Banos, Ecuador is a nice tourist town complete with lots of hostels, restaurants/bars, waterfalls, massage parlors, markets, churches, hot springs, parks and people. We stayed at Colonial Hostel which was situated right in the middle of everything. Besides hearing everything that went on outside, we had no hot water and the building next door was being renovated which brought jack hammer noise echoing into our room from early in the morning until late in the evening. We’ll say one thing…Ecuadorians know how to work. We’ve seen it all around…workers start their day very early…road crews, market vendors, store owners, builders, farmers…everyone. And, they work on the holidays.

We spent St. Patrick’s Day in Banos. After enjoying a delicious Mexican dinner, we spent the evening patronizing the local St. Patrick’s Day themed bars…Shamrock, Leprechaun Pub and Leprechaun Bar.

We experienced a number of firsts in Banos…first time we were asked to leave a bar and we hadn’t even started drinking. So, the story behind that one…we intended to have a few drinks for happy hour before going to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. After ordering our drinks (keep in mind the server had brought us complimentary appetizers before taking our drink order), the server returned to our table to tell us she “had a problem.” With curiosity, we eagerly waited for her to continue. She proceeded to tell us that she couldn’t serve us drinks unless we ordered dinner and if we weren’t ordering dinner, the owner wanted us to leave. Wow!!! That was certainly a first. Little did the owner know that we probably would have had more than one beverage.

Another first…we got to see the infamous “cuy” (guinea pig) being roasted. Sherry was actually going to try eating one of the little rodents until she saw a fresh batch of” cuy on a stick” being put on the grill. Needless to say…she just couldn’t do it. And, it was the first time John, Lorela and Sherry all got a massage together. We’ll just leave it at that…

After Banos, we drove Sparky to Guayaquil to pick up Ric’s new passport. We spent one night at NP Hotel & Suites then we were off to Cuenca for a few days. As we were leaving Guayaquil, we were pulled over by the “transit police.” We’re not really sure the guy was a police officer. He approached the driver’s side (Ric was driving) and suggested that we had been speeding. He indicated it would be a $40 fine. Ric got out of the car and joined the officer on the sidewalk. At that point, the “officer” mentioned that the ladies in the back seat didn’t have seatbelts on so it would actually be a $240 fine. He said it was $120 fine for each occurrence. Guess he forgot about the speeding violation. Anyway…long story short…Ric and John negotiated with the officer to reduce the fine to $20…cash…since he wouldn’t/couldn’t take a credit card and wasn’t really interested in actually writing a ticket. He wasn’t interested in getting his supervisor on the phone either. We suppose it could have been worse.

We immediately fell in love with Cuenca and now understand why so many expats live there. It is a beautiful city with so much history. The surrounding country side is marvelous and would be a great place to have a little bungalow. After getting settled into Nass Hotel, which was an upgrade…compliments of Nass Bed & Breakfast (because they didn’t have rooms for us at the B&B even though we made a reservation), we took a free walking tour of the historical district. The new cathedral is incredible. Made of alabaster and marble (most local with some from Italy), the work began in 1885 but has not been completed as the weight of the structure is more than the foundation can handle. The domes are covered with blue and white tile from Czechoslovakia and the stained glass windows were created by a Spanish artist. It is one of the largest cathedrals in South America and has a crypt beneath it where prominent people of the city and church are buried. Take a look at the gallery for pictures from the walking tour.

We visited Museo Pumapungo, one of Ecuador’s best museums. In addition to displays of modern art and cases highlighting the diverse indigenous cultures, we were able to walk through the Archaeological Park where we saw ruins of buildings believed to be part of the old Incan city of Tomebamba. While there isn’t much left (thanks for Spanish conquistadors), the grounds were beautiful and the garden was full of native flora. Later we stopped at the Panama Hat Museum and while everyone tried on a hat, Ric was the only person who bought one. Interestingly, Panama hats are manufactured in Ecuador. We understand that Theodore Roosevelt was visiting the Panama Canal and was given a hat to wear…from then on the hats were referred to as Panama hats.

After three days in Cuenca we decided to check out Salinas, a coastal town south of Bahia. We hoped to catch up to Nemo and Hecla but were unable to make contact with them while we were there. We discovered later that Nemo had already left. It was the weekend and many, many local people were in town enjoying some beach time. We ate lots of ceviche and found a “gringo” bar. After one night we decided to head back to Bahia. We had some provisioning to do and wanted to get that finished while we still had the rental car.

Roy and Ann returned from Belgium so our departure planning and provisioning began. We stocked the boat with a large supply of nonperishable food and beverages, filled propane tanks, topped off the diesel tanks and jerry cans, bought water to get us by until we could start the water maker again and cleaned and organized. As our intended exit date neared we visited the fish and produce markets to stock up on shrimp (there is so much shrimp in Ecuador) and fresh fruits and vegetables. We handed over our passports to get the exit stamps and zarpe then waited for Friday, April 6 when the high tide would be highest so we could leave the river without hitting the bottom.

Again, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Ecuador. Gene and Delia at Puerto Amistad are very welcoming, accommodating and simply good people. We had a delightful time meeting more cruisers and locals. It is definitely a place we will put on our list to visit again. Hopefully next time we can explore more of South America.

A final comment…if you get to Bahia de Caraquez be sure to go to Anto’s Pizza in Leonidas Plaza, check out the market in San Vincente (across the bridge from Bahia) for shrimp, H Bar (Henry’s) for stuffed french toast and artisan beer on tap, ceviche place on the beach and San Antonio de Caraquez Coffee for the dessert waffles. And, no, we didn’t just eat the whole time…although it really seemed like it.