Ecuador -- Wonderous Journeys -- Natia's Personal Website

Part IV - Ecuador -- Thermal Baths of Banos, Afterlife in the Extinct Pululahua Crater and Pre-Inca Cochasqui Pyramids

This next broadcast will review a series of short day or weekend trips that we have taken just before or after our trip to the Galapagos. This includes:

More Walkabouts in Old Town Quito
The Pre-Inca Rumicucho Fort & Cochasqui Pyramids (with pictures of cute Llamas)
The Extinct Pululahua Volcanic Crater (A geobotanical reserve which has other mountains within it as well as a little pueblo in the crater! It is also the deepest volcanic crater in South America (300 meter deep) and 4 km wide.)
A Local Non-Tourist Bullfight
The Tourist Town of Banos (Hot Thermal Baths, a Bike Ride along the Famous Avenue of Waterfalls, Freshly Made Toffee, Town is located at the base of Ecuador's most active and occasionally spitting volcano)
A visit to the Women's Jail in Quito (sorry, no pics for obvious reasons)

(We have also included pictures of our furnished apmt for all you curious people out there who are wondering what the hell we can get for $160/mth.)

See below for pictures of our adventures across the natural wilds and history of Ecuador (95 pictures):

NEXT BROADCAST
And that's not all folks... since then we have kept busy with attending Bernardo (our Ecuadorian buddy!) daughter's first communion and the huge family party which followed (meeting his parents, his 4 other brothers - not including his brother Santiago from the Sol de Quito Hotel -, his sister, and all their spouses and children). We had a huge BBQ with all sorts of meats, lots of alcohol, and lots of laughter (sometimes at our expense. hehe!).

The next morning, bright and early, we took a bus to the town of Cayambe, where the whole town was celebrating the birthday of two local saints... with strange traditional costumes, street parades, dancing, crowd-control horses (they work so much better to push back crowds than security guards), singing and lots of chicha (the local home-brewed and tasty fermented-corn alcoholic drink). Don't worry, we made sure to get lots of pictures of these (to be posted in the next email).

Finally, we will be celebrating Canada Day with our friends (Bernardo and Santiago) and their families with Canadian food (tourtiere, poutine, sucre a la creme, etc.), wine and of course Ecuadorian fireworks!!

Happy Canada Day on July 1st (even those who don't live there can celebrate it!)