Advertisement
Published: October 22nd 2011
Edit Blog Post
Baños is a small town in central Ecuador. It sits at the bottom of the highly active Tungurahua volcano. (I loved the signposts that you found frequently on the streets - see picture and they also tested their warning alarms one morning!) Thanks to this volcano the region is very green and beautiful. It has approximately 70 waterfalls and natural thermal baths. It also boasts a host of various outdoor activities.
After the 4hr bus journey from Quito, me and the gang (3 other English girls, 2 Canadian guys, 1 American guy and 2 Canadian girls) checked into a lovely hostel with a rooftop terrace overlooking one of the waterfalls and boasted its own spa. We soon donned our bikini´s and visited one of the local natural thermal bath´s. There were 3 baths, one which was freezing, one which was lovely and warm and the third which was ridiculously hot (hotter than your hot tap running at its highest temperature- it felt like you should be boiling in your own skin!) Thanks to peer pressure I eventually managed to get into all 3 pools had a lovely relaxing time! We ended up going to these bath´s three times
Me and
View from our sun terrace
Where we had breakfast each morning the girls signed up to try the Hostel steam bath early one morning. We didn’t really know what the expect but were glad we had each other for morale support. We were asked to sit inside a wooden box with just our heads poking out of the top. The box was then filled with hot steam (I felt like I was being cooked like a steamed vegetable!) after 5 mins we were released and had to wash ourselves down with a wet freezing cold towel and then get back in the box. This routine was repeated three times after which we were then plonked in a freezing cold bath and told to ´massage our intestines´. It was then back in the box for us the repeat the first routine before finally being jet blasted by a cold hosepipe…..I cant say that any of us were that enthralled by the whole experience, especially as one of the girls fainted two times…..we soon made our departures and did not return!
Seeing as we were surrounded by natural beauty we spent the next three days taking in our surroundings. We went on a ´short´walk up a nearby hill which turned out to be
quite an impressive all day hike where we ate lunch with a beautiful view of the volcano in the background and had some amazing fresh fruit juice. Trying to return back down and being scared by a rather unfriendly looking dog a young girl (no older than 10) pointed us to apparently the correct path down the hill. We then wondered if we were being filmed for some local ´You´ve been framed´ tv show as the path we were shown didn’t look like anyone had walked it for several years as it was very overgrown and descended the side of the hill very steeply! Us girls decided the best way to go down was to slide on our bums and hope for the best, it was very comical if anyone was watching! Nevertheless we all made it down in one piece with just a few scratches and insect bites to show for our troubles.
Next up was white water rafting…..I don’t really want to dwell on this one for too long as I really didn’t enjoy it. Halfway down the rapids our raft tipped and me and 3 others got dragged under the water. Once rescued I decided not to
On our stroll
Taking a break on the way up carry on…. On the bright side it was beautiful scenery and the sun was out so I decided to sunbath and rest until the others finished.
On our last day in Baños we decided to rent some bikes. The sun was out and we were all in good spirits. The route takes you along a river with yet more breathtaking views. Along the way we stopped by a cable car which zipped you back and forth across the gorge. This was very funny as it looked like it was run on an old car motor and a crazy hippy. However for only $1 each, we put our lives in their hands. It was surprisingly fast and the brakes were VERY efficient stopping you in the middle of the canyon and almost throwing you out, it was hilarious! (Pretty sure health and safety would not have allowed this back in the UK!) Back on our bikes we then stumbled across some small rapids where we could paddle our feet and sunbath and a very well hidden waterfall.
All in all Baños was amazing, many funny story and anecdotes and a great crowd of people to be there with. Unfortunately I had
Our Stroll
A better section of the route back down... to part my ways with the group though as they were continuing down south whereas I am heading to the Galapagos! We will keep in touch though and will hopefully meet up again in Peru.
But for me…..Galapagos here we come!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0295s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Daphne Jay
non-member comment
Banos
Hi Charity,It sounds as if you are having an amazing time on your travels.Glad you have met up with some good mates. Hope you do meet up again.Well done you for giving everything a try.Lovely pictures keep them coming.Enjoy the Galapagos.Take care Daphne.