More Banos, Banos, Banos

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We are loving Banos. We woke the other day to the sound of water. I thought it was rain, Dom thought it was the spa below, we were both wrong, it turned out to be the waterfall behind our hostel.

Banos is famous for its warm mineral baths, so we decided to give them a go. The nearest and most famous baths are just below the waterfall behind our hotel. It is basically like an outdoor swimming pool except the waters are heated from the nearby volcano and contain assorted minerals which are alleged to have special healing properties.

There were 3 baths at the place we visited, one was heated at 44 degrees celcius....and was too hot for us. The middle pool which was the largest was heated at 37 degrees celcius and was clearly the most popular. We both remained in there for about 20 minutes and I dont know if it was the placebo effect but we both exited feeling refreshed and full of energy. After the middle pool I tried the 3rd pool and it was freezing, but also exhilerating too, if that makes sense. We back for a second time today and saw many of the same old faces we saw yesterday. Lots of oldies were floating around in the pool, enjoying the healing properties and having a bit of a social gathering at the same time. I have no doubt there are plenty of extra minerals in the baths courtesy of all the urine from the oldies, but again we left feeling refreshed.

We took the evening volcano tour on the party bus last night with Tom and Jed and numerous others based on the sign saying Volcano eruption 2100hrs. How could we lose!!. The bus took us to the top of the mountain overlooking Banos so we could see all the town with all its lights on. Fantastic views. Then we had an Argentinian guy sing us some songs around a camp fire but we didnt get to see the Volcano and got no explanation why. But for $3.00 we didnt really argue.

I have taken a photo of a road sign, of which, its type are intermittantly placed all over town. It is of a man running away from an erupting volcano. I mean what else would you do. Still, it is not as good as the no dogs, no food, no drinks and no guns sign at the bus terminal.

We went horse back riding today. We asked specifically for horses that were tranquilo as neither of us are what would be described as even basic riders. As soon as I hopped on my horse named Campeon, our guide told me he was loco. Just what I needed to hear. Doms horse was named Benito and both were really good to us and didnt trot too much. We went up into the mountains, through the old lava fields and into the Ecuadorian bush, everywhere was so green. Our guide took us to the streams where water was coming direct from the volcano and told us the water is so pure you can actually drink it from the stream itself. Dom tried it, so I shall wait and see what effect it has on her over the next couple of days. Neither of us fell off the horses at all, which we are very proud of. Its a shame we are both not back until Mid December as we both now consider ourselves experienced enough to ride a horse in the 2010 Melbourne Cup.

We leave Banos tomorrow and return to Quito, direct to the airport, before catching an evening flight back to Peru. We spend a couple of nights in Lima before heading off to the Sacred Valley, Machu Pichu and Cusco for the next 10 days.

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