Javier

This past weekend, we flew from Cuenca to Quito on Saturday. On Sunday, we flew from Quito to Guayaquil, Ecuador's "most dangerous city," according to our Baños friend, Darwin (and about a thousand different websites and all the Ecuadorians we've talked to thus far). The kids were NOT happy about being in Guayaquil, as they had heard Darwin's commentary and other chatter, and we assured them we wouldn't be leaving our hotel -- we were really there just to sleep.

Monday morning, Wyatt and I hit the hotel gym. He lived out his lifelong dream of running on a treadmill. The kid did pretty well!

At 10am, we received a phone call in our hotel room that our "taxi" had arrived. Tim had booked us a hotel in Montañita, a small coastal town about a three-hour drive from Guayaquil. Over email, he had previously arranged with the Montañita hotel to have a private transport pick us up in Guayaquil, and take us to the coast. He shared that he had a large surfboard bag, and so could we please have a van. Yep, no. No van. We got a taxi. A yellow taxi. But we also got the friendliest driver, Javier. Javier came prepared with ties to cement the surfboard bag on top of his taxi roof, and he affixed that board bag like a pro.

Tim climbed in the front seat, and the kids and I piled in the back. Off we went, and mercifully, we quickly left tight city roads and got on the highway.

Not 30 minutes into our ride, but the air conditioning went out. Javier didn't speak much English, and as you already know, our Spanish is lame, so there was a lot of pantomiming. We rolled down our windows and let the heat -- and wind -- come in the car. Javier pulled over to the side of the highway (not much of a shoulder, let me tell you), jumped out of the car, and opened his hood. He tried fixing some things, but to no avail. He got back in the car, started back up on the highway, and made a couple phone calls. Ten minutes later, he pulled off the highway and drove into a small town -- right to the auto mechanic's shop on the main road. We understood that he was trying to get the A/C fixed.

At the auto mechanic's shop: Hood's up. Hopes up.

Welllll, not exactly how we had imagined the drive going.

It. Was. So. Hot. But the mechanic worked quickly, and honestly, we were going again after 10 minutes with functioning A/C. Our cooler air was not to last -- the A/C went out again after another 10 minutes. C'est la vie. So we drove and drove with the windows down.

Somehow, wedged in between my child heaters, I took a nap. Taylor and Wyatt were content to look out the window. And thankfully, no one puked on this trip!

We did have to slow down for the occasional cow crossing the road, but otherwise, the rest of our drive to Montañita was uneventful. We really liked Javier. We'll be asking if he can drive us back to Guayaquil on Thursday -- but this time, in a van. With A/C. 

Cuenca

If you read our "Drive With Freddy" post earlier, you know we made it to Cuenca. Cuenca is beautiful! It's Ecuador's third largest city, after Guayaquil and Quito, but at 450,000 residents, it is far, far smaller than either of the two leading cities. Cuenca is also in the Ecuadorian highlands, and its elevation is fairly high: 8.400 feet. Cuenca's 'centro historico' is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site given its many historic buildings.

Our time in Cuenca was pretty chill, which we appreciated after our visit to Baños. Our first night in Cuenca, we ate at an Italian restaurant attached to our hotel (YES, Italian food!!). Thursday, our first full day in Cuenca, we rode a double-decker tour bus around town. It was a good way to see all the sights -- from the old town, to the Mirador (lookout) of Turi (a town in Cuenca), to the local mall (yes, that was on the bus tour, too -- just a drive-by), past the museums, through Gringoland (it's seriously a place; evidently lots of Americans and Canadians retire there), and back to the main square.

Standing atop Turi; Cuenca is behind us.

Cuenca: New town is at the bottom of the photo; old town is in the middle.

We just don't understand...what up with ALL those wires? We see this EVERYWHERE!

Driving down a Cuenca street on our bus tour. 

We tackled some homework and trip logistics that Thursday afternoon, walked around town to find dinner, came back to our hotel, played some Rummy, and hit the sack.

