance to the area with the swing advertises an orchid garden, zip line, museum and much more – none of which were open. Still, with all the exercise and the fact that it had cost me nothing to get up to the top, I still felt much better than the tourists who had paid loads of money for the tour.

I decided to walk back down. The trail looped around to a different part of the mountains – one which supposedly had a statue of the Virgin Mary. I did get lost on this part though, and unfriendly locals who are using the trails and surrounding lands for agriculture do not give directions very willingly.

Further down towards Banos (I never did see the Virgin Mary, but then, who has?) I managed to score a lift when I hitch hiked back down to town.

By this time I was exhausted as I had walked over 10 km through the mountains, and so I just relaxed for the rest of the day with Francesca in our hostel.

There was little else we were interested in doing in Banos, but no doubt other people might get more out of it if they were interested in lame bungee jumping, or dangerous zip lining. There was even rafting near the town, but it would never match up to our experience in Southern Chile. We left Banos, not much the wiser, and looking forward to some culture and fun in Ambato.