Baños

In total I have or will spend about 2 days and one evening in Baños. It is a lovely town with a lot to do. When I read about it in the guidebook it sounded interesting but not a must see.  I am glad I came here, I wish I could stay a little longer but unfortunately I can't see anything.

Here are some of the highlights

My first night I had fish and chips at this pub called Stray Dogs of Ecuador, and while waiting for my food read this book. It was cute.

After spending lots of time in big cities where it is kind of dangerous to go out taking pictures at night, I really enjoyed the freedom of an evening walk.  At night during the weekend especially there are lots of big gatherings, bars open, street performers, sidewalk artists... People in good moods going from taffy shop to ice cream shop and back.

Snacks, I can't eat the delicious looking ice cream, but they also sell lots of taffy that is soft when you buy it fresh and a little more tough over time. As you walk down the street there are like 10 guys pulling different flavors, and though it seems a little unsanitary the taste is too good to miss. I even had a few flavors I wouldn't normally like and loved them.

They also sell sugar cane all over the place and it is amazing!  Very refreshing and delicious, I bought a whole bag (around 40 sticks) for a dollar and can't stop myself.

Baños!  The public pools are a little gross looking, but were totally warm and lovely. The best part though is the view. From the pool you can see almost 360 degrees of the mountains that surround Baños. Including the waterfall that feeds the pools. Pictures below:

But speaking of waterfalls. The Ruta de las Cascadas- or waterfall route was a delightful adventure for a half day. 

The bike road runs along the actual highway at times, but basically you travel along the river and see tons of waterfalls - big and small along the way.

If it hadn't been raining so hard, I'd probably have seen more but I was glad to cop out after only a third of the way. Mike is not in shape.

And then there was the big one. El Pailon del Diablo.  Is a gigantic waterfall that you can get scarily close to.

Scarily close like it is a few feet behind me.

I was drenched from rain before going near it, but the spray from the waterfall is so intense it shoots up 20 or 30 feet and no one is left dry.

The fun besides just getting ridiculously wet, is that you can climb through these little tunnel caves in the side of the cliff and get close enough to touch the outskirts of the waterfall.

But getting completely soaked with your camera phone is a bit of a worry... So at a certain point I stopped taking pictures.

 Until later in the day when the guy I had been biking with decided to jump off a bridge.

 

Links to videos when I have a chance to upload them... But here is a girl who went backwards.

 

Then of course there is Cuy. Which is the national dish of the Andean region. 

Doesn't look as ugly when you eat it. 

It was a really delicious meal but it wish you got more cuy. 

The food here in Baños has been great, it's also been so cheap that I have been buying too much of everything.

Well I'd stay but unfortunately in all the hubbub I scratched my glasses pretty good. I can almost see better now without my glasses on...They won't be able to fix them here so I am headed to Guayquil and then on to Cuenca in a few days.