Last Weekend in Banos

Whew! This week has flown by! Each week seems to go by faster and faster. Today marks 3 weeks that I have been here. I am heading out soon for a weekend at the beach, so I thought I should write about last weekend before I get too behind. Sorry for my tardiness!

If I thought I was stepping way out there in Otovalo, little did I know what was in store for me. A group of us took a 4 hour bus to Baños, definitely my favorite place so far. The town is known for being touristy, full of activities, and for its hot springs, or Baños, baths. It was a touristy town but not without losing its Ecuadorian charm and authentic feel. Baños is in the middle of a gigantic valley, so the little town sits nestled in mountains with the Rio Negro (a river that dumps into the Amazon) nearby.

Our whirlwind of activities began Friday morning with renting bikes ($4 for the day, no helmets…) to ride down a road where you can see the river and many waterfalls. The road goes all the way to a town called Puyo, 60km away. We went as far as 20km to the biggest waterfall, Pailon de Diablo, which we hiked into and then could climb a narrow crevice to get behind. Gorgeous! Along the way, we had some fun at a bridge where you can go “Pendulum jumping.” This entails standing on the edge of the bridge with a climbing harness on, attached to a long rope that is attached to the bridge and diving headfirst off the bridge railing. After the dive, you come upright and swing like a giant swing (pendulum) under the bridge. Josh took the first plunge! After watching most of our group go, the guy who was harnessing people up came to me holding out his harness and said, “No piensalo!” or “Don’t think about it!” So, in my life’s biggest moment of spontaneity and daring, I harnessed up! The guy at the bridge who helped you dive off said he would count to 3 and when he said 3, I had to dive. In my head the only thoughts were, just pretend you’re diving into a pool, and don’t think about it. …1…2…3…and I dove! It was an amazing feeling, such a rush! I still don’t think I could jump out of an airplane but this was a crazy fun experience. Can you believe it?!? I have video proof, if you don’t!

Upon returning from our biking/hiking/bridge diving/death defying morning jaunt, Josh and I rented 4-wheelers to drive up the nearby mountains. We zig-zagged up a dirt road, finally reaching about 11,000 feet to a beautiful view of the nearby volcano, river and Baños. The guy in the rental shop must have sensed that I had never driven a 4-wheeler before, so mine was somewhat “The Little 4-wheeler That Could.” I would have the gas all the way down going uphill and simply roll along while Josh blasted up the turns. He would have to stop every so often so I could chug up and meet with him, pretty funny.

After all that excitement, we cleaned up and then had a fantastic dinner at a tiny Argentinean restaurant filled with charm. For $14, we had salad, potatoes, corn, 4 types of sausages, 2 types of pork, chicken breast and a beef fillet. SO much food! The funnest part was forking it out of the big wooden bowls they brought everything out in onto our wooden cutting boards that served as plates. Delicious!

Saturday, Josh and myself plus 4 girls from our group headed out to go white water rafting. We rode a chiva, a truck with rows of benches in the back, to the river, got a lesson in paddling and headed for our Class 3+ and 4 rapids. Our raft was being mocked because Josh was the only man, all the other rafts maybe had 1 or 2 girls, and everyone was teasing us about flipping or falling out. I’m proud to report that our boat was the only one that didn’t have any problems! It was a total blast!

After all this hard, physical activity, Josh and I decided to go to the Baños to relax our sore bodies. Haha, picture a motel pool like setting with tons of little kids running around and water that is brownish yellow with “minerals.” Ick! Highly disappointing and un-scenic, so we left after 10 minutes. Basically, don’t go to Baños for the baths, ironically!

As much as I loved all our activities, Sunday was my day, spa day! See, I haven’t changed much. I scheduled us for the Baños de cajon and hour long massages. Upon arriving, we found out we had to go on some sort of nature walk before beginning out treatments. It turned out to be a bizarre, spiritual kind of metaphor walk during which we had to walk barefoot across rocks and gravel, scream from the top of a set of stairs and finally, crawl on our hands and knees in a circle 3 times. So weird and hilarious at the same time! The spa experience was worth the strange prelude, though. For the Baños de cajon, you sit in a wood box that only allows your head to stick out. The bottom is covered with amazing smelling leaves and junk and you turn on really hot steam- ahhhh! Felt so good! Then, they take you out and douse you with freezing cold water – yikes! You go back in, then when you’re done, you stand in a corner and they spray you with a garden-style nozzled hose. Sounds painful but it felt so cleansing. Then, our massages were divine, with some hot stone massage at the end. All this for $50, total! If only spas were this inexpensive in the US…

So, that was my weekend last weekend! A super fun time, I hope the beach can live up to its competition. I’m really having a good time, finally feeling more settled and adjusted. Also, my host mom keeps commenting on how my Spanish is improving and I am talking to her more than I used to. Yay!

I hope you are all doing very well! I think of home and my family and friends often. No adrenaline rush or incredible spa day can replace the feeling of the people and places you love most. Sending all my love!