Much to my surprise, I wake up around 6:30 am and cannot go back to bed. The girls have invited me to go to Banos today and I need to tell Diego before he gets too far into the day’s plans. Lew had told me the night before that “sleep was overrated,” so I assumed he was already up when I headed out of my room for a shower. I get ready for the day and walk over to Diego’s apartment to see what is going on. At 7:15 I end up waking him up, even though he has an 8am meeting across town. We chat a bit and then I let him finish his morning preparations.
Lew finally wakes up around 8:30 and once he gets ready for the morning we inventory all the drugs for the spay/neuter campaign. At 9, we head to the shelter for our daily duties, which are now becoming part of my routine. Sandy comes to pick us up around 12 and we head into the downtown area of the city to pick up an employee of the HIS (humane shelter international) from Washington DC. She is here to see if PAE is a potential recipient of humane shelter funds. We all go to lunch and discuss the possible venture over smoked pork and mote (corn), one of the best local food meals yet.
On the way back to the PAE shelter from lunch, the girls call and tell me that they are coming to pick me up for a trip to Banos. Banos is a town built at the base of a volcano. It is a very nice area that is hugely populated by tourists. Banos is called banos because there are baths filled with hot water warmed by the volcano. The volcano had an eruption just 2 years ago and the devastation can still be seen on the hillside. However, the place is wonderfully beautiful. It is lush and green and mountainous. We drive through the town and go to the zoo first. The first zoo we enter (for free I might add because the girls talk the front boy into letting us in) consists of many types of boa constrictors, anacondas, and vipers, along with some fish. The second zoo (also free, thank you girls!) had many species of monkeys and birds, but the real attraction was the condors. These are the biggest birds I have seen in real life, they were sleeping, but still totally awesome.
After the zoo visits, we take the drive straight up the mountainside to one of the most coveted resorts in the area. The evening darkness and fog roll in as we walk to the resort’s restaurant for dinner. The restaurant has a full glass panel at the front of the room that affords an absolutely spectacular view of the city below (~3,000 ft below). In the US, this restaurant would be considered 5 star due to the ambience, view, and foreign cuisine. We eat a truly american dinner (I had a ham and swiss sandwich that was presented like it was an expensive steak dinner) and discuss the plans for the evening.
We decide to drive back down to Banos and check out the night life. After walking the city for a while, we pick a club and enter. We walk straight through the discotech and it appears that we are leaving through the back when I realize it is a tiki bar… This is the coolest bar I have ever been to. It has a massive fire pit directly in the middle and all sorts of live palm trees and tree-house looking things everywhere. I wish that we could pull off one of these in the states. We sit for a beer and chat, and I decide that I really enjoy the company of my new friends. I wish that I would have a little more time here to spend with them…
After a beer and lots of pictures, we all pile back into the car and make the hour journey home. Best day so far…
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