Friday morning, I woke up to light rain. I went out for a run anyway, and headed toward the Tomebamba River -- named after the Inca culture. The elevation did me no favors, and neither did the cobblestone pathway. 

The Tomebamba River. I ran alongside it during a run, and it's the most famous river in Cuenca.

Uhh, cobblestone path by the Tomebamba River. No doubt lovely to walk on. But running on it during the rain? No bueno.

Back at the hotel, we had a totally lazy breakfast (included in our nightly price -- I love it!), and Tim and I refilled our coffee cups just a few times. After breakfast, Tim walked down the street to the LatAm office to work out some of our upcoming flight issues. Taylor wrote a story on my laptop in the hotel room, and Wyatt and I read a book in the small sitting area just outside of our room. 

We roused ourselves a couple hours later to grab some lunch -- empanadas at Coco's Cafe (a cafe run on the bottom floor of a young family's home...like many eateries here) -- followed by a visit to Museo Pumapongo, one of Ecuador's most significant museums. On the second floor of this museum, we saw shrunken heads from the Shuar culture of the southern Oriente. The Shuar supposedly shrunk the heads of their enemies to harness their spirit for strength in future battles. Not gonna lie; that exhibit was just a bit eerie. 

Shrunken head in a glass case. It was pretty tiny -- a bit bigger than a softball.

Another shrunken head. Sorry if too graphic!

Out the back door of the museum, we walked through the Archaeological Park, where we saw extensive ruins of buildings believed to be part of the old Incan city of Tomebamba. Unfortunately, the Spanish conquistadors carted off most of the stone to build Cuenca...

The Archaeological Park.

The back side of the Park.

After Museo Pumapongo, we walked to Museo del Sombrero -- the Museum of the Panama Hat. Fun fact: Panama hats are NOT made in Panama...they're made in Ecuador! And so many of them are made in Cuenca. 

Friday afternoon, we found ourselves a chocolate shop, ordered some hot chocolate, and cracked open those homework pages. Later, we walked to a Spanish restaurant for dinner, then walked back to our hotel and packed up our things. 

Have hot chocolate. Will study.

Saturday was an early morning; we needed to leave our hotel about 7am to get to the Cuenca airport. We were keeping all fingers and toes crossed that our flight from Cuenca back to Quito would be on, as we had heard that 100+ Ecuadorian flights had been cancelled just a couple days prior -- pilots and airline staff out with COVID. A quick check of the LatAm app assured us that our flight was a go.

Even though breakfast at La Posada del Angel didn't open until 7:30am, the wonderful woman who checked us out offered to serve us. We had a quiet and quick breakfast about 6:45am, before flagging down a taxi at 7. Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the airport -- 3 gates total. In the security line, we didn't have to take off our shoes or worry about liquids of a certain size. I also had nail scissors in my bag; I was allowed to take them in my carry-on. Soon, we boarded our plane, and took off for Quito once again.

Bags, check. Two small water bottles, check.

It's almost time to fly!

We loved our time in Cuenca; we loved walking up and down super old streets and looking at the beautiful architecture. We loved a chill couple of days -- our last visit to the Ecuadorian highlands on this trip.

Our Observations of Ecuador So Far

So, we've shared with you a lot about where we've been and what we've done -- now two weeks in -- but we thought we'd take some time today to share some of our observations about Ecuador so far. Here goes, in no particular order:

1). Ecuador is extremely COVID-conscious

Since the moment we landed, we realized Ecuador has treated the COVID-19 pandemic much differently than what we experienced back in the States. Everyone here wears masks -- all the time. In a group, on your own -- you wear a mask. In the city, out on a mountain -- you wear a mask. And we've had multiple vaccination record checks: To get into a shopping mall, to access your hotel, to get into restaurants, to sign up for activities, to enter a supermarket, and more. We've also had our temperature taken in many of these same places. And everywhere -- everywhere -- you get doused with hand sanitizer. We learned that about 90% of the country is vaccinated, which is incredible!

