Banos!

Yes bano is the spanish word for bathroom and even those with the most limited spanish know this word and may wonder why anyone would visit such a place. The city we visited in the Central Sierra of Ecuador is called Banos (there is an accent over the O, not sure how to do it on the keyboard). The town is named for the numerous natural hot and cold springs that surround it´s valley. These springs are caused by Tungurahua, a very active volcano that was either smoking or belching lava the whole time we were there. We spent four days in Banos hiking, biking, eating great meals and just enjoying the drizzle and refreshing air we miss at sea level. All of this and we were also joined by our good friends from Phoenix, Karena and Josh. They met us in Quito and we traveled by treacherous bus ride up to Otavalo for a weekend of hiking and shopping at the famous market. I was all shopped out from our visit there in September but hopefully Karena and Josh found some fun stuff to take home with them. From there we traveled to Banos and then Karena and Josh took off for a few days in the Galapagos. Mark and I traveled back to the boat ( in Bahia de Caraquez) to get ready for our next passage, also to the Galapagos. We will have three weeks or so to enjoy the islands before we set off for our biggest adventure ever, sailing to the Marquessas. Don´t feel bad if you need a map. I did when we first started planning this trip. Check back in a few weeks for some Galapagos pictures. xo Liz & Mark
A side note..many of you leave comments with questions but no email to repsond to, so if you want a reply please include it in your comments.

Happy to be at the top of the mountain

On the way down

This donkey made a sound like we have never heard before

Getting ready to bike the avenue of the waterfalls

Karena not quite ready for lunch

Josh and Karena crossing the canyon on little tiny cable

Looking more realxed on the way back

That is us down there getting misted by the huge waterfall