I'm not exactly sure what it is about waterfalls that is so neat. It's basically like a large faucet, right? I mean go to your faucet, turn it on, and watch the water come out. That is a waterfall. If you want to see a bigger one, head to your shower. Yet, still, whenever we are near a waterfall, Bessie and I just have to go see it. Protest? Boring. Indigenous Market? Seen it. Volcano? Yawn. Waterfall? Hell ya!
And what luck we were in when we found out that Baños, Ecuador has a road that passes buy tonnes of them called the "Waterfall Route". And even better yet, we could go down said route on a bike. Sweet. We're in.
The route itself is scenic going all the way from the surroundings of the Andes to the tropics of the jungle and even surprisingly safe. I thought that we would have to choose between A) hitting an oncoming truck or B) riding off into a canyon, but people on the road drove surprisingly sane and considerate. Even the crazy ones gave us their distance and honked before passing as if to say "If you move left, you will be gum on my tire."
The only two mildy scary parts were a tunnel that we had to briefly ride through and a "cable car" that we decided to use to cross the canyon. The tunnel didn't seem that bad at first, but then I realized that I couldn't see the ground which meant that if there happened to be a pothole or stick, I would be making out with the pavement in no time.
The "cable car" was something else. It's kind of like a carnival ride over a large canyon. The motor powering this engineering feat was an old elevator engine that they somehow rigged up to get this thing running. It belched black smoke and the operator had the concern and excitement of a snail. Liability? Whatever. Get in.
Other than that, it was a particularly relaxing and enjoyable ride due to the abundance of downhill action. I lost count of how many waterfalls we passed, but here's a sampling of some:
We're silly and adventurous, computer geeks and yoga peeps.
December 12, 2008
selena
December 17, 2008
Bessie
December 12, 2008
Den & Sue Czurylo
December 15, 2008
Barbara Scott
December 17, 2008
Bessie
December 15, 2008
Linda
December 19, 2008
Julian
December 20, 2008
mumsie