Finally, a Volcano!

We're a little behind on posts for a couple reasons. First, we spent three days in an indigenous community called Salasaca (an worthwhile experience which Margaret will soon post on). Second, we arrived yesterday at the Black Sheep Inn, an eco-tourism destination, which is so isolated we have to use an old satellite dish to get Internet, which they admit isn't the fastest or the cheapest connection in the world. They want you to hike, horseback ride, and read. Whatever. But to finish up on Baños...

So we went to Baños partly because we wanted to see a volcano. We were literal in the shadow of Mount Tungurahua, yet we some how failed to see it even after three days and a hike to look for the damn thing. If you want to see how ridiculous it is that we couldn´t see the volcano from Banos, type in "Banos, Ecuador" into Google Maps and you can see the volcano puffing right over the city.

The second day, even after the ridiculous 40-mile bike ride, we took a steep hike up the mountain right outside town in search of the volcano. The views were amazing. We tried to hike up to a place that reportedly has a view of the volcano, but when we got as close as a couple hundred feet from the outlook site, we were thwarted by the fact that the path went right by someone´s home, and there were two sleeping dogs lying across it. Before you judge, Ecuadorian dogs are not American dogs. There often isn't a bowl of Pedigree waiting for the well groomed pup at home. They feast primarily on the fear of tourists. We decided not to tempt fate and dog bites and turned back instead. Not a huge deal, since you can´t actually see the top of the volcano above the clouds except in the early morning.

To say the least, I wanted to see a volcano. Luckily on a walk in Salasaca, I saw her, Mount Tungurahua. It was pretty amazing to see an active volcano so close. This picture does not do it justice.