Second Trip to Banos

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We visited Banos for a second time in January while Tony's sister, Janel, was visiting. We were there for two days. While there we explored the town, did a Chiva (an open-bus) Tour of several waterfalls, and went horseback riding.

The first day in Banos was rainy, so we did a Chiva tour of the "Ruta de las Cascadas," the Road of Waterfalls - that included five large waterfalls. The most exciting parts of the tour were taking the cable car across a wide gorge directly over one of the waterfalls, and hiking in to the see the dramatic "Pailon del Diablo"- (Something) of the Devil - falls.

On the second day, we went on a half-day horseback riding trip. Our guide was great and we had mostly good horses. The tour went up a road above Banos, past a waterfall, and down a single track trail. We galloped through most nice stretches of roads - it didn't take long to figure out who had the horses with competetive streaks as they tried to bite and swearved in front of each other - that added to the adventure. It started to drizzle just before we started down the single track trail - again adding to the adventure as the horses slid on the wet rocks and mud.

At the end of the ride, we unanimously agreed that a half-day tour was perfect as we all limped away from the stable.

We had wanted to try a nighttime volcano tour or take a bicycle tour from Banos to Puyo (a full-day ride from the cloud-forest to the rainforest), but we had to get back to Quito and other travels.

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Photos

Bridge Waterfall
This was the second waterfall - we saw it from a bridge directly over it.

Cable Car Waterfall
The third waterfall had a cable car that you could ride across to see it from above

Cable Car Driver
Notice the picture of Jesus behind him

Pailon Del Diablo Waterfall
The last waterfall was the Pailon Del Diablo - we had to hike in for about 15 minutes, but it was way worth it!