I loaded up on bread and coffee at breakfast after roaming around the grounds a little more. Once again we were moving on, but this time Hugo had brought back the van!

Even in the back I was able to stretch out my legs on the drive to Banos. Bob explained that we would spend two nights there, resting up for Chimborazo. Banos would be the lowest elevation of our whole trip in Ecuador: about 6,000 feet. The town was on the eastern side of the high plains and felt much closer to the rain forests further down and east. The vegetation was much greener and adapted for moisture, not the dry plains.

We arrived at Posada del Arte, our hotel for the next two nights and relayed our luggage inside. Looking across the street and above the building we could see a waterfall tumbling down the cliffs lining this side of the city.

We walked downtown and enjoyed a cheap lunch on one of the main streets, people watching the mix of Ecuadorian and foreign tourists walking the streets. After checking email, Scott, Steve and I strolled through the town's basilica dedicated to the maiden of the waters, said to be the town's protector.

Steve and Scott went to visit the hot springs in town, while I relaxed on the upper deck with Renato and Charles working on my journal. After Steve and Scott returned, we went downtown again and walked through trinket alley, the small market of local crafts. Next door a place was roasting guinea pigs and families came straight from the basilica after communion to celebrate with roast guinea pig.

We found Bob and Travis enjoying a beer outside a restaurant, so we joined them as well. After a decent Mexican dinner, Scott and I walked into the Hobbit bar and were surprised to find it absolutely dead. We ordered a beer and sat on swings around the bar with the one other patron, a German lady who had tried to climb Cotopaxi recently. We chatted a bit with her, while trying to work out where to rest your beer when you're on a swing, until Charles and Steve came by. Scott left to make an internet call home, and I called it a night.