More bang for your buck in Baños

Before arriving in Ecuador we knew sweet fuck all about the country, and we hadn't met many people who'd been there.  In fact, it's a country a lot of backpackers seem to skip over for some reason in their haste to get to Colombia or Peru (depending on which way they're travelling).  The only places we knew about in Ecuador were the Galapagos Islands of course, and a small town called Baños that Kurt knew of and we heard about along the way.  So after getting back from the Galapagos Islands we wanted to check out Baños and see for ourselves what it had to offer.  A shitload as it turns out.

Baños (full name Baños de Agua Santa) is a small city in the Andean highlands, about 3.5 hours south of Quito.  It's located right on the foothills of Tungurahua volcano, which is still active, so it's pretty damn impressive scenery. Baños, meaning 'baths' in Spanish, is named after the hydrothermal springs which surround the city, but this is only one of many things that attract so many people to this city.  And it's not just tourists who flock here but locals as well, as Baños is known as the adventure capital of Ecuador.  Bring it on!

We initially thought we'd spend 3 or 4 days in Baños, but there was so much to do and we liked it so much we ended up staying a week.  Our first night there we met up with Pete and Jake again (Americans we met in Quito) who were already in the hostel we checked into, then Sabien (Belgian we also met in Quito) walked in the door.  We knew she was coming but not for another day or two, so of course we all had to go out for a few beers.  Just a few mind you, we can be sensible about these things.  Sometimes. 

After the awesome hostel breakfast the next morning we went for a walk around town to see if we could hire bikes to explore the beautiful Ruta de las Cascadas (Waterfall Route).  We managed to get some pretty decent bikes for $5 each for the whole day, so off we went.  This route is about 18km by bicycle, and there's about a dozen different waterfalls along the way.  However, it's not the easiest or calmest ride, as you spend most of it sharing the road with trucks and cars. Now I'm not sure if we've mentioned it before, but South Americans are crazy drivers.  The minute they get behind the wheel they turn into insane, impatient wannabe Formula 1 drivers with a death wish, and it's highly unlikely most of them even have licenses.  We didn't have any close calls however, so we were able to enjoy the ride.  Except for the pain and exhaustion of a lot of uphill riding that is.  Minor detail. 

Hydroelectric dam

There were good viewpoints the whole way along, so we could stop and check out the waterfalls and valleys.  It was beautiful lush surroundings, but there was more than just looking at stuff to be done.  We came across a couple of ziplining places, one that was the longest offered (1km) and one that you could do tandem, side by side.  There was also a small bridge jump, but we kept going as we were going to leave that for the way back. 

The small, 35m bridge jump

 
We'd arranged to meet Pete and Jake at Manto de la Novia waterfall (the Bride's Veil) which was the last ziplining place. We'd chosen this one because it went across the valley and over two small waterfalls, so we figured it would be the best view while we were racing across a wire hundreds of metres above it.  But because we're super fit athletic types we'd made it there a couple of hours early, so we decided to continue on to the most spectacular waterfall - Pailon del Diablo (the Devil’s Cauldron).  I'm sure Satan was flattered they thought of him when naming such a beautiful place.  We had to park our bikes and walk about 30mins down to the actual waterfall which was pretty cool, a shit tonne of water smashing down on the rocks below.  And there were viewing platforms close enough that we were nice and wet when we left.

Pailon del Diablo

We went back to meet Pete and Jake at the ziplining place then bargained the guy down to $6 each.  How ridiculous is that?  We all got suited up with the safety gear, then Kurt was first to go so he was lifted up into the bands that hold your legs out behind you.  Next minute he was flying off across the valley, camera in hand to capture the ride.  The two guys were next and I was last across.  It was a lot smoother than we were expecting, and not crazy fast, so it wasn't terrifying at all.  Only when you thought about falling to your death on the rocks below if the safety equipment failed.  I bet that's never happened though. 

Manto de la Novia waterfall in the background

After getting over to the other side we jumped in a cable car/gondola back across which was just as fast, if not faster than the ziplining.  It was pretty cool actually, especially since it was completely open and basically just a metal cage.  Good times all round for $6.  We then had to make the ride back to town, but we'd been told to just flag down a passing truck or taxi that would take us and our bikes back for a measly $1.50.  We rode about a quarter of the way then followed this good advice.

