03/06 Apparently there’s this thing that happens every year all over Latin America called Carnaval. What it means for me is a massive amount of traffic, full hotels, jacked up prices on rooms, kids trying to throw buckets of water on me, kids shooting me with water guns, kids on rooftops throwing water balloons at me and kids on the street spraying me with some kind of colored foam. It’s actually been kind of fun except the hotel situation is going to be interesting tomorrow.
Tomorrow I’m heading into the town of Banos, which is a huge tourist town, and presumably where lots of people will be going to celebrate Carnaval (great timing on my part). My plan is to leave here early (7:30am) and try to get there before all the hotels fill up, assuming they haven’t already. The only reason I’m going there is to see the very active volcano called Tungurahua (translates to “throat of fire”). I saw a little bit of it today but it was mostly covered in clouds. The park that the volcano sits in is called Parque Nacional Sangay and it has some cool, although very rare wildlife: pumas and spectacled bears to name a couple.
Stayed in Latacunga last night at the Hotel Cotopaxi. Nice place for only $12. The first 2 places I tried were full. Uneventful ride yesterday except for the giant hill between Machachi and Lasso. Traffic was backed up for miles thanks to construction but I had a decent lane to ride in so I made good time as I wizzed by all the stopped cars and trucks.
The road today was a bit dangerous in several places. There was no shoulder and traffic was moving very fast. No one ran me over so it worked out OK. I’m not without injury however. The top of my head is sporting a new sunroof thanks to the top inch of skin and bone being sheared away from doorways that were designed for hobbits. The roof in the lobby of Hotel Cotopaxi was actually so low I had to keep my head tilted to the side when I was signing in.
Tonight I’m at the Hostal San Pedro. The room is extremely small and I almost left when he said it was $20. I got him down to $15 which is still probably double what it normally goes for. By small I mean I can stretch out on any side and touch a wall. I’m glad there’s room under the bed for my panniers. They do have hot showers and internet so its not so bad.
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