Tungurauha and Banos

Tungurauha is an active volcano with a height of 5030 m. When I was in Cotopaxi I met an American couple who told me they had met 2 vulcanologists who told them the Tungurauha was expected to erupt this week and they were going there to film. Reason enough to go there too. I read in the Lonely Planet that the village of Patate was a good place for observing the volcanoes (there are more there) so I took the bus to Patate and chose a litttle hotel recommended by lonely planet. i asked if I could have a room with volcano view. Well, you cannot see the Tungurauha from there at all. My room's name was Chimborazo (the name of the highest volcano in Ecuador, 6310 m. high). I could see in front of my room, when it wasn't cloudy,  approximately the last 10 meters of Chimborazo's  6310 m.. So the next day I went to Banos, a little town at the foot of Tungurauha with a marvelous view all around, only you cannot see Tungurauha from Banos. I asked at the tourist office if it was about to erupt and they said NO. The owner of the hotel where I stayed said it was in eruption, but it wasn't a strong eruption. Well, no photos of erupting volcanoes in my blog this time, sorry. 

I made a little trip from Banos to some neighboring waterfalls. We passed a pretty canyon

At some of the waterfalls you could cross to the other side with something similar but much more primitive than a cable car.

The scenery is beautiful, it is just a pity it was clouded and raining. When I finished the tour the rain stopped and the sun came out! 

It is amazing where people build their houses

The nicest hike was to a waterfall called Pailon del Diablo. We went down a lot of stairs and 2 hanging bridges

and arrived close to the top of the waterfall. 

with beautiful wild orchids on the way

and here near the top of the fall

there is such a dense vegetation all around on these mountains

When I came back I made a little stroll through Banos and then took a taxi to hotel Luna Runtun, 

an outrageously expensive hotel at a beautiful location on a mountain above Banos from where you have a wonderful view of the town. 

and then I took a taxi to the mountain on the other side of the valley, from where you can see Tungurauha in all its majesty. Here some pictures I took on the way up:

Here Tungurauha is still hiding under a scarf of clouds

and here the valley as seen from the other side

 the higher you get, the more you see of Tungurauha

Sometimes a veil of fog pased by, giving it a mystical look.

the scenery up there is fantastic.

as the clouds kept moving I realized there is actually smoke coming out of the crater.

on the way , another look at the valley direction east. Only about 45 minutes by bus from Banos you get to the Amazonas jungle!

From the hotel to Bano, about 18 km., I had a ride with the owner of my hotel. We were there in about 20 minutes. Back with 2 busses it took 1,5 hours. the hotel is at a very quiet location, but the owners have 4 dogs that barked the whole night. I couldn*t believe that they didn't get tired of barking. When I told the owner I had hardly slept that night because of that dog concert, she admitted she hadn't slept either. One female dog in the neighbourhood was (what do you call it?) and that drove all the dogs crazy. 

That was yesterday. Today I made my way to Guaranda and hope to see Chimborazo tomorrow, Please pray for me that there be no clouds! Just now I am hearing some dogs bark outside, I hope it will not be a night like the last one! Seems all female dogs in Ecuador get (what do you call it?) at this time!

Beautiful, fascinating Cotopaxi

One of my best ideas was to rent a room at Hostal Tambopaxi which is the only hotel inside the national park Cotopaxi, at an elevation of 3700 m. where you have a fantastic view from your large window on gorgeous volcano Cotopaxi, 5911 m., supposedly one of South Amerixa's most active volcanoes. Cotopaxi erupted more than 50 times since 1738. At the moment it has been dormant for more than 70 years, which is an unusual long interval in its recent history. 

Here is Cotopaxi, reflecting in the little fish pond of the hostal

If you want to see Cotopaxi without a dress of clouds or a veil of fog, you have to get up early in the morning. Mostly, at this time, the sky is blue and the volcano is best seen. Soon clouds come and envelop Cotopaxi and if you taake photos every 2 miniutes, it will look different, which is really fascinating. The clouds usually start rising from the valley below

Here with the restaurant of Tambopaxi

later, at noon, dark clouds approach, signalizing that rain is soon to come.

These clouds fascinate me

and in the later afternoon, if you are lucky, it might look like this again

Starting from Tambopaxi, you can hike up to the Refugio Jose Rivas at an elevation of 4864 m., which is a bit below the glaciers, that have receded a lot in the last years. 

Starting from Tanbopaxi, it is a hike of about 5 hours. I was lucky. After I walked for an hour a camioneta (little truck) came by and took me up to the parking place where the steep ascent to the refugio beginns. From there it is about 1,5 km. ascending about 350 m. in elevation up to 4864 m. The ascend is extremely steep. I was there on a Sunday and there were lots of Ecuadorians going up, even families with children. 

The colors of the landscape are fascinating

. As you can see, a bit above the refugio the glacier starts. Unfortunately there were lots of clouds coming and going, especially after I made it up to the refugio it became very cloudy and even started snowing. A national park guard would not let me go up to the glacier without a guide, so I could just photograph it from a bit above the refugio.

Can you see the refugio in the clouds down left? 

and here what I could photograph of the glaciar: 

I have been told that to climb up to the crater takes 10 hours. People leave at 10 in the evening and climb up during the night, arriving in the morning. Difficult to imagine, when you look at this glacier.

It is an unbelievably fascinating landscape. 

Quito

It took me half a day to start liking Quito. But then I started discovering the gems in the historical center. Quito has about 2,3 million inhabitants and the city is huge, stretched in a valley. Besides the historical center and the neighborhood of Mariscal Quito is quite ugly, at least as far as I saw it.

Quito's historical center has some very beautiful buildings. this one is a cultural center and library. Notice the very special trees here. It must be some kind of palm tree.

Let me take you for a little stroll through Quito's historical center. Here, the white, is part of the cathedral. Next to it another church. There are so many churches in the center.

The most beautiful of them, and one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen is the compania de Jesus. It is not allowed to take pictures inside, so I just took some from the door from outside. It is a baroque church, inside all covered with gold and with beautiful works of art. 

That's what it looks like from outside.

the entrance:

and a sneak inside with my zoom.

I was very lucky to find out that there was to be there a concert on February 27 in the evening so I went there at 7:15. I thought I was much too early and there were already about 150 persons waiting in a row to get in. I was lucky that I got a place to sit. The concert was beautiful. A  violinist from Venezuela, Angelica Olivo, played as a solist in the concert for violin and orchestra in re menor op. 47 from Sibelius. Then the orchestra played theSinfonie  fantastica op. 14  from Berlioz. 

and here a better view of the church from outside. 

here the main plazza with the cathedral

Many streets are extremely steep, as you can see here

On the plaza Mayor is the presidential palace and the now president, Rafael Correa, opened the palace for visitors, saying it belonged to the people of Ecuador, not only the president. You can make a guided tour inside and it is beautiful. 

Two men are guarding the palace from outside

and when you go in, it's like the control at the airport, they x-ray all your belongings before they let you in.

and the palace from inside: the president was having some meeting when we came, so the door of the meeting room was again well guarded

This is the room for banquetes

and here is where the cabinet meets

and that's me on the balcony of the palace, in the background the main plaza.

They showed us presents that the president received from many countries. This one from Indonesia is especially beautiful. 

and that's me with the president's dogs. They were playing in the garden. 

Quito is surrounded by mountains. You can see some from the main plaza. 

The highest one is the volcano Pechincha , 4794 m. high, where you can go up with a cable car up to about 4060 m. and from there , there are many beautiful trails to hike. But this in my next post.

Have a good night