Banos and the Tungurahua

I was in Quito when I heard that the volcano Tungurahua woke up. Tungurahua is an active volcano, near the city of Banos. Its last activity was recorded just few months ago, in August. One of my dreams was to see a volcanic eruptions and now that I'm visiting the land of the volcanos, I got this possibility. I left Quito and I took a bus to Banos. When we got near the city, I got the first view of the volcano from the bus... Only few seconds, but I could see the ash coming out from the top of the volcano. 

I expected to see the volcano from the city itself (the distance from the city is only 7 km and the volcano is 5000m high), but from Banos I could see only some ash. Even if I couldn't see the Tungurahua, I could hear it. Every 10-20 minutes a strong noise from the volcano could be heard in all the city. People here got used to it, but for me was the first time and it was quite exciting. 

I booked immediately for a tour to a mirador to see the volcano in the night, but few minutes before the tour, they told me there was no place for me. So I went to sleep with the intention to wake up early the day after to hike the mountain to see the volcano. Unfortunately the morning after it was raining and everything was covered by clouds. Despite this, I asked to some locals where was the best place to see the volcano, but everyone told me that with so many clouds, there was no possibility for me to see something. I had nothing else to do in Banos, so I still decided to hike in the mountain. During the trek I met other two couples, one from Argentina and one from Germany and we hiked together to visit little villages in the mountain. The last stop was "la casa del Arbor". This place is very famous for its swing on a cliff, buy it's also one of the best place to observe the volcano. When we arrived there, after about 3-4 hours hike, we were a little bit disappointed to see that all the landscape was covered by clouds (exactly how locals told me). We sat, we ate, we talked, we swing from the tree house and we waited. We waited for hours. A man, called Carlos Sanchez, was giving some interviews for the TV. It was his moment, he acted like he was the owner of the volcano itself. It was funny to see this man, becoming incredible famous just because he owns a tree house with a view on the volcano. We waited and waited. Sometimes the wind pushed away some clouds, giving us the hope to see something. But unfortunately, while some mountains became visible, the Tungurahua remained covered. Hopeless, some of my friends took all their stuff to go back to the city, but Carlos told them to wait a little bit more, because he knew that in few minutes the volcano would have appeared. Holy words.... 15 minutes after, the clouds moved, allowing us to admire the volcano. Suddenly we heard a strong noise coming from the Tungurahua and some black ash came up from the crater. Everyone was staring at the volcano, feeling so lucky to be able to see this phenomenon. Every few minutes there was an eruption and every time you feel so little in front of the strength of nature. We couldn't see lava, only ash, but they told us that during the night it was possible to see it. So we went back to the city to book a night tour to the mirador Bellavista. Unfortunately the tour wasn't what we expected. A chiva came to pick up all the tourists. A chiva is a open truck/bus with wooden seats, lot of lights and big speakers. In few words it's a mobile disco, on the back there is also an area big enough to dance. When we got to the mirador, the volcano was completely covered by clouds. 

The day after we wanted to rent some bikes and go to the "ruta della cascadas" (waterfalls path) . But in the morning it was raining and so we decided to go to the waterfalls with a chiva (yes, again the same chiva). Another mistake... The chiva was stopping at every waterfall, but the main reason wasn't observing the waterfalls or taking pictures, but to get more money from the tourists that wanted to try a ride on a zip line or on a tarabita. Fortunately they gave us enough time to walk down to the Machay waterfall. This was very powerful, you can get completely wet standing few metres from it. 

The tour didn't allow us to visit the most beautiful waterfall, so we just asked to the guide to drop us near the Paillon del Diablo. This waterfall and all the land around it were a private property since few years ago. Then the owner decided to allow tourists to visit this place. The path to get to the waterfall is completely immersed into the vegetation and the waterfall can be viewed from different bridges and balconies. This was one of the most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen. There is a reason why many tourists travel so many kms just to see this spectacle! 

Many tourists talked about Banos as one of the best places visited in Ecuador. It's very difficult to define this town. It's immerse in the nature, it's situated on the foot of the Tungurahua volcano and just in a few km there are many waterfalls. But the town is already too touristic. There are more hostel/hotel than houses. Tour agencies offer you every kind of extreme sports : paragliding, zip line, tarabita, canopy etc. On the other side, there are also some hot springs and numerous spas. Banos is just a mix of lot of different attractions and different typology of tourists come here. I definitely prefer the natural aspect of this area, so after seeing the volcano and the waterfalls, I decided to leave and to visit the Quilotoa lagoon. 

First view of the volcano from the bus 

Banos by night

La Casa del Arbor 

Carlos Sanchez and the interview 

Tungurahua completely covered by clouds 

Ruta de las cascadas 

Paillon del Diablo 

Sugar cane