Baños (October 6-7)

From Teña we took a four hour bus to the city of Baños. In Spanish the word baños is used for bathroom, but this city is named so because of its natural thermal springs, or baths. We arrived at about noon, checked into our hotel (La Floresta Hotel) and went out for lunch in the Mercado (market). Some of our group ordered sheep soup, which is served with dried sheep blood to sprinkle on top. I didn't go so far as to order it but I did try some of the dried sheep blood, it tastes like soft jerky. A little strange! I tried mora juice (raspberry) which is made fresh from local fruit in front of you. Delicious! That afternoon Court and I went with a few others from our group to check out the baths. They were so crowded!! We definitely got a few looks from the locals and one man took a picture of our group. We were a little disappointed as we had thought they would be more natural looking - instead they were just swimming pools. But at least they were at the base of a mountain and waterfall! The hottest pool was very hot, at least as hot as hot tubs back home. There were also really, really cold baths.

Unfortunately Court came down with a bug of some sort after dinner the first night so she wasn't able to see much of Baños besides a little shopping trip. Poor thing!

For dinner on our first night we went to Cafe Hood which was a really cool restaurant. Court and I both tried canelazo which is the Ecuadorian national drink. Neither of us liked it too much. It has lime, sugar cane and sugar cane spirits. Very sweet and syrupy and it is served hot. The sugar cane spirit has quite a kick to it! It's a really strong alcohol. After dinner we checked out the local nightlife. First we went to the Leprechaun Pub it was called and were given a free shot of sugar cane spirit. What made it so bad is it was lit on fire and we has to drink it through a straw, while it was on fire! Definitely not the best shot I've ever had. From the pub we went to a discotheque and tried not to embarrass ourselves too much salsa'ing beside the locals. It was fun to try though! The salsa music is quite modern sounding and really fun to dance to.

The next morning I wandered around Baños with Alice and checked out some local shops. The town is quite small and everyone is very friendly. Not pushy at all when you are looking at their booths.

In the afternoon I did a four hour waterfall bike tour with Melany and Theresa from Germany. We started in town and biked two hours along a canyon out of the valley Baños is in. Gorgeous scenery! We stopped at 4 or so waterfalls and took a cable car across the canyon to one. At the end of the tour we hiked down to the latest waterfall which was quite impressive. Then we got a lift back to the hotel.

For dinner that night some of us went back to Casa Hood because we had enjoyed it so much. Everyone was too tired from the night before so we all went to bed early as we have to leave early in the morning for Cuenca.

Unfortunately our whole stay in Baños was cloudy so noone was able to see the active volcano just outside the town. Apparently it is quite impressive and you can see it steaming on a clear day. We decided not to waste our time trekking up to the viewpoints since it didn't ever clear up enough.

-Lisa