Banos

We arrived in Baños in the afternoon of Saturday, January 8. As we drove into town, we realized the place was bumping! People and cars were all over the place -- the streets and squares were packed. Our van-mates-from-Cotopaxi, Hannah and Nathan, opted to stay in the center of town; we were interested in staying on the outskirts.

Once again, Tim found us a great place to stay -- La Posada del Arte (posadadelarte.com). La Posada is run by a wife and husband team: Priscilla from Ecuador and Karl from the UK. We loooooved our stay here.

La Posada del Arte

We dropped our bags off in our room and then ventured out to wander around town. It's hard for me to describe Baños on a Saturday -- the place reminded me of the popular beach town scene (you know, those U.S. beach towns with boardwalks and carnival rides and all the funnel cakes) and a much mellower Las Vegas Strip. There were stalls selling "I 💗 Baños" shirts, plus hats and bracelets and bags and so much more. There were restaurants and heladerias (ice cream shops) every other storefront. It was overwhelming and fascinating.

Baños is known for its hot springs and waterfalls, and sits at the bottom of the active Tungurahua volcano. It's also known as the "Gateway to the Amazon" in Ecuador, and as a spot for adventure enthusiasts. It's only been on the tourist map for about 25 years, and is growing in popularity with Ecuadorians and foreigners alike. 

As we walked around that Saturday afternoon, the kids spotted a water park and begged us to go. We went back to our hotel to change and grab some money. But turns out we didn't bring enough money -- this water park was expensive! It was $6 per adult and $3 per child, which was pricey in our newly-Ecuadorian book (and not what we were expecting). So Tim stayed outside while I went in with the kids. There were several chlorinated small pools and also warm baths; there were also some water slides that weren't operational (perhaps why the price was what it was?).

Swimming -- with bath caps, a requirement!

A warm bath kind of pool.

The kids had a blast, and while they swam, I took some Duolingo Spanish lessons on my phone (thanks, Pittsburgh-based Duolingo!). After swimming, we found a place to eat dinner, then came back to the hotel, played some Rummy, and went to sleep.

On Sunday, Baños was just as crowded. I went out for a run around 6:30am, and people were already starting to gather at the main square and shop at the sidewalk stalls. The hot springs nearest our hotel -- Las Termas de la Virgen -- seemed packed.

We ate breakfast at our hotel (included in our nightly price) and then walked into town to Wonderful Ecuador, a tour/activity agency that was going to take us river rafting. Let me just say river rafting was an Experience with a capital E. A guest blogger (spoiler alert: Wyatt) will soon write a post about our rafting adventure, so more on that soon. Following rafting, we enjoyed a quiet afternoon and a pizza dinner.

On Monday, we got up and got moving. We left the hotel at 8:30am for horseback riding. I won't share anything more about that activity, as another guest blogger (Taylor!) will give you the full scoop.

Monday afternoon, we were treated to a tour of Baños' waterfalls with a guide named Darwin. Darwin immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was a boy, grew up in New York, served in the Air Force, did two tours in Iraq, and moved back to Ecuador after his second tour. Now he lives in Baños with his wife and two children, and freelances as a tour guide around his home country. He told us so many fabulous stories -- our visit to Baños was made richer because of him.

Darwin drove us to Casa del Arbol, the Tree House, and its famous swing. Here's the story about this place: As I mentioned above, Baños sits below the Tungurahua volcano, an active stratovolcano. In 1999, the town of Baños was evacuated for fear that the volcano would erupt. The military came to guard peoples' homes -- but instead, there was widespread looting. The people of Baños finally said, "No more!," and returned to their town, despite continued risk from Tungurahua. A citizen of Baños named Carlos Sanchez took matters into his own hands. He owned land way, way up on another mountain overlooking Tungurahua, and he was a volunteer with the Military Geographical Institute. Carlos built a tree house on his property and from there, he would watch for volcanic activity. Carlos' family would often visit him on the weekends, and to keep them entertained, he built a swing that dangled from a branch of his tree house tree. 

Photos of this swing made the rounds of Facebook, and soon a few tourists started to visit. In 2014, a Slovenian tourist took a photo of the swing with Tungurahua erupting in the background -- and this photo would go on to be named a winner in the National Geographic Photo Contest. From there on out, Carlos' swing became world famous and tourists flocked to Baños for their chance to swing. Now, all over Ecuador, swings are incredibly popular -- and very much Instagram-worthy.

Taylor on the famous swing.

And Wyatt, too!

Up in the Casa del Arbol.

Casa del Arbol.

After visiting Casa del Arbol, Darwin showed us some more beautiful places -->

More waterfalls.

The Pastaza River is below.

Supposedly you can see Jesus' face in this rock. Can you see it?

Below Jesus' face, you touch the water, then place your hand on the rock and make a wish.

And then Darwin took us on some adventure-ing. Tim and Wyatt did the zipline across the Pastaza River (Taylor and I said a big N-O). And then we all jumped in a cable car and went back and forth across the Pastaza River (that was more my speed, literally).

Tim's got the GoPro, and he's ready to glide.

Thumbs up from Wyatt: Todo bien.

After those adventures, we visited a candy shop run by the local community. It's famous for making guava sweets. We got to see how the candy is made and taste some. (Mmm, delicioso!) 

A guava tree outside the candy shop.

Smell that guava!

Blocks of guava sweets before they get cut up and packaged.

Guava sweets in the candy shop.

A close-up!

Following our visit to the candy shop, Darwin took us to the last stop on our tour: Pailon del Diablo, the Devil's Cauldron. It's a legendary waterfall in Baños, about 80 meters tall. We hiked down through a rain forest to get to it, and it was worth every step.

There are many myths to the name Devil's Cauldron, but the one that Darwin liked the best is this: Legend has it that many, many years ago, the townspeople were heading to the waterfall and saw the devil blocking their path. So they ran back up to the town, grabbed the local priest, walked back down the mountain, and held a Mass to get rid of the devil. The devil then jumped into the water by the waterfall, never to be seen again. Much later, people thought the "devil" was probably a caiman that mistakenly made its way up the river and was sunning itself by the waterfall.

At any rate, this waterfall is incredible. We took the steps up to see it, and wound up crawling through a small hole to get behind the waterfall. We got soaked -- and loved it. 

Listening to Darwin on the hike down to the Devil's Cauldron.

From a lookout point, looking down at the suspension bridge close to the Devil's Cauldron.

Getting closer to the waterfall!

Getting really close!

From the tunnel we crawled through to get to the waterfall, this is what we see. (Waterfall is kind of behind us.)

Waterfall!

On the suspension bridge we saw from the lookout point.

THE waterfall!

Another view of the suspension bridge. See that wall of rock behind the trees? That's basalt -- volcanic rock.

Tuesday was our last full day in Baños, and we spent the morning canyoning -- essentially hiking down waterfalls. I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified at times, but it was really fun. I'm good though...don't need to go canyoning again for a while. ;)

Our canyoning group. We called ourselves Team Seal.

Wyatt going down waterfall #1.

Me going down waterfall #1. What is up with my helmet?!

There goes Tim!

And Taylor, too!

The last canyoning activity: Jumping 100 feet to the ground. Wyatt is all for it.

Tim is all for it.

Taylor is ready to go!

And me? "I'm not sure I want to do this." But I did it, and I'd do it again (slowly).

Baños was SUCH a wonderful stop for us. It felt great to be in one place for four nights, and we're so thankful for all that we did and saw (and ate!).

Now we're off to Cuenca -- a six-hour drive through (you guessed it) more mountains. Those guest blog posts are coming soon, and we'll be sure to tell you about Cuenca, too.