Latacunga y Baños

Luckily we got to Latacunga just in time for the Mama Negra festival. This festival was nothing like what we have in the States, so if you are looking for a few floats to pass out candy inbetween dinner and your kids bed time, this is not the festival for you. It lasted for 2 full days and the city was like constant parade full of musicians, dancers, and guys with these backpacks that consisted of a sturdy base to hold the full cooked pig, all the cooked chickens, a memorial to the Virgin Mary, flags, streamers, fireworks, and anything else they could fit. The people were very interested in the 2 giant gringos and treated us like we were old friends that they had not seen in ages. It was too bad we had already checked into a hostal for the evening, because we had offers from at least 3 different families that insisted we stay with them. Unfortunately, Latacunga was short lived. We had met up with 3 of Adam´s Peace Corps friends Kirsten, Darlene, and Laura and left with them the next morning to head for Baños. Baños was a cool little town with some really good hiking and biking. We did a big loop hike the first day that took us up all around the surrounding mountain side, and would also have produced a great view of the local somewhat active volcano if the cloud cover had not been there. The next day we rented bikes. There is a road that is mostly downhill to the next town 60 something kilometers away, and also has great scenery and huge waterfalls. We took our time and hiked to the waterfalls which meant we only made it 20 something kilometers before we caught a truck back. In the top of the group picture you can see a tunnel similar one I thought I was going to die in at the start of our biking tour. Traveling with the girls was a lot of fun and really good for our stomaches!! I don´t want to be a vegetarian by any means, but they proved to me that there are some delicious meals out there that are lacking in the meat category. Sadly we parted ways today. Adam and I are going to do some more things in this area before heading to the coast for some surfin´, and they are heading south.