Baños!

On Thursday afternoon, we left from USFQ and headed South of Quito to Baños, a small town on the side of a Volcán Tungurahua, a volcano which last erupted in 1999 but is still active. The town is a gateway to the Amazon and surrounded by beautiful sights…waterfalls, mountains, etc. We arrived at our hostel after a long, dark, foggy journey through the mountains. All of Ecuador lost power on Thursday night, so each small village we passed through had candles lighting the storefronts and restaurants. We arrived at the hostel in the dark, but when we awoke the next morning, we saw how beautiful the building and its view were. My bedroom had a balcony that faced a waterfall (see picture above)and the decorations and accommodations were gorgeous and comfortable.


After a huge breakfast on Friday morning, we split into two groups. I went with 7 others on a bike trip through the Ruta de Cascadas, which was a tour of the waterfalls in the area. We rode a mostly downhill path through the mountains and stopped to see 7 or 8 different waterfalls. They were absolutely breathtaking. Some people bungee jumped off a bridge on the way! At the last two falls, we hiked down to the balconies that faced the falls. We didn’t think our legs would make it down the last hike, which was a practically vertical .5 mile descent, but it was well worth the trek. We landed at the base of an 800m high waterfall and were mesmerized by the mist and energy being produced. The company we rented bikes through picked up us and our bikes, which was nice because I don’t think my legs would have survived the uphill 25 mile ride home! In the evening, we went to one of the ‘baños’ in town, which was only two blocks from our hostel. These public pools are fed by the naturally hot and cold water from the falls. The water was murky from all the minerals and jam packed with people. The idea is to go back and forth between the hot and cold baths, but that is easier said than done!

On Saturday, we got up early again to go white water rafting on the river. I think it’s safe to say we all had a blast. The rapids were not too dangerous, but there was definitely a thrill to being bounced around on the river among rocks and trees. The guides were hilarious and liked to play tricks such as pushing people overboard, splashing other rafts, and making us paddle when it was more or less impossible. At one point, the pulled the rafts up to a seemingly small waterfall that fed directly into the river and let us all get out and run underneath it. I was glad I was wearing a helmet because the water pressure was pretty intense. After abut 2 hours on the water, we took another Chiva ride back to Baños. Afterwards, I went hiking with a couple people up one of the mountains to see the view of the town, which was absolutely beautiful. After our hike, Song and I stumbled upon mass in the church in the middle of the town. The mass was really nice and the church was beautiful on the inside. However, they were really into neon lights - there was neon on the altar, the pulpit, and the roof outside (see above)! During dinner that night, the manager of the restaurant invited a local folk band in and they played some indigenous music for us in a private, impromptu concert (we were the only ones in the restaurant). Later, we went to a salsa club recommended by our rafting guides, which was so much fun.

On Sunday, we returned with the whole group to Palion del Diablo, the most famous fall on the Ruta de Cascadas. We hikes down to the bottom of the fall, and from there were able to cross a rope bridge to the other side to look up to the top. We also climbed up to balconies that were built into the side of the mountain to get closer to the top. To get to the highest balcony, we practically crawled through a tunnel that was no more than 3 feet high in some places to get close to the top. The view was incredible, the water was clear, and the mist felt so good. I didn’t even notice that it had started to rain because we were already wet from the waterfall! The hike back up was slippery and tricky in the rain, but again, well worth it. From there, we took the van back to Quito. The weekend went by fast but was definitely fun. I hope we get to go rafting, hiking, and biking again on some of our other trips!!