A holiday weekend in Banos, Ecuador

Last weekend we had the luxury of a four day weekend to get out and do some traveling. We took off on a night bus at 9 p.m. and traveled north to Baños where we were in search of natural hot springs and some good old gringo food. We arrived at our drop off point around 6 a.m. and after stumbling around dumbfounded for a while we figured out how to catch the bus for the final 1 hour leg of our journey.

Baños is know for it's spectacular location at the foot of the Tungarahua volcano which also provides the heat for the local natural springs. By all accounts this is a tourist town chock full of Europeans, Americans/Gringos and Ecuadorian vacationers. FOr good reason...it is a super cool place with a laid back vibe and beautiful scenery.

Known for its thermal hot springs, we made a point to get up at 7am to take a dip in the hot swimming pool at the bottom of the waterfalls. WEll, 7am was not early enough because it was chock full of Ecuadorians even then. At least they were requiring that we all take a soap shower prior to entering the pools. It was an experience that lasted about 15 minutes for us due to the crowds.

We were thrilled to find restaurants serving hearty breakfasts with fresh dark black coffee(not so common in Ecuador). After enjoying a nice breakfast on Saturday morning, we set out on a hike which turned out to be more of an adventure than we anticipated. We followed various signs that pointed to a "village" which we somehow missed. Instead we ended up at the ¨Casa de Arbol.¨ And, it was exactly that...a tree house, but with the most incredible view of the volcano, which we caught a glipmse of before it hid behind the clouds, and the world´s coolest tree swing. It swung straight out over a steep cliff which dropped off about 500 ft. below to sprawling farms and forest. A total trip to swing on. The volcano has been quiet for the past 3 months, so unfortunately we could not see any fireworks show at night.

The next day we rented mountain bikes for a little day trip adventure past multiple waterfalls and then the largest waterfall of them all at the ending destination. The riding was a little scary, at times, due to the holiday traffic, but the cars were pretty good about passing and leaving room. The best part is that it was all downhill and we only had to pay $1.50 for a ride on a flatbed back to town.

On our last day we checked out of the hotel and headed off to a spa to enjoy some of the locally touted treatments. For $35 each we enjoyed a mud bath, steam soak and a 1hour massage.The mud bath was hilarious because after we spread mud all over our bodies (yes, we were wearing bathing suits), the lady popped in a DVD and made us do some kind of latin dance video to help dry off the mud. There we were, covered in mud, dancing to the antics of some latin dance instructor on t.v. Thank goodness it was a ¨private¨lesson!

Next, they put us in what called a Bano de Cajon, where you sit in a steamy wooden box, and they seal you in with only your head sticking out. Fortunately you have exclusive control over the steam output because MAN IT WAS HOT!. After we watched a lady practically stumble to the cold bath, we though better than to over do it. Occassionally we could summon the attendant over by saying ägua por favor¨ and he would hold the glass of water with a straw to our mouths for a refreshing drink. TO add an element of torture, they periodically opened up the doors and literally threw cold water on us. At one point, the man wearing large galoushes straddled the cold water bathtub and motioned for Ben to sit down under him and then proceeded to dump a couple of cold water buckets over him. It was exhilirating to say the least. We both found it to be both hilarious and stress relieving.