A Three-Day Tour Part 2

After composing ourselves after almost melting in the hot pool at La Piscina de la Virgen, we headed out to begin our biking adventure. We rented our bikes from a place near our hotel. We tested out our bike skills by biking all over the city trying to find bread and stuff to pack for lunch. We ended up getting some sandwich bread and some ham and cheese in slices to take with us, which would definitely come in handy later. After learning well how to avoid cars riding around in the city, we headed out on the road to Rio Negro, hugging the right side so as to allow cars and buses to pass on the left. The road we took is called la Ruta de las Cascadas, or the Route of the Waterfalls. They call it this for a reason. Just about every thirty minutes we would pass a pretty decent sized waterfall, and some of them even had this gondola-thing that would take you over a ravine to see it up close. We didn't do any of those, but we did take plenty of pictures from afar!

The biking process was relatively straightforward, and, thank goodness, mostly downhill. But there were plenty of uphill parts that made the legs burn. Jennifer and Anna knew already how to change speeds on our 21-speed bikes, but they were quick to teach me, and soon I was pedalin' with the rest of 'em (although the legs still burnt, and still do today...).

So once, we came upon a set of two bridges side-by-side. And we saw a man dangling from a rope on one of the bridges. And then we realized - they were puenting. That's right - they would jump from a bridge and swing and dangle below. Naturally, Jennifer thought this was a great idea, and after about 30 minutes of back-and-forth, she finally decided to take the plunge... literally. This was the result:

After passing through many tiny towns, we finally reached one which had a little more activity. Little did we know, until we saw the big touristy signs, that we had reached the home of El Pailón del Diablo, Ecuador's most famous waterfalls. We were able to park our bikes for free with a really nice lady who also owned a restaurant, and then we began the hike down, down, down to the falls. Once we found a little trail that splayed off from the main one, and after following it, we found ourselves next to the river, on a silt bed with many rocks that invited us to sit down and have our ham and cheese sandwiches - so we did. And after filling our bellies and mucking around in the river a bit, we headed back on the trail and soon found ourselves face-to-face with the Devil's Cauldron - El Pailón del Diablo. What a sight.

As you can see, it's a pretty impressive waterfall! It towers and it plummets with incredible force. And we were able to see it from many vantage points, from down low, from on a bridge (where the video was taken), and, from behind. Yes, from behind. We were able to crawl up a tiny narrow passageway (felt like spelunking!) until we had come out behind the very part where the water thunders over the ridge. You really could reach out and touch it.

Needless to say, we got drenched. But what a happy drenching! Never before have I seen the backside of a waterfall so up close and personal - it was such a thrill! We were highly impressed.

So after that high point, all that downhill hiking we did to get to the waterfall, we had to do in reverse. OUCH. Biking for several hours beforehand didn't help any either. Once we got back on our bikes, it was painful in the legs all the way to Rio Negro, with the exception of one really long downhill stretch that was a lot of fun to glide down! Fortunately, we had a lot of awesome scenery to keep us distracted.

Once we arrived at Rio Negro, we came upon a place on the river where people go swimming; but having just been in a thermal bath and a cascading torrent, we decided to pass. We caught a bus back to Baños, had much-needed showers, ate dinner, and toured around the city, marveling at all the oddities and touristy goofiness that the city had to offer. We returned to our hotel, exhausted. I think all of us slept a whole lot better that night!

By the way, we have many more pictures that we'd like to share with you, but we can't post them because it takes half a lifetime. But they will be made available upon our return, for sure (Facebook!).