baños, continued

Saturday was a long and glorious day in Baños. I started the day with breakfast and a discussion of US politics with the Danish owner of a cafe down the street from my hostel. Then there was shopping. I´m getting quite good at the phrases, "Cuanto cuesta?" and "Lo tomo."

The view from my hostel

Then from the market, I wandered into La Basilica.

La Basilica is comprised of a church and a crazy museum that begins innocently enough with wardrobes of former clergy and Christ statues, but soon turns into a freak show. First, there are stuffed animals ripping each other apart:

Then my personal favorite: chanco con trompa y orejas de elefante (pig with elephant trunk and ears)

These are followed by bridal gowns and historical artifacts. Obviously.

The church at La Basilica is a shrine to Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Agua Santa (Our Lady of Holy Water), the patron saint of Baños.

In 1773, the town was apparently saved when the nearby volcano, Volcan Tungurahua, threatened to blow. The people of Baños prayed to la Señora de Agua Santa and voila, no eruption. The rest of the church is filled with giant paintings of other miracles performed by la Señora de Agua Santa, most including the appearance of a giant hand to save someone falling off a bridge or out of a burning building. The people of the town all still believe faithfully in la señora´s power to save them from eruptions and many other disasters (her name is written on the sides of all the buses, making it perfectly safe to go 60 mph around turns at the top of cliffs, not that I know this from personal experience). Why can´t churches back home be this cool?

As a side note, there was a recent eruption of Volcan Tungurahua in late August that destroyed many homes in nearby towns, but Baños was perserved. I heard from fellow travelers and some locals I talked to (well, "talked to" is a stretch, I still only understand about 60% of what is said) and everyone told me, "Baños esta segurro" - Baños is safe. Upon further investigation, it seems that this might only be partially true. The volcano is still active and it is likely that, if it erupts, the mountains surrounding Baños will divert the lava away from the city. But I've also heard that the citizens main reason for believing they are safe is not scientific or geographic, but religious. They believe so strongly that they are protected by la señora that they profess this as fact to all the tourists. And, since their town survives on tourism, they have a monetary reason to claim this also. Not being Catholic myself, I´m getting on the next bus outta here.

Anyway, back to Saturday´s adventures. After the museum, I took a tour on a Chiva (open-air bus) to Las Cascadas (waterfalls). For most of the trip we sat on top of the Chiva as the driver sped through narrow roads overlooking cliffs. At the first cascada, we stopped to take a trip across a gorge via cable car.

See the cable car?

Perched high above the earth

One of the many cascadas

To get to the final cascada, we hiked through a bit of forest (very nearly the amazon, as Baños is on the edge) to this bridge

And at last, the final cascada

Later that night, the second part of the tour (again, via Chiva) was a nighttime view of the volcano. We took another insane ride to the top of a cliff overlooking the city, had a little cinnamon drink (con trago, provided by the tour guide´s buddies) and listened to some traditional Ecuadorian music around a fire. The last song of the night, for the gringos present, was a completely butchered, but totally awesome, rendition of Pink Floyd´s "Another Brick in the Wall." Brilliant.