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A banos a banos a banos ... that was the call that we heard over and over again as we made our way south to the city of banos. Our bus trip south was filled with pretty much everything that you could imagine including seeing a group of european tourists laying in a truck bed presumably hitch hiking, people on our bus with ducks, stopping about every 10 min to let people off and allow random vendors come on and sell us things from chicken kabobs to burnt CDs. But the 4 hour journey concluded with about an hour of complete beauty. We made our way into Banos going through an absolutely beautiful valley of the Andes mountains. After arriving we found a hostel and then went out to explore the Andes on a hiking trail before nightfall. The nice thing about Banos is that there are many nice hiking trails around town. We made our way to the other side of a river and hiked along a trail that went a long the river basin for a while. We sat there for a while and just took it all in before heading back. Upon returning we hit up what the
down got its name for "los banos" . . . the hot water baths. The town is in a volcanic area so it has quite a few thermal hot tubs that are naturally fed. After a long day of travel spending some time in the hot tub felt awesome.
Our second day in banos we rented some mountian bikes and hit the trails. It was a bit rainy but we have perserviered through much worse during the MS TRAM so it was no problem. Plus we really wern't worried about the rain also because the views were out of this world. It was a continuation of the valley that we rode in on and we had a tough time making good time because every 10 min or so we would stop to get another picture of what we were seeing which certainly won't do it justice. One of the reasons this ride is so popular is to see the Andes but another reason it is so popular is because there are many waterfalls along the way. We stopped to look at many of them but the last one we were actually able to pay a dollar to follow a
trail that leads right to the side of the power waterfall for a while and then you could actaully go behind it. It was quite impressive ... the strong forces of nature made us (or at least Andy) do a wild jungle yell into the falling water. Apparently it made him feel part of the Andes or something. After contemplating if we should take the bike back or just take a bus we decided to bike it back. Apparently many people will bus it back to Banos but we decided to take on the elements and the hills to get more views of the Andes. The last 5 km were pretty much up hill ... however we knew that even though we had tired muscles we were soon to be relieved in the hot baths. In general the group of 4 takes some time to get moving but it took us no time at all to get ready for the hot tub ... and once in it the ultimate relaxation began. We had such a busy day we had no time for dinner ... by the time we got back it was about 9 and we did not feel like
going out to eat. Instead we gathered together some snacks. We hung out in the commons area with some other backpackers and when Andy busted out the Maria cookie, peanut butter and banana tapas (a new invention) the American backpackers who had not been in the states for between 2 months and 8 months became our new best friends.
Our third day in banos was also adventure filled. We decided to do something called canyoning. Only Sunia in our group had ever done it before. Pretty much you hook a carabiner up to yourself and rappell down the side of a waterfall. Sounds interesting enough. However, we thought it would be more like a zip line but our guides were ... lets just say ... not the top notch quality we were looking for. There were 5 waterfalls that we were going to go down and for some reason the decided to start us off with the most difficult one. Pretty much a 3 story 90 degree rappell. On top of that the wanted us to do it without a security belt ... we pretty much at this point we were questioning continuing with this activity so Steph found
some random girl from Poland to take her place. What we went on to find out after a horrifying 20 minutes of "training" on top of a huge waterfall on slippery rocks, was that the next 4 were much easier. None were as tall as the first one and none were as steep. Apparently it's a survival of the fittest sort of activity. Anyways, Val, Andy and Sunia continued on and we all survived and it was fun... the view and being right in the waterfalls made it worth it. Although we all agreed next time we decide to hook ourselves up to a rope and go down a waterfall we'll see who our guides are first!
The highlight of the trip (for the chicas anyways) was a 1 hour, $20 massage. After all of the biking and hiking the muscles needed a little relaxing. While Sunia and Steph were getting a massage Andy and Val went to explore the towns festival. It was quite interesting ... it started out with a parade that lead into a plaza ... then they started shooting off fireworks. In Ecuador they apparently do not have major safety regulations when shooting off
fireworks because there was a crowd of people right next to where the fire works were being shot from. Then there was a traditional dance performed and to celebrate that the military guys made a big circle around them and started shooting off bottle rockets from their hands. Imagine 40 bottle rockets going off at the same time ... nice celebration.
Banos is a town known for refreshing yourself and relaxing. We feel like we were able to do that pretty well! On Saturday morning we had to say adios to Sunia as she was leaving Banos to head farther south to begin a 2 week program where she will be teaching English to families in Riobamba. From 4 amigos down to 3... Andy, Val and I (feeling like we were missing our 4th wheel) jumped on a bus and went 4 hours east... Amazon jungle here we come!!!!
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surtrek
surtrek
tours Ecuador
Baños is named for the Church of the Virgin of the Holy Water, Nuestra Señora del Agua Santa. The church is a place of pilgrimage for those who come to thank the Virgin for many miracles and to ask her blessing. The church was built in Gothic style from from volcanic rock at the start of the century. Inside the basilica are depiction of the volcanic eruptions and the Virgin's miracles. http://www.surtrek.com