A Three-Day Tour Part 1

Baños. The Gatlinburg of Ecuador. Surrounded by vaulting mountains and lush waterfalls, it is a outdoors-person's paradise. Yet from the moment you get off the bus at the loud, chaotic bus terminal in the north of the city, you know you're in for a tourist trap. Tiny stalls crammed with even tinier trinkets stretch the length of the terminal. In wandering the streets trying to find our hotel, we were introduced to the many crazy, obnoxious train-car things that light up and play half-circus music while they parade tourists around. People in tourism companies hawk all sorts of opportunities, from traditional outdoor ventures to "volcano tours" which promise you fire of some sort.

After arriving at our hotel on Friday, which is called Plantas y Blanco (Plants and White, which is exactly how it's decorated), Anna, Jennifer, and I settled in to our 3-bed room, which we discovered offered no insulation from the 24-hr bustling of the city. Needless to say it was a very long and sleepless first night. But thankfully we were able to have some great food at a local café, which doubled as the owner's art studio. The artsiness of the place was highlighted even further with meal names such as: Vegetarian Concerto, or Vegetarian Symphony, or Paellano Explosion! Plus it was awesome to have vegetables for once instead of the usual meat/potato/rice combo.

Saturday Morning Bathing

After tossing and turning all night to the sounds of crazy music and shouting, we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready to go to La Piscina de la Virgen, one of the most popular thermal baths in Baños. So, after filling up on some good breakfast food at the café at the hotel and pre-bathing in sunscreen, we headed off to the pool. Set by a waterfall, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to relax before our planned bike trip later on. The place has three pools - one cold, one warmer, and one scalding. Jennifer and I decided to start with the scalding one, which is right next to the waterfall. After "showering" to clean ourselves before getting in the pool, we, barefoot, braved the puddles of warm standing water that littered the whole area and entered the pool. Man was it hot. We wanted to sweat, but couldn't. It was relaxing at first, and when we got out, we both felt like jelly, but we could only stand it for a few minutes at a time. After two separate attempts to fully enjoy the bath experience, we considered ourselves fully bathed out. We headed back to the hotel for a real shower and then set off on our next adventure for the day: biking from Baños east to the town of Rio Negro on the Ruta de las Cascadas (Route of the Waterfalls). Stay tuned for the next installment of our Baños adventure, and in the meantime, enjoy more photos of Jennifer and me torturing ourselves in the scalding hot pool.

Showering off beforehand

Getting in for the first time. Yeah, it was warm.

In the pool, content with ourselves for having made it in this far. Note the expression on Jennifer's face is the same as in the previous picture. It definitely took a while for the effect to wear off.