Wyatt at a hand-washing station before taking the TelefériQo (an aerial lift) in Quito. [Yes, he really does wear his Eagles sweatshirt every day.]

2). You don't drink the water

Most likely, you already knew this one. You don't drink the water in Ecuador; you buy bottled water instead (which is super cheap in most places). You use this same water to brush your teeth.

3). Also, you don't put toilet paper in the toilet

You put toilet paper in a wastebasket next to the toilet. Now, in our hotel in Quito, we could put toilet paper in the bowl. But in all our other stays, nope. And in so many other restrooms, there either isn't toilet paper or you have to purchase toilet paper. Best to just stuff some toilet paper into your daypack, like we do!

4). There are a zillion stray dogs

Unfortunately, there really are a ton of stray dogs here. They seem to do all right for themselves, and Taylor and Wyatt certainly delight in the plethora of canines -- although we feel sad they don't have families and homes. 

Stray dogs on the street in Baños.

5). Ecuador uses U.S. dollars

Ecuador adopted U.S. currency in September 2000. For more than a hundred years, high inflation had consistently depreciated the country's former currency, the sucre, so that by 1999, Ecuadorian banks went bankrupt. We can pay for things in dollar bills and coins, but we have received some Ecuadorian coins back that just won't work in the U.S. 

6). American songs are played all the time

But they're remixes, and they're starting to get on our nerves. ;) Seriously, we hear American songs all the time in restaurants, shops, hotels, and walking down the street. It seems only in taxis do we hear Ecuadorian/Latin music.

7). The economics don't make sense

Tim needs to write a separate blog post on this subject, but -- and this is a massive generalization -- we don't understand how people make money here. When you drive down a street or a highway, you see sidewalk vendors or individual sellers selling the same exact things. They're selling drinks or food (the same kind of food) or car wipes or a creamy dessert. All of them. There's no differentiation. When we were in Baños, and confronted with an overwhelming amount of eatery options, there was no differentiation -- everyone was selling chicken and rice or pizza or bread or ice cream; every place was the exact same...just different décor inside. I'm not doing this topic justice, by any stretch (hence why Tim needs to write his own blog). But it's fascinating and confounding to us -- how do people make enough money to keep their business going and live life?

There you have it -- our observations after two weeks in this beautiful country. If you've got thoughts (or answers, especially to the economics topic!), please add a comment below.

From Banos to Cuenca: The Drive With Freddy

We left Baños on Wednesday, January 12 about 8:30am. The plan was for Darwin, our Baños waterfall guide, to drive us to Cuenca.* About an hour before departure, I received a WhatsApp message from Darwin; he was sick and couldn't drive us. But he had identified another driver: Freddy. Freddy would arrive for pick-up at our hotel in Darwin's car. We rolled with it.

At the appointed time, Freddy showed. We realized right away that he had limited English, and of course, we have poor Spanish. We put our bags in the trunk, said goodbye to Karl (Posada del Arte had been so wonderful for us), and got in the car. Off we went! Very quickly, we found ourselves on a windy road to Cuenca. We even found ourselves in white-out conditions, driving through clouds in the mountains. Freddy had told us it would be about a six hour drive, which we knew. What we didn't know was that we'd be on this windy, two-lane road for pretty much 98% of the trip.

For the first couple hours, we occupied ourselves by looking out the windows. We could see some volcanoes, lots of cows, and towns. We also passed several signs warning of rockslides, and drove around big rocks already on the road. We watched as Freddy would pass a slow truck or bus -- popping out into the other lane to pass the large vehicle. Most of the time he was patient and careful when passing, but I will tell you -- I said a lot of prayers.

