For Mom, Love Steve

I left Banos with a blue sky, a brilliant sun, and no clouds. The views were spectacular as I boarded the bus. Son of a bitch! I kept kicking myself in the ass for leaving on the first nice day since I got there. If I stayed, I could do any type of tour I wanted since the weather was nice. Even after I paid for the ticket and we were pulling out of the station, my butt kept rising from the seat. Fortunately, a few minutes out of town, my first volcano appeared. It was the one that hovered over Banos and I could see it perfectly. Tall, with snow capped jagged peaks. The only thing that could have made it cooler would have been if it were spewing hot lava and ash. That would have led to my death, but that would have made a great blog entry.
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The entry way to the climb. From this lot it is six hours up to the base camp.
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The hike up with my altitude challenged buddy.
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A flowering plant that lives at altitude.
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A Yak. A dead Yak. That just wasn`t a good sign.
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After the Yak came the freezing rain and sleet.
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Me and my bike and every type of safety wear imagineable. Maybe I wanted to be like the Yak. After falling three times it wasn`t such a bad idea.

That is not a Volkswagon your looking at. That pig was huuuuge. This is from the biggest "locals only" market in Ecuador. Also, for any animal "lovers" out there, not that there ... [Continue reading this entry]

Back on a bike. Gotta love that. Here`s a collage from the ride. View image View image View image View image View image View image View image View image View image View ... [Continue reading this entry]

These are all from the balcony of my hotel room. View image View image View image View image View image View image View image View image [Continue reading this entry]

Just some quick shots of a pretty bland town. I based out of here for my Cotopaxi ride. View image View image View image

These first three are what I think about Gringolandia in Quito. View image View image View image The rest of these are my tourist shots ... [Continue reading this entry]

It rained. It sucks when it rains. I had nothing to do because it was raining. So, I stayed in my room and watched tv, ate candy, and wrote all these dailies that I was behind on. ... [Continue reading this entry]

My primary reason for visiting Banos was not the thermal baths. After my hike and seeing what was pouring into that Bacteria fest, the bike ride was about it. The Banos to Puyo ride starts out basically in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ahhh Christmas. No snow, no holiday hubbub, but more importantly no rain. It was still cloudy but it was much less packed and it felt a bit warmer. I really wanted to get the bike ride to ... [Continue reading this entry]