A day off the bike is always welcomed and we jumped at the chance for a soak in the nearby town of Baños, well known for it's thermal hot springs. This was quite the tourist attraction, which sported more hostels and hippie cafes (complete with museli, yoghurt and fruit concoctions and lentil burgers) than we had seen in who knows how long. Reeling at the prices and the cliche backpacker scene, we were much more content at a local joint that served full breakfasts for a buck fifty.
This brings us to a good point. We are having a few thoughts with where we fit in with the whole tourist thing and really if tourism is such a good thing. We have to say, on this trip we have had far more enjoyment in the places less travelled and not on the "must see" list of things to do. However, this is still rather hypocritical because at the end of the day we are still tourists and people need to earn a living. Can you blame people for catering to the "gringo" market who think in "gringo" dollars and charging what they are happy to pay? It's clever really. But the point is, the local farmer doesn't go into town to spend $3 on a coffee, heck you can get two full meals for that price. Also, there are times when we have craved home comforts but again it's the different cultural experiences that hold firm in our minds. Furthermore, generally tourists only have a finite amout of time so can't always clue into the acceptable going rates and tourists visit a country for different reasons and will travel in different ways. A concern for us is that with mass tourism, a town is prone to losing it's identity or charm. But if a good spot is found, can you deny certain people the opportunity to experience that too? This is just another one of our many thoughts in motion and not a criticism on how any one person chooses to travel or the local neighbourhood catering to foriegn capital. ANYWAY!
That night, Leonardo learned of our pizza making skills from sharing photos and stories the previous night. However, the whole truth is that it was our first time making pizzas from scratch in El Salvador but Leonardo was convinced we were experts and wanted to learn how to make them. So being true Kiwis we gave it a go! We found a non-yeast recipe on the net (as we didn't have a lot of time) and kept our fingers crossed. In Ecuador to buy a pizza costs about $10 which is super expensive (even though the large pizzas here aren't shrinking like other places in the world), so Leonardo hopes to make pizzas at home in the future and save some dosh. The night was a success, with them sharing a traditional evening meal and us with our pizza (that was cooked on an upturned cake tin!). It was a pretty good recipe so we will share it with you if you are tight for cash, time and need to make your family's tummies happy in a rush.
No yeast pizza dough
2 cups of flour
1 tbsp. of baking powder
1/4 tspn of salt
2/3 cup of water
1 tbsp. of cooking oil
Set the oven at 400 degrees F, add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, knead for three to four minutes, roll thinly and bake for 15 to 25 minutes with toppings of your choice.
Roland's Dad will be very pleased to know his daughter-in-law not only had a relaxing day in a hot pool but also got pampered that night with a manicure (complete with flowers painted on her nails) by Leonardo's talented sister. It was tough saying goodbye the next day after we had sweated and huffed and puffed our way up to the mountain pass where Leonardo left us. We had half views (due to the cloud) of Volcano Chimborazo, which is the highest mountain in Ecuador and the furtherest point from the centre of the earth.
Just after we had packed up our campsite and got back on the road for the day we bumped into two cyclists. Arnold and Marieke are originally from Holland but call New Zealand home now and live in Albany, Auckland which is pretty close to home considering we are in Ecuador! Every year they go away for four months and cycle which we thought was pretty cool. They were heading for the coast but maybe we will see each other again in Peru somewhere?
Right now Ecuador is supposedly in their dry season i.e. no rain but since leaving Quito we have had day after day of rain. In fact one day we were cycling through such heavy mist we could barely see 20 metres ahead. Maybe this was a good thing as not only did it feel very mystical but we couldn't see the ginormous climbs we were about to go up! Being in The Andes it's pretty typical to climb up to about 3000 or more meters and then whiz down again to about 1800-2000 meters. Belinda thought she was going to really struggle with the terrain but has actually been enjoying the cycling much more with the combination of spectacular scenery. And well, Roland is simply in his element!
Already feeling pretty stoked to have just bumped into some fellow cycling tourists, the very next day we met Sean, Ingrid and Kate (who is an amazing 10 years old!). They are a family from Scotland who also started in Alaska and are slowly making their way to Argentina. Sean and Kate are on a tandem bike and so we had much to talk about and compare notes. It was hard to say goodbye to this family as it seemed like we could have talked for hours but Ingrid was recovering from one of those nasty tummy bugs and we found our cycling schedule to be a little different. We truly hope our paths cross again as we believe they too are card fanatics and to have some playmates would be nice for a change! After treating ourselves to a night in a hostel and some cable TV (as we needed to dry out a little bit) we checked out our first Inca ruins, Ingapirca. Unfortunately, the museum had all the explanations in Spanish or maybe more rightly, unfortunately our Spanish wasn't up to scratch and so we didn't get much out of it. Then we walked around the ruins but the combination of the rain, cold, being ripped off in the cafe close by and our comparisions to the grand Mayan ruins we saw in Mexico and Central America, left us feeling a tad underwhelmed. The good thing of seeing the ruins in the morning, it that the rained peatered out and meant our afternoon of cycling to Cuenca was pretty much a dry affair.
To find out more about our volunteer work in Guamote and Roland's birthday, click here.
Five things more.......
What is an "Almuerzo"?
a) A fried pastry typical in Ecuador.
b) A shoe cleaner that you commonly see in the main plazas of towns ready for business.
c) A set lunch menu that comprizes of soup, rice, meat (usually chicken or beef), salad and fresh juice for $1.50 to $2.50.
* No matter how busy a business might be, you'll always be hard pressed to get change for a bil greater than $5 unless you go to a bank or a big supermarket (which you'll only find in the big cities). At times it will make absolutely no sense because you'll be in a restaurant full of people and many people before you pay and yet still no change? Where does it go? This is a phenomenon that has happened through all the spanish speaking countries we have passed through to date.
* Did you know Panama hats are actually hand made in Ecuador?
* Toffee is a speciality in Ambato and Baños and you can watch people making it from their doorways!
* And no, we are not champion cyclists that have won medals but we know someone who has and that's Leonardo. As a parting gift he wanted to give us something to remember him by and that was the medals. We felt very priviledged to receive these from him as they are some of his most prized posessions and winning competitions are his livelihood.
* What is an "Almuerzo"? Answer: c)