Soon enough, the kids fell asleep. I got out my phone and took a few Duolingo Spanish lessons. But still, the windy road. The kids woke up, and Taylor complained that her tummy hurt. We urged her to drink some water and roll down the window. Freddy pulled over so that we could all make a bathroom run at a random gas station, and then we got going again.

Our view from the bathroom stop.

Peace, from Wyatt at the bathroom stop. Little did we know what was ahead of us...

We drove through rural and poor Ecuador. Once we got past Riobamba -- a stepping off point for those wanting to climb another famous volcano, Chimborazo -- the towns and homes looked very basic. We imagined that some of these homes most likely had dirt floors. We saw men and women in traditional dress walking their cows along the road, or carrying what appeared to be tall grasses in scarf-made pouches on their backs.

On we drove. In between Riobamba and Alausí, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. Freddy had to produce his driver's license, car registration, and maybe one other document (from what we could tell), and the police had to inspect everything. Turns out that Darwin's car registration had expired, although when Freddy frantically called Darwin to ask about the registration, Darwin was convinced his current registration was in the car. The police made us pull over to the shoulder of the road. Freddy anxiously said to Tim: "Señor, ten dollars, please." Tim didn't move; the policeman was right outside Freddy's window. Freddy shuffled through the car's documents again, and the policeman then asked him to pull a bit further up the road, so the cars behind us could get through.

Freddy pulled up the road, put the car in park, and said to Tim again: "Señor, money, please." With the policeman behind us at that point, Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out his cash -- which was several $20s and $10s. He gave a $10 to Freddy and said, "I didn't want the policeman to see my cash." Freddy may not have understood, but by now the policeman had caught up to our car. Freddy got out, said something to the policeman, and handed him the $10. The policeman nodded and let Freddy get back in the car, then waved him on. We didn't talk about it until about another mile down the road, when things felt a bit less tenuous. Freddy seemed fairly nervous the rest of the way to Cuenca. And between his weak English and our weak Spanish, there wasn't that much we could say to each other.

Another hour passed, and Taylor again complained about her stomach. This time, she started crying. I asked her if she was going to throw up, and she replied that she didn't know. A few minutes later, she did. I grabbed the Ralph's plastic grocery bag that held our snacks, and jerked it under her face. We saved Darwin's car from the result, but all of our snacks were toast. That is how windy this road was -- it caused Taylor to throw up in the backseat.

Freddy asked if we wanted to stop, but we urged him to keep going. We had earlier agreed we'd stop for lunch, and where Taylor threw up, there was no lunch.

So Freddy drove to the next town, and pointed out the stalls selling food from the sidewalks. He pulled over to a stall that had an entire pig carcass hanging from a hook, still dripping blood. Tim took one look from the front seat, and suggested to Freddy that we keep driving -- maybe till we see a restaurant. 

About 20 minutes later, we came to a much bigger town -- with restaurants. Freddy stopped at the first one, and we jumped out. We ate our standard chicken and rice (Taylor was feeling better and ate most of her meal), and looked out the window to a horse tied up in the back. After lunch, we left the restaurant, walked 50 feet, and entered the bathrooms. No toilet paper (as is the case in many places, including our above-mentioned gas station bathroom stop), but I had brought my own!

Tim and I had a chance to talk about the drive thus far over lunch, and we both agreed that Freddy seemed in a hurry to get us to Cuenca. We piled back in the car, and confirmed no more stops till we reached our Cuenca hotel.

Close to 3pm, we finally got on the highway leading into Cuenca (I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a highway in my life). Just after 3:30pm, Freddy dropped us off at our hotel, La Posada del Angel (hostalposadadelangel.com). We learned then that he would be driving back to Baños that moment...! We thanked him, paid him, and saw him off. Then we checked into our hotel, were shown to our room, and collapsed onto our beds.

We had made it to Cuenca. And ¡Dios mío!, we would not get on that two-lane road again.

*We had also considered taking a bus to Cuenca, but that would have been an eight-hour trip, and we didn't think the kids could tolerate that drive and the many stops the bus would make.

