Ecuador, Summer 2019 (Part 8 - Baños, Continued)
Our second morning in Baños was off to a hectic start as we woke up too late to have breakfast before our 9 AM pick up to go white water rafting.
We boarded a large passenger van and picked up a few more people before arriving at the shop where we got our wet suits, shoes, and attached the rafts to the back of the van.
After 30 minutes on the road, we got to the spot where we would begin our trip down the river. We changed into our wet suits, had a brief tutorial on dry land about how to properly row together as a team.
Our guide chose a Brazilian guy in our group and myself to be the two captains at the front of the raft. Our duties were to lead everyone in rowing by rhythmically calling out to coordinate our rowing.
The river itself was a lot tamer than I expected. That’s not to say we didn’t get drenched or that we didn’t hit a lot of big waves and rough waters, but I never felt like we were at any risk of flipping over or anything like that. Maybe you aren’t supposed to ever feel that way but I was definitely expecting it to feel more dangerous and wanted to get my adrenaline pumping just a little bit more.
Nevertheless the trip was a lot of fun. We changed back into our regular clothes, got back on the van and drove back to Baños, stopping for lunch along the way.
We were dropped off at our hostel, where we took a shower and a nap before deciding to go out again to eat. After dinner, I suggested we go on a “chiva.” Chivas are colorful party buses that, in most cities, take you around town to different bars. In Baños, these chivas take you up the nearby volcano to a lookout that oversees the city.
Afterwards, we went back to Carlos and Darwin’s shop where we booked the next day’s excursion as well as bought tickets for one of the chivas for $3 per person. I was surprised to see just how few non-Latin American people were on the bus. I would have figured that foreign tourists would flock to these colorful and loud modes of transportation.
Upon arriving to the lookout point, we were each given a small disposable cup of canelazo, a spiced alcoholic drink that is popular in the mountainous areas of the country.
The lookout area itself is like a micro town catering to the people that come up there. We found food vendors, places to buy drinks like coffee and hot chocolate, and there’s even a museum where the building itself is shaped like a volcano.
There is a $1 fee per person to visit the lookout once you get there. We gladly paid despite the fact that the cloudy night didn’t really give us the ability to see much down below.
The chivas announced that it was time to leave on their speakers so we hopped back on board and drove down the mountain. The chivas all drop passengers off in what I would call the “bar district” of Baños and they will typically pass you a coupon redeemable for a free drink at a certain bar. With our rough night of drinking in Montañita still fresh in our memories, we chose to skip a night of drinking and just went back to our hostel for the night.
The next day we once again woke up too late to eat breakfast before we got picked up from our hostel. Today’s group was going to be significantly smaller with just Audrey, myself, and a Swiss tourist who was traveling through South America.
We rode to the shop and got our equipment before heading to a series of waterfall which we would rappel down.
Our guide gave us a brief tutorial before heading up. Seeing as I was the only one who had done this before I had a better idea of what I was doing. When everyone got the gist of it, we hiked up the river to our first fall.
As the most experienced (and I use the term very loosely), I volunteered to go first. According to our guide this was the most difficult of the four falls.
I made my way down and about 5 feet from the bottom, I slipped and fell the rest of the way into the pool of water below. The waterfall was pummeling down on me and I couldn’t get out for a few seconds. I almost began to panic but fortunately I was able to get out of the water to catch my breath.
The rest of the group made it down safely and we made it to our next waterfall. This one was easier than the previous one, however I still slipped on it. I was fortunately able to recover and made it the rest of the way down on my own.
The third waterfall was more like a water slide so there isn’t much to say about it: we each sat at the top of it and slid down.
The fourth and final waterfall was by far one of the scariest things I’ve done in my life. We had to crawl our way slowly to a rock at the edge of this waterfall which seemed to be about 100 feet tall. From there our guide would lower us slowly down in a seated position instead of having us repel the entire way down. After realizing what exactly I was in for, I was able to appreciate the spectacular scene as I descended below a waterfall to the ground below. The might of the waterfall only a few meters away from me.
We were already done by noon so we headed back into town to have lunch and freshen up at our hostel. At 3 PM, we headed back to Darwin’s shop to inquire about renting a dune buggy to take us up the nearby volcano to the “Casa de Arbol” (“Treehouse”) lookout.
