Baños

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I arrived in the tourist town of Baños from Quito which could not have been more of a change!



How to get there:

Caught the Trole bus 25c at Banco central - C4 bus - & rode to the end of the line to get to Quitumbe Bus Terminal. The trole can get very crowded but come often so if the 1st is very busy just get the next one. If heading to somewhere other than Quitumbe on it make sure you stay near the door if you have luggage!



Walk into main Quitumbe terminal (this is very smart! Especially after Carcelen in the north) & go upstairs to buy tickets.
Quito - Baños $4.50 including 25c platform entrance fee with San Francisco tours buses. Took just under 3.5hrs.



Where I stayed:

D'Mathias Hostel $6/night for 6 bed mixed dorm. From the bus terminal walk to the road behind & head left until you see a sign for Hostals D'mathias & Nomada (they are both in the same alley).

They rooms are clean, comfortable & they have a well stocked kitchen & common area with DVDs. Also the shower is hot & they supply you with a towel!

I was lucky to find this hostel as an Australian couple had a guide book which suggested this as a cheap option.

The first night I had 1 roommate called Tim from NZ but the hostel was busy, by the end of my stay we had a full dorm.



What I ate:

I ate llapingachos (chorizo, fried potato tortilla, avocado, egg, salad optional rice) at the market a couple of times for $2.50-3, had a set dinner $3.50 1 night & cooked all my other meals. I found Frosties in the supermarket so brought a box of them for my breakfasts! Fruit is really cheap so always worth buying some bananas & such like for breakfast & if you are staying in a place for a couple of days or can find someone to double up with (like me & tim did the 1st night) it's definitely worth buying food & cooking it yourself.



What I did:


1st Afternoon: After checking in I took a stroll round town to find some food & scout out the market/supermarket etc. & took a walk to the basilica to take photos. When I got back Tim had checked in so we went to the supermarket to buy food & I skyped mum & dad.

Day 1: I walked up to the Virgen Mirador to take a few over the town. It was a lot of steps up & got a bit chilly at the top! Good leg stretch though.

After Lunch Tim & I hired bikes $5/day & cycled to Rio Verde about 18km out of town. On the way we stopped at the Cascada Manton de la Novia & Zip-lined over the river to the waterfall, walked around a bit & zip-lined back across to where we started $10 - you got strapped in horizontally so it really did feel like you were flying! It was awesome pretending to be a bird haha.

At Rio Verde we walked to see the Cascada Pailon del Diablo which is a huge waterfall (my photos don't do it justice) you pay $1.50 to go up to the waterfall & there are viewing platforms. Also there is a small tunnel/path by the main platforms which if you go up you can actually walk behind the waterfall! It was a bit of an awkward scramble & you got wet but it was definitely worth it. When you come back down to where you entered you get a token across a rope bridge where you can see the waterfall in full glory. After you trek back up (bit of a climb) you can catch a truck back to town which takes the bikes as well. It cost us $3/ea because there was only 4 of us but cheaper if you get 6/8.

After all that exercise we decided it would be a good time to visit the La Virgen hot springs which was a short walk across town (banos is not big!) entry is $3 & then you hire a cap for 50c with a 50c deposit to make you give back the cap.



Day 2: A couple of Australians called Zoe & Amy had checked in the night before so we agreed to walk up to the Treehouse (Casa del Arbol) at 2630m (banos is at 1,820m) it is a steep climb & took us about 2hrs but worth it. Entry to the swing was $1 & does feel (& look) like you are swinging off a cliff but after the initial shock the view to Tungurahua's peak (although a bit cloudy) & down to Banos was cool.

We met an American called Kenny at the top & he showed us a way back down the mountain where he'd come up & that night we decided to go to the thermal baths (again for me!) where I tried the hot pool this time - not good it literally felt like my skin was burning! That evening we made margaritas & went to Kennys hostel to play pool.



Day 3: So I had planned on leaving banos on Friday but after skyping Mum & Dad I received the bad news that my Gran had passed away so the day became a wash out of sleeping/trying to rehydrate & getting a little bit of food down.



I left for Cuenca Saturday morning.

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Photos

2015-09-23 16.01.01
View over banos

2015-09-23 20.50.43
Zip-lining

2015-09-23 22.05.16
Del Diablo waterfall

2015-09-24 19.25.21
Treehouse swing