May 12, 2012 | No Comments yet

One can never get tired of seeing soaring snowcapped peaks at the horizon under deep blue sky with wisps of white clouds and noisy streams of water flowing through a lush green mountain valley next to the hiking trail. That pretty much summarises the scenic four to six hour trek between the villages Isinlivi and Chugchilan....
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April 28, 2012 | 2 Comments

Like most travellers typically do, I check a few adventure sport agencies to choose what activity I would prefer to do. Without much deliberations, I rent a bicycle for $5 a day from one of the bike stores and decide to embark upon an ambitious journey beginning in hills of Baños ending all the way to the Amazon basin some 62km east. Well, not quite ambitious, since this is a standard bicycling r...
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April 21, 2012 | 3 Comments

I liked Baños instantly, mostly because the bus stand is flanked by a row of atleast a dozen sugarcane juice stalls. It had been three years since I had sugarcane juice in India, and it’s my absolute favourite. I excitedly went to a seller and asked for a glass of juice. As I held up the glass, my eyes got a bit moist, it reminded me of my hometown and my childhood...
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April 10, 2012 | No Comments yet

There are numerous hiking trails around Baños with towering mountains in any direction you look. Tungurahua volcano is generally climbable but since 1999, the volcano has sprung back to life, and it's not safe anymore. Last major eruption was in 2006 when the town had to be evacuated and it took months to cleanup the volcanic ash dumped into the valley. Still, it’s possible to hike to the top o...
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April 7, 2012 | No Comments yet

I had never been close to a volcano before and the only imagination I had was based on shows on the Discovery channel. We parked our jeep at the end of a dirt trail from which arrows pointed to a viewpoint at approximately 4,000m (13,123 ft). View of the surroundings was majestic. Barren lands for as long as my eyes could see and low hanging clouds everywhere...
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April 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

Emergency! If the volcano erupts, run for your life and see you at the shelter. Such signs are posted all over the town. Locals don’t think seem to care about it but as a visitor I found it difficult to grapple with living in this constant threat of a volcanic eruption....
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March 31, 2012 | No Comments yet

Dear diary

Incident 3: I purchased a overpriced t-shirt because, lets admit, I was smelling of sweat and dust. Forget negotiation, I paid whatever the guy quoted, which was about $10, definitely not cheap in Ecuador. I'm from India; if I don't negotiate, it means I am not thinking...
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March 30, 2012 | 1 Comment

Almost like travelling in a time machine (which I hope becomes a reality sometime soon), but not quite, it is possible to experience sights and smells from two entirely different time periods in Quito. Quito’s old town, a UNESCO world heritage site, was built in the 16th century over a destroyed Inca capital. The area to the north of the historic centre, known as “La Mariscal”, is a late 20t...
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