24 hours in salinas (de guaranda)

i arrived in salinas (de guaranda - to prevent it from getting confused with the other salinas, a coastal resort near guayaquil...) after a wonderful bus ride from baños to ambato and a rather frustrating one from ambato to guaranda.

the woman who sat down beside me on the bus grew a child about five minutes into the trip and he immediately started complaining that he wanted to look out the window. so the woman asked me if i could switch seats and let him have the window and i relented even though the drive was one of the reasons i was going in the first place - my book said it was killer. anywhoo... the kid opened the window, stuck his head out, then brought his head back in, shut the window and started watching tv. in order to watch he and his grandma (i'm assuming) had to lean toward me. on tv was a wonderful video showing the funny side of bull fighting, only this was ecuadorian bullfighting where, apparently and according to the video, anyone and everyone runs around inside the bullring trying to get the bull's attention, at which point they run away or wave a cape or stick or whatever at the bull. the video added madcap music and sound effects and revelled in speeding things up or slowing things down whenever the bull did something interesting. loads of fun.

so the kid just watched the video, not once looking out the window, and then promptly fell asleep afterwards. we arrived in guaranda after two hours with him having a good 30 seconds of window time.

not that i'm bitter.

after a scramble to make the salinas bus i was chauffered through some of the most bucolic scenery i've yet seen (it seems that each day is a one-up on the bucolic meter). and then appears salinas perched on the side of a white cliff. it's not much of a town, steep as all get out and rather tumble down looking, but the views are amazing and the salt mines - these pits in white rock facing the town from across the river - are very cool. i took a walk about town with hugo, a representative of the cooperative tourism board - the entire town is overrun with cooperatives, more than 30 of them running the gammet from chocolatiers to cheese making, mushroom factories to sweater weaving. there's even a website that i'll post when i remember what it is...

so now i'm back in riobamba where i thought i'd be able to replenish my dwindling funds and get my 4th shot (think again... long story but all clinics and hospitals are either closed or don't have the vaccine - i have to hope that tomorrow at 8am is ok and that i don't turn into a werewolf overnight...).