i think i´ve found the canmore of ecuador...

so the more i move around and the more locals try to start a conversation with me, the more i´m convinced that after i learn spanish back in canada, i need to come back and do this properly - this whole travel around the spanish-speaking bits of south america thing. pretty much everyone who knows me knows that i´m a chatty person but i swear there are people i´ve met who believe that i am the quietest, shyest person around but it´s just that i can´t string a proper sentence together in spanish. sigh. so the poor english-speaking folk whom i have met in hostels - especially those i run into in my dorm - always get held up for at LEAST a half hour by me when i see them because i need to tell SOMEONE what i´ve been up to all day. but if i was able to chat with people throughout the day, i wouldn´t explode all over the first person i run into who will understand my ramblings.

anyways, i left montatñita at 0500H yesterday, arrived in guayaquil and immediately hopped onto another bus taking me to baños. ALWAYS ask how long a bus ride is suppose to be. had i known i´d be on that last bus for seven hours, i would have gone to the bathroom first.

there are definitely things i miss about montañita - peeled and cut, ready to eat mangos for 50 cents; fresh fruit smoothies; walking around barefoot because you´re just headed a block down to the beach; wandering down the beach for hours because it goes on FOREVER; playing with the waves; watching the guy making my lunch fight to get an oyster (that is my lunch) open on the street. but baños - had i known how much i´d love this place, i would have left the beach earlier to have a few more days here. baños is almost like canmore - hiking, biking, rafting, horse-back riding. it may even be a little bit cooler as you can head out to the jungle from here, rent ATVs and just explore the surrounding mountains, hot pools/springs, and stuff is definitely cheaper here than in canmore. i met an american last night who just quit his job recently and has decided to live here - i can totally understand why. this town sits in a valley between luscious, green mountains with waterfalls coming out left, right and centre. ok, maybe there´s only one main waterfall you can see from the town but there´s a ¨road of waterfalls¨ that you can follow not to far out of town to see lots of waterfalls. and it´s small but not tiny so you´re not running into the same people every single day. and people are super nice and friendly and it´s super safe around here. yup, i REALLY like this place.

so i biked the ¨road of waterfalls¨ today and decided to do the whole 61 km ride to the next city/big town (puyo). rented a decent mountain bike for $5, got rough directions from the guy who rented me the bike and who assured me that it was all downhill with only two steep-ish uphills and that it would be about five to six hours to do the whole thing and off i went. it started off all downhill and was really fun. the drivers here are actually quite good about giving cyclists LOTS of space, which was super exciting for me when i was on the cliff side of the road (no railguards). so the first while was pretty sweet, cruising along with spectacular views and oasis playing in my ipod. i went through a tunnel but didn´t have headlights from a car behind me like the last time i went through a tunnel, so that was a bit unnerving, especially when a car passed me and didn´t quite realize i was there until it was RIGHT behind me. i crossed a bridge where there were guys selling jumps off the bridge - it wasn´t quite bungee jumping as it wasn´t a bungee rope (not elastic) but more like jump off and swing back and forth type of deal. i passed on that offer. and then i ended up biking with a guy from switzerland and we chatted - well, i chatted - as we went along. there was a point where we could choose to either go up a rocky/dirt road and do a loop or just continue on the highway - we went with the loop only to find that it was not a complete loop as one of the bridges was no longer there so we had to carry our bikes across (well, the swiss guy came back and took my bike across as i tried to figure out how to get across without getting my shoes completely wet) and had a couple dogs chase and snap at our heels as we biked past this one house. anyways, we parted ways after a bit as he was thinking of turning around soon and i was set on going all the way to puyo. so three and a half hours into the ride, there´s a RIDICULOUS uphill that absolutely killed me - i walked my bike up the last part of that. and then about a half hour after that (just as the mission impossible theme started playing), there was ANOTHER ridiculous uphill that seemed to go on forever. i thought puyo would never come but i finally saw the sign saying 12 km and just hoped that there weren´t any other major uphills. four and half hours after leaving baños, i get to puyo in one piece and buy myself an ice cream bar for 25 cents (i´m REALLY going to miss ice cream prices). flagged down a bus, the guy threw my bike under the bus and i headed back to baños just as it started to rain. and now i´m really missing my biking gloves (my palms are quite tender from the ride) and my gel seat - my ass is sore. =( but all in all, i had a fun day. AND there´s this fantastic bakery across the street from the bike rental shop so i picked up some muffins and a cookie there afterwards. mmmmmm...

so it´s only 1920H but i am ready for bed - i feel like an old lady. but i got a big day of hiking planned for tomorrow so i probably will just read for a bit and then go to sleep. and i´m thinking that i need to do some major exploring in calgary when i get back to find parks and trails to wander off into when i get antsy...i´m really gonna miss being outside so much...