Ashley, Hannah, and I met at the North Station in Quito at 2:30. From there we took the trolley to the end of the line at El Recreo and then headed to Quitumbre, the southest station in Quito. For being the poorer end of town, the south station is quite the building. It's like an airport. Seriously. You get there and then there are booths all over where you can get tickets to go anywhere basically. Hopped on a bus to Baños. Maybe there was a lot of traffic or something, but we didn't arrive until 9:30. We were very happy to have arrived to say the least. Caught a cab to our hostel Santa Cruz. There was a private room for two, and a dormitorio room for two (shared bathrooms). And then there was one open bed in the dormitorio room that shared the bathrooms with the open dormitorio room. But that option would have required one of us to stay in the room with three British guys. The accent might be hot, but talk about awkward. So we decided to share the dormitorio room between the three of us (cheaper than the private room for 2). Got settled and then went out to explore the town. Found a delicious ice cream place that had soft serve that almost tasted like Dairy Queen. How I've missed that. Came back and were in bed ASAP. Turns out that the British guys across the way like to party all night and then come back drunk around 2 in the morning. And don't know how loud they're talking. And use lots of curse words. I wanted to cast Harry Potter spells at them, but Ashley said that would be rude.
Saturday, April 16
Woke up around 8:30. Got ready for a day of fun and headed out to find a place to eat breakfast. Baños is a tourist town. And that is an understatement. Tourist planning companies or whatever you call them are located on every street, on every corner, by every hostel. So we chose one and saw what they had to offer. We opted to take a chiva (truck-type vehicle) tour of the waterfalls. Left at 10 in the morning and stopped at about 4 different sites.
This was the first stop:
At one place we took a cable car down the cliff so we could walk across a rickety bridge to get a better look at the waterfall.
Got back around 2 where we met back at the tourist company place and they took us to go canyoning. Canyoning is basically repelling down waterfalls. Superchevere. We got to this place and they gave us wet suits to put on. Being the dumb gringa I am, I put mine on backwards at first. Had to fix that. Then we hiked up to this waterfall. About 8 meters. Quite the experience. You have to completely trust the one rope that is attached to you and attached to a metal piece screwed into a rock at the top of the waterfall. But I made it alive and it was exhilarating! The next waterfall was about twice as high. The third water fall was not very high at all, but our guide had us sit on our butts and slide down while he held the rope. Kinda hurt, but fun nonetheless. The last waterfall was not what I was expecting. 50 meters high and I couldn't see over the edge. I thought it was a sheer-faced waterfall. Turns out that after about the first 5 meters it just drops off. No rocks to stand on. Nothing. You're just hanging there, suspended, and you let yourself down. Crazy. I don't have pics because I didn't want my camera to get empapada (soaking wet). You'll just have to use your imagination. Headed back to town, changed clothes, ate supper at the same place we ate breakfast. Ashley and I ordered the nachos which ended up being Doritos with a side of grated cheese, guacamole, and aji. Classy. We went back to the tourist company place to schedule a horseback riding outing for tomorrow. Earlier in the day the guy had told us $15 each, but now he was telling us $20, so we found another place where we could get it for $15. Walked around town a little. Saw them pulling taffy. Huge strands of taffy. All up and down the street. We had to try some. And it was delicious. Stopped by the ice cream store again and then it was back to the hostel after an exhausting day.
Sunday, April 17
Met at 9 at the new tourist company where they drove us to where the horses were at. We rented them for 2 hours. I got the big black one. We started in the town but as we headed further away, we went more and more into the countryside. It's been years since I've ridden a horse and it felt good. We stopped at a halfway point where our guia (guide) showed us these springs that are carbonated because they are connected to the thermal vents of a nearby volcano. Because the water is carbonated, it's safe to drink! Not a big fan of gas in my water, though. Then it was back on the horses and back to town. By the time we headed home, my butt was pretty sore from riding the horse. The trip back was pretty much all pain for me. I'm glad we didn't go for longer than 2 hours. Back to the hostel, pack up, check out, get on the bus, back to Quito. Remember how the trip to Baños took like 7 hours? Well, we left Baños at noon and I was back in my house by 5. Crazy. Quite an adventure.
Here's the Baños club:
From left to right: Ashley, Hannah, ME!
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