Trekking in Baños

After a disappointing start to the day when we were told that we could not trek up to view the volcano due to a big eruption during the night, Simon and I went to the tourist information office to check how long the hiking routes would be closed for. The woman there told us that we'd been misinformed and that the routes were in fact open. She told us that the volcano regularly erupts to the degree that it did last night and that we should not be unduly worried about it. We took her advice and set out walking at lunchtime. We decided (well Simon did actually as I'd wanted to go the slightly easier route!) to walk up the steep steps to the Virgen de Agua Santa (a monument positioned half way up the mountain on the slopes of Volcan Tunguruhua). We really felt the altitude as we ascended very slowly up the near 45 degree slope! The locals on the route whistled past us having barely broken sweat in the heat of the early afternoon. Our slow pace paid off and we made it in one piece to the top where the view of Baños town and the surrounding countryside was beautiful. Sadly no volcano to be seen as the top of the mountain was again shrowded in cloud as it has been since we arrived.



The weather lower down the slopes was beautiful though and we continued to walk high above Baños around the mountain to another viewing point. The diversity of the plants and wildlife here is breathtaking. Flowers of vivid reds, pinks and oranges are visited constantly by enormous numbers of butterfly. They seemed totally unperturbed by our existence and danced around us for most of our walk.

We got back to our hostel in mid-afternoon and both felt as though we'd had a good workout (good preparation for the longer treks to come). After putting our clothes on to wash in the hostel's washing machine we headed out for a hard earned iced coffee...this is the life!

S