Baños is in/famous for two reasons. Firstly, lovely hot springs to soak away pain and all sorts of ailments. Secondly, the constant threat of dying a most horrifying death by searing hot magma from the incredibly active volcano Tungurahua.
In October, 1999 the city of Baños was evacuated after Tungurahua (meaning "throat of fire" in Quichua) suddenly became active again. After nothing happened for several months the 25000 people decided they would tempt fate and return. Violent clashes with the military ensued, but finally the Bañositos returned. They lived in relative peace for several years until last year activity increased dramtically culminating in huge eruptions in July and August. The August eruption featured a 10km high ash cloud and serious pyroclastic flows resulting in deaths and destruction of several small villages.
Baños is a town totally dependant on tourism. The locals cannot afford not to stay there, they have nowhere else to go. We went for a night tour with our guide, Angel (he´s a man, not a prostitute), hoping for some volcano action. Angel also told us about the history of the Tungurahua and how he and the other people live with the volcano and the precautions they have taken. He said the August eruption was really scary. The blast downed the power lines and except for the glow of magma, the city was wrapped in darkness, all the windows constantly rattling for many hours... Our own experience was less frightening. It was relatively cloudy and there were no lava flows, but we could still see a huge cloud of ash billowing from the crater. Very impressive. The lookout point was frigid at 3000m, but Angel gave us a drink made from the local firewater (a STRONG sugar cane alcohol), served with hot herbal tea. Warmed us up a bit!
Because I don´t have a cable for my camera at the moment and my volcano photos are less than spectacular, here are some good ones of Tungurahua I found on the internet.
1999 eruption
this is closest to our experience
also similar, but at sunset
The next morning we visited the hot springs in hope that the Virgin would heal some of the insane itching from the sandfly bites. Incredibly enough, after several dunks is the cold pool and then in the really hot one, the itching stopped! Except for minor relapses, it seems to have passed.
After the baths we hired a quad bike to try and get another peak at the volcano. Climbing up to 3000m with a smallish bike suffering from some mechanical issues was to much, and just as fate would want it, the bike stopped on top of the mountain with only 16 minutes left to get back to the bottom. We freed all the way down... Because it was a mechanical failure we didn´t have to pay extra even though we were late.
The afternoon we caught the bus back to Quito. The morning of the first we sorted out our tickets and set off exploring the vast colonial splendour of Quito (a world heritage site). Being labour day in South America, there were quite a few seemingly peaceful rallies going on with the riot cops looking on with guns and shields. Makes you feel a lot safer...
That night was supposed to be our last night out but because of the holiday all the restaurants and bars were closed! We ended up eating KFC. How depressing...
Neil
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