Baños

Banos And Mountains

Some weeks after our trip to Tena, we arranged our trip south to the town of Baños. Only 4 of the American group ended up going along with me, but later we would also meet up with Jefferson (my Ecuadorian brother) and Sarah, a good friend of mine from the Hostal.

Baños which means `baths´(because of it´s geothermal pools) in Spanish but is also used to describe the toilet, is located about 4 hours south of Quito and slightly east of the capital too. It lurks under the highly active volcano of Tungurahua which over the past few months had, to the suprise of many of us, calmed down somewhat. I had spent some-time in January, just 15 minutes outside of Baños, in the observatory, watching Tungurahua during it´s highly active phase. I only came in to Baños only once, to eat pizza, but I neaver really got the chance to experience the place, so I was happy to see it properly this time. During the whole weekend - I never saw Tungurahua, as it was constantly covered in cloud, as it often is!!!

Baños is a pretty small town, and in some ways is very similar to Tena, due to it´s location on the fringes of the Amazon Jungle, but it has a far greater tourist population, of which there is no escape. The hostals in the town though are well catered and the restaurants are varied and of very high quality - the food here is really good. The town appears famous for making Taffy, a chewy, sugar candy very similar to English sea-side `rock´ but not quite as tough. Baños is also, quite simply an adventure play-ground of activities - it is definately New Zealand´s version of Queenstown. There are tons of things to do, from hiking to mountain biking, bathing in geothermal pools and jumping off bridges. You can hire quad-bikes and take off to where-ever you desire or do night time volcano tours.

Our first day was what would be described by the average human as jam-packed. We first headed off to the San Franscisco Bridge. Here there is an activity which the locals call puenting. It is simply jumping off the bridge with a rope attached to you while the other end is attched to the opposite side of the bridge. Basically you jump just like a bungee, freefall, before swinging under the bridge. You are then lowered to ground. You don´t fall as far as you would on a bungee jump, but the bridge is high and the fear factor is equally daunting - you still have to take the plunge which is always the scariest part.

All the people that I went with hadn´t done anything like this before and they all wanted to face their fear. I hadn´t done anything like this since New Zealand and I was equally as fearful, especially when I saw that they don´t use a bungee rope, but simply two ropes used for rock climbing. I had told my parents (especially my Mother) that I wouldn´t do anything like this again after my New Zealand adventures, but parents have to understand that their children are designed not to do everything they say - it´s just how we are!!!

The cool thing about this bridge jump (puenting) is that they have two platforms, so two people can go at the same time. So, surrounded by georgeous jungle and cloud forest scenery Brenna and I took the plunge together. You could see the pure fear in Brenna´s face before she jumped - but then to put your body and your mind in that situation is exactly why we do it in the first place. It´s the same reason we go sky-diving or on rollercoatsers. The jump was brilliant, as the adrenaline and memories of New Zealand came flooding back. When we had completed the jump I could see that Brenna was hooked and I knew this wouldn´t be the last bridge jump we did on this trip. It wasn´t, we did one the next day.

After everyone had jumped, we rented mountain bikes and rode from the road which leads out of Baños. It takes you along a large river in a deep valley. You get great views over the whole area. Waterfalls are a prime feature of this part of Ecuador and they are everywhere. All along our ride, we could see waterfalls springing out of the surrounding cliffs. The interesting thing about this road is that waterfalls actually fall onto it, so during this journey you often get wet, which is no bad thing in the heat of Ecuador. We rode for someway. Eventually we found a place where you could get a cable-car across the valley and right over, perhaps the largest waterfall in the area. We took the bucket cable-car across. At the other side we took a short trek in the jungle surroundings before returning. The way out of Baños is mostly down-hill, which was nice. We had treked some miles out of town but there was no way that we would go back up-hill by bike, so we hailed down a Chiva (bus) and headed back to town.

The food in Baños is pretty amazing. They have high class restaurants of all nationalities of which we endulged greatly. However, after some months in Ecuador, it was finally time to try Guinea Pig. At home it is a dear pet to many, but here, this rodent known as Cuy is a delicasy, though I´m not exactly sure why. It is cooked on a stick and looks vile. We shared one between four of us. It is placed whole, in front of you and then with a hacksaw, is chopped into quaters. Someone will be entertained with the head, another with the rib-cage, others get the legs etc etc. It tastes about as good as it looks. It´s like very chewy chicken, well at least thats when you can find any meat on the damn thing. I wouldn´t describe this lunch as a meal, instead it was more like an autopsy. One enthusiastic guy with us (Josh) decided to really get involved, scouring out the eyes and eating some of the brain like it was some sort of biology lesson. I always had one eye on that boy after that lunch. The rodent was served with a plate of rice and a potato. The thing that worried and confused me most about this whole meal experience was that the rice and potato tasted equally as bad as the Guniea Pig. In summary, I am in no hurry to try it again.

Later that evening, we also hiked up a famous walk-way, which is mostly a large number of steps behind the town of Baños, and which eventually reaches a small statue. The views over Baños are pretty special from up there. We also headed out on the town as the night-life in Baños is suprisingly good. Bars appear quite hippy, but everyone is in for a good time. A cervaza or two was consumed.

The next day, we took our second bridge jump. Brenna and I jumped together again. It went exactly as the first time except that while hanging under the bridge about a 5 seconds after we had left the platform, a small plastic tube flew past me from above and hit the rock floor below, smashing into pieces. We later found out that it is used to protect the rope and it had fallen off, but we were told that we were never in danger. My thoughts to all this was.........hmmmmm!!!

After our second bridge jump, myself and Max headed over to the geothermal pools for some hot bathing. The girls all went for massages. The pools were packed full of Ecuadorians but they were hot (some a little too hot). We had a good soak in there as my bottom was still recovering from the bike ride, of which (apart from a short stint in Samoa) I hadn´t participated since I was about 6 years old.

Later, we all met up and took our bus back to Quito for another week of work. It would be a busy week. I really needed to sort out my work contract and get my new visa as the time was fast running out for me in this country. Still, it didn´t stop me planning my next weekend trip away. But where???