Baños

We had a plan. We were going to do some adventure sports, then stay at a farm for a couple weeks and learn all about Ecuadorian cuisine. That was the plan. That was not what happened.

We (Graham mostly) got really excited as soon as we got to Baños and signed us up for a canyoning tour for that afternoon and a bike rental to a bunch of waterfalls for the next morning. We got lunch at the hostel, named Erupcion de Baños (foreshadowing), and then headed to our tour rappelling down four different waterfalls.

The rappelling was great. The first two waterfalls we, ourselves ,controlled our own descents and were showered by the power that was around us. It took a bit of getting used to, as the friction of the rope was really strong when wet, so it was a bit of a waddle down. The third waterfall was a joint slide. Cam and I got tied together, and then they lowered us down the waterfall like we were dog’s that resigned themselves to a bath. But we were enjoying the bath. The fourth waterfall, though, was special.

Cascade de Silencio. This 45m drop starts on a massive overhang, where millennia of erosion has carved a massive drop basin below it. Three distinct streams drop into their own pools, which all rejoin together between the boulders at the bottom. We didn’t quite know what to expect from this, but as I got hooked up to my hands free system (the guide was in charge of stopping by decent), I looked down and only saw air between my ledge and the base.

You see, this was a freefall drop. So we dropped! About halfway down, they catch you, and you slowly swing and descend in and out of the waterfall streams until your feet hit the bottom. It was an exhilarating bit of adrenaline for our first afternoon.

We got a pizza for dinner and Cam started to lose her appetite. Oh well, we would cancel the bikes the next day if we needed to.

We needed to. Cam was right out. We’re not sure what sickness we ended up both contracting but it was not a fun one. We spent the day resting and recovering because the next day we were headed up the hill to our farm stay.

Before I can describe the farm stay, I should explain the town of Baños. While it may have started as a small agricultural hub, it now operates on a level similar to Banff. It is a fully catered tourist town. There are restaurants and tour company’s dotted along the streets. Each one offering the same sorts of adventures, zip-lining, miradors (lookout points), waterfalls, rafting, canyoning, etc. There’s a lot of touristic adventure here. So we were excited to leave the town, going up the hill to the farms, and staying close enough for the adventure, but far enough for solace.

Jokes. Our farm stay is right next to Animal Park, a zoo cultural performance hybrid (we think). There was noise all of the day. Additionally, the grounds of our farm were a instagrammers paradise, with heart shaped structures lit up for photos. There was a greenhouse, but not a proper farm. We felt misled as to what our two week stay would be here. The family cooked us dinner, lentils and rice, and we retired for the night, telling ourselves we would give it a few days at the farm.

The other problem was the host wasn’t there. An hour before we got there, they told us the left for Riobamba to vote in the presidential election the next day.

This was fine… but a heads up would have been nice.

I woke up brutally sick the next morning. Whatever Cam had, I had now too. I was certainly in no position to be volunteering, or working in any capacity. And to make matters worse, we were at the farm, where resources like pharmacies and easy to eat foods were near impossible to come by. While we tried to make a plan for the day, Cam spotted some mice in our bedroom. So we made up our minds, packed our things, and headed down the hill back to Baños to get a room to rest in.

The ride down was an adventure too. We hitchhiked down, as there wasn’t really any alternative (no taxi’s at Animal Park). I did everything I could not to throw up in the absolute angel’s car that brought us down. We ended up at a new hostel with a private room across from the hospital, and spent a couple nights here wasting time trying to recover. Cam was better, but I was near bedridden.

My sickness lasted for five days, until I felt healthy enough to get on a bus to do the waterfall tour that way. There was a bad relapse in the middle of it, and we switched hostels to one with a nicer view, as our little room was where we spent the majority of our time. It sucked overall, but you can only power through until your healthy enough to move on. We both noticeably lost weight, as while Cam was taking care of me, she was never at 100% as well.

We got to know the town of Baños while we were mostly bedridden. There is a busker who will play “Tú Estás Aquí,” by Jesús Adrián Romero every second song. I guess its a famous Spanish language Christian song. The restaurants are all overpriced and mid tier. There’s a lovely waterfall and hot springs in town. There’s a lot of friendly strays around, some who will even join you for dinner! Its a decent place to be stuck for a week while you are sick.

On our last full day, we finally did the waterfall tour that we had booked nine days prior. Yes, we were out of commission collectively for a week. We didn’t do it on the bikes, but took a bus instead, as 40km of biking seemed like a tall order for two people who’s diets were ritz crackers and chips for the last week. The bus was fun. We saw SUPER ADVENTURE PARK, which had 10 different fun ways to cross a valley. We took a cable car across a different valley, only to be taken back immediately, never getting off. We got a nice view of a waterfall for that though. The feature is Cacada Pailon del Diablo, a massive water cannon at the end of the adventure.

Diablo is a powerful waterfall. The pressure of the deep upstream pool over a narrow opening creates an immediate velocity to the water. The cannon plunges 80m to a turbulent pool below, where the chaos continues out of sight downstream. We didn’t get as much time here as we would have liked, and could not find the second path to the other side of the falls (turns out its a total separate entrance), but it was still a sight to see.

That’s our Baños adventure! Not at all what we expected. We left a lot on the table here, as we wanted to do the white water rafting and rock climbing as well, but we overstayed our welcome and are ready to move on. Further south to the end of the country we go! See you there!