There are so many adventure sports and activites to choose from in Baños, but something we'd been wanting to do for a while was white water rafting.  And why not when it's only $25 each, including lunch?  We had to drive about 30-40 minutes out of town to the river, which was about a grade 3, so a good way to start off.  We had 3 young tourism students in our group plus another guy, and because they could all speak English our guide gave all the commands and instructions in English.  We all had turns being up front captaining the boat in pairs, where you'd get a faceful of water everytime we went over a rapid.  So much fun.  I fell backwards overboard at one stage, but managed to keep my feet hooked in so others could pull me back in.  And luckily I didn't let go of my paddle either.  Not a bad effort.  All up we had about an hour or more on the river but it went pretty quick.  It wasn't over the top in terms of rapids, but it was enough to be a lot of fun. 

The one thing we'd been wanting to do more than anything though, was the bridge jump, or bridge swing.  We were initially going to do the one we passed out on the Waterfall Route, but it was pretty small at only 35m high.  And we figured, if you're going to do something, you might as well do it properly.  So we decided to do it off the San Francisco Bridge which is right in town and is 120m high.  And yes, this was crazy cheap too - only $15. 

The San Francisco Bridge we jumped off.

Beautiful view from the bridge.

We rocked up at about 10.30am but the guy was still setting everything up so told us to come back in half an hour.  No-one else was there when we got back so Kurt got fitted out with all the harnesses and safety gear.  And just in case you're wondering, it was actually really safe.  Not that we've got anything to compare it to, but it seemed like it was going to hold us.  The most difficult part was climbing up onto the ledge over the side of the bridge.  When we'd watched people do it the day before there were steps, which made it so easy, but we had to actually climb up the railing which was a bit awkward.  The last thing you really want to be worrying about when you're about to jump off a bridge, is falling off before you even get on the ledge.  But we both managed fine. 

The guy tells you to put your arms out and jump out as far as you can so you don't just flop off and get jerked by the ropes.  Kurt didn't hesitate when the guy counted down, and his jump was really good.  It was obvious from his yelling and cheering that he was having fun, all the way down to the bottom where another guy pulled him in.  Then it was my turn.  When I got up on the ledge I started freaking out and wasn't sure I could go through with it, but when he counted down I thought it's now or never, so I jumped.  Well, I thought I'd jumped out but when we watched the videos that Sabien took for us, I just kind of fell off, so the guy had to flick my feet so I went out in an arc.  It was the biggest adrenaline rush for both of us, and the funnest thing we've done.  We were both on a high for ages after.  Thanks again to Sabien for the awesome videos to capture our crazy stunt.

We also figured that since Baños is named after the many thermal hot springs, we had to check one out.  We went to one in town that we could just walk to, but it was in an awesome location right under a waterfall cascading down a huge mountain.  We chose to go at night when it was cooler and we'd appreciate it more, and for only $3 each it was a bargain.  There were 3 baths of different temperatures - about 36 degrees, 40 degrees and a cold plunge pool.  We started in the 36 degree pool and after a while decided that it was more than hot enough for us.  Most of the people in the hotter one were just sitting around the edge, so it was obviously ridiculously hot.  We didn't feel the need to scorch ourselves in that one, so just chilled in the middle one for an hour or so then cooled off in the plunge pool.  It was a perfect, relaxing end to the day.

View of the waterfall in the distance from our hostel.

The thermal baths were at the base of this waterfall.

The rest of the time in Baños we chilled out and wandered around.  We visited the randomest museum ever, which had everything from statues of Jesus to old costumes and random toys, to stuffed and pickled dead animals.  An interesting way to spend 30mins. 

But the thing that Kurt had been looking forward to for a long time was getting his tattoo done.  He'd wanted it for the last 6 years, so when Sabien told us she was getting a tattoo done by a local guy we went in to check out his work.  Turns out he's an amazing artist, so we kept popping in to follow progess when Sabien was getting hers done.  He did an awesome job of her black and grey gecko, so Kurt talked to him about his design and booked in for an appointment.  It took a while to get Kurt's idea across to the guy, but after we'd brought in a rough idea of what he wanted it to look like and explained the meaning to him, he got the idea.  When we turned up on the Sunday and he showed Kurt what he'd drawn up, Kurt was so stoked as it was exactly what he wanted.  And just over an hour later, it was done.  His lines were so clean and precise and it looked awesome.  Kurt couldn't have been happier to see the idea that had been in his head for years inked on his skin.  And it only cost $80.  Where else could you get such a quality tattoo, done with perfectly sterile equipment for that cheap? 

Getting started.

The finished product.

Carlos, the talented tattoo artist.

We had so much fun in Baños, it really did live up to it's name of the adventure capital of Ecuador.  For such a small place there's so much to do and see, and we would happily go back for more.