Rafting in Banos -- A Post by Wyatt

On Sunday, January 9, we went rafting in Baños. We got all geared up in a place called Wonderful Ecuador. For rafting, you need a wetsuit, a helmet, some shoes, and a lifejacket. When we got our stuff, we drove in a little van to the place where we were supposed to go rafting. There were two Germans in our group. Our guide taught us some stuff about rafting before we got on the water. When we were done with that, we carried our raft to the water.

Us practicing rafting before we go.

We started off with rapids. It was fun. But one really strong wave in the rapid knocked my mom back and her paddle hit me in the nose. My mom didn't fall off, but I did. I did a back flip off the raft and into the water. Our guide pulled me up, but when I got back in the boat, I realized I had a bloody nose. I got a bloody nose because my mother smacked me in the nose with her paddle. Fortunately, it stopped quickly. 

Then, me and my mother and my sister walked on the rocks because our guide told us that there were some pretty big rapids coming up and we could flip over. It felt really weird walking on sand with wet shoes, but we got used to it. When we got back on the boat, it was calm water. After the calm water, there were some more rapids. Then calm water again. 

We stopped by a rock and our guide hopped on the rock, then hopped back on our raft. Then I did it. Mine wasn't as graceful as his, but at least I made it in the boat. Then my sister went. Hers was just like our guide's. 

After we did the rock hop, we went in some more rapids. These rapids were pretty big, but nobody fell off. Then my sister sat on the front of the boat. She said it was fun at first but then scary when the rapids came. 

Us on some rapids.

Taylor's in front.

There was one more rapid which was really big, and we went down a mini waterfall which was a surprise. Then we were done. The grown-ups carried the boat up the hill to the van while me and Taylor looked for rocks. 

We drove back in the van and had lunch. I had the chicken, my sister had the chicken, my dad had the chicken, and my mother had the vegetarian. After lunch, we drove the rest of the way back to Wonderful Ecuador.

We walked back to the hotel and had a quiet afternoon. Rafting was more scary than fun, and I don't need to do it for a while.

Horseback Riding in Banos -- A Post by Taylor

We went horseback riding on Monday, January 10. We walked over to the stables at 8:30 in the morning. The horses were tacked up and were waiting behind the local park. We were confused because we weren't close to a trail. I was riding a fast horse named Martina, Wyatt rode a pony named Maria, Mommy rode Martine, and Daddy was riding the wild, angry horse Simone. When we got on, the owner, Jose, said that if we had ridden before, we could go as fast as we want. We all thought he was joking. (spoiler alert, he was not.) Our guide got on as we did and we started riding on the street. Literally. Taxis and busses honked at us from all directions and I was scared that the horses were going to spook.

This is Wyatt's horse, Maria, just before we rode.

Our guide said, Vamos, and the horses, including his own started galloping down the street when we said, shhh, the horses steadied to an easy trot. Galloping was not to hard in a western saddle if you lean forward enough. Wyatt started crying and shaking. I could tell his horse was confused and scared. It didn't help that Martina wanted to keep going and backed up into Maria. Wyatt and Daddy left and me and Mommy continued. After a few more turns we ended up at a trail. We did a lot of galloping and some walking.

It's just me and Mommy now on the trail. Our guide is in front of me.

After a few more twists and turns we ended up at a stream. we left the horses untied, our guide said they would be fine. The horses followed us and drank a lot of water. I should mention we were riding up a volcano. Our guide picked up some rocks and said that they were lava rocks.

My horse drinking at the stream

The lava rocks from the volcano

On the way back we didn't do much galloping because it was mostly downhill. when you are going downhill on a horse it is very likely you will fall if you are going faster than a walk. Once we made it to the street, busses and taxis started honking, Martina, the horse I was riding was trying to kick out at the busses. Once we made it back we hopped off and headed back to the hotel. Wyatt and Daddy were waiting for us there.  

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.