Papallata

Here we are in Papallata (June 5th-Scott's birthday).We arrived yesterday after having spent 2hours on a boat, 2more hours on a bus and another 4,5hours on another bus...we were exhausted and were not feeling great because of the crazy driver we had on the last bus. We were completely bus sick and especially me. We went from about 500meters above the sea level to more than 3000 so when we got off the bus the cold weather was waiting for us. An interesting phenomena is happening when we change the altitude so much. Bottles with liquids get squished when going from the high altitude to the sea level and in the other way around they tend to "explode" when opened at the end of the ride. This is how today I wanted to put some hand cream on my hands in a restaurant and instead on my hand the cream landed on the wall behind me...glad there was no one sitting behind us this time.
Yesterday I also had a great experience with Ecuadorian people as when we got on our last bus I put a bag with my swimsuit and a t-shirt underneath my seat and left it there as I was trying to survive to the crazy ride. Once we got to Papallata it was not there anymore so I started looking for it...it was no where. As a background it is necessary to know that Ecuador is not dangerous but it is strongly recommended to be careful and watch our own belongings as pick-pockets love gringos with big backpacks traveling during the day. Additionally buses are a very common places for thieves. Also we were going to Papallata that is very common for its hot natural springs...so my swimsuit was very important. Back to the story, it is completely dark outside, people are waiting to arrive to Quito after a long bus drive and we are the only people, not locals for sure, getting off at this bus stop in the middle of nowhere...and my bag disappeared. Though suddenly people start asking what I am looking for and magically everyone in the bus stands up and start looking for my bag everywhere possible. Crazy...but no luck.It is not there. Nevertheless when I was about to leave the bus someone from the back shouts that they found the bag...Awesome!Where it really was...I do not know, but I know that it made me feel great receiving all this kindness from these people. From the beginning of the trip up until now we had only good surprises and Ecuadorians are great people.

I am in the process of uploading new pictures that you can see on https://picasaweb.google.com/anna.borowko/AnnaAndScottSTravels?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDeiY-eh-K8Pg&feat=directlink

We spent the whole next day in hot thermal baths at about 3.300 meters or more than 11.000 feet above the sea level. It was great but hot :-D  Unexpectedly in the evening we found out that we were sun burnt...so strange. There was no sun and the clouds were SO thick...next time we are definitely going to take the altitude and the wind into consideration before deciding not to put any sun block.

In the evening we stayed in a very nice hotel in Papallata to celebrate Scott's birthday. It was great as the hotel had a great restaurant, private thermal baths and a great selection of massages. I think that Scott enjoyed his birthday :-)

Our hotel in Papallata