Ride to Banos

We hired a driver to take us from Quito to Banos, a four hour drive. His name was Marco and told us all about the region and Ecuador.
Ecuador does not like Peru. In fact Marco says they hate Peru. In 1941 Ecuador and Peru went to war and Ecuador lost much of the Amazon territory that was was claimed by the indigenous tribes. Peru invaded again in 1995 to try and claim part of the Andes....this time they lost.So they are not friends.

Ecuador has massive oil production in the Amazon region. For this reason gas is $1.40 a gallon. All children get their education paid for by the government from kindergarten through college. Health care is provided to everyone. There is NO welfare. All able people are expected to work. The disabled receive a pension.

Ecuador is the major exporter of flowers in the world. All along the highlands and in the mountains you see dozens of greenhouses. So Donald when you buy roses for AL for valentines day, chances are good that they came from Ecuador.

We wanted to stop and see the volcano, Cotopaxi, on our way to Banos but it was clouded in. The Cotopaxi park is currently closed to the public because of fear of eruption. The last eruption was 10 years ago and the volcano has recently been blowing ash onto nearby towns. Cotopaxi is snow covered so when it does blow it won't be the lava that is the problem it will be the melting snow that will wipe out towns. Marco thinks it will happen soon........not the day we were there thankfully. There are warming sirens surrounding the towns like you see in Plymouth.

Another town we pasted through is the biggest maker of jeans in South America. Every store front had manikins wearing skinny jeans. All for around $5. Marco says they sell a lot of jeans but they are all junk.
I think Mario felt badly because Cotopaxi park was closed, so he took us off the beaten path to a beautifully restore Spanish hacienda. It's claim to fame was that Charles Darwin once slept there.  It is now a hotel and we spent a few minutes wandering its halls and admiring it.