We travel just to travel

It has been almost a week since my arrival, one that was too easy and a bit too rushed. My first day in Quito was filled with errands with my host, guide, and translator. The sun is a real bastard when you´re at 10,000 feet and a stones throw away from the equator, so I was roasted red and exhausted by the end of Tuesday.
The family I'm staying with, Ashley´s host, seems more than happy to have me and their two sons seem more than happy to use me as a jungle gym. Two things to note when a guest in someone else´s house. All kids love candy, all women love flowers. If neither of these work in winning over the affection of strangers, just show them the picture you have of all the men in your family in the mountains, holding up a giant piece of meat. And if that still doesn´t work, hopefully you have another photo of your brother taking a hard swing at your 10 year old sister´s jaw.
On Wednesday morning we took off for Baños, a small town a few hours south of Quito surrounded by green mountains and long winding roads. The main attraction, for tourists ranging from the Quito, to the United States, to Brazil, which is where one couple we met was from, are the thermal baths- la piscina de virgen- sitting right under a magnificent waterfall. You can see the fall throughout the town, and if your lucky, from the balcony outside of your hotel room, which shouldn´t cost more than 20 dollars a night.
On Thursday we rented a couple of mountain bikes for 5 bucks and took to the hills, up and down the mountain, stopping at waterfalls and for the occasional motorcycles, trucks, and indigenous traveler on foot. Most of the ride was picture perfect, a cyclist´s dream. However, I had to push things a bit far-think ben stiller in heavy weights. The bike ride took a road that led to another larger town, Puyo, nearly 70 kilometers outside Baños. I had an unspoken desire to make it. Perhaps it should have been spoken. After almost subsiding to an asthma attack and nearly collapsing, Ashley decided that our pace was unnecessary, and that walking some of the higher-grade hills would be alright. In the end, I paid, with a sure case of sunburn. This is what happens when you take a bike ride in the middle of the day through the mountains, while needless to say, I didnt listen to my mother, and Im still in need of sunblock, preferably SPF 75, they have that right--finding shade at noon in Baños is like trying to find dr pepper in Quito, dont bother. Once after asking if I could take a snowmobile off of a small cliff my mom asked why I had to take every damn thing I did to some absurd extreme.
I don´t know mom. Someone once said, if something like this is worth doing, its worth doing right.
Ok, off to pick up my laundry and get lunch. No one likes a smelly, starving gringo.
Ciao,
andrew
p.s. photos to come soon, forgot my cable, and need to wait to get a CD developed