Ecuador, Summer 2019 (Part 7 - Baños)
Audrey and I woke up at 5:15 on the morning of July 16th as we were scheduled to get picked up from our hostel by Wanderbus Ecuador, a tour company that specializes in long distance trips with several stops along the way. We bought two Jacamar passes for $89 a piece which would take us from Quito all the way to Baños.
We were picked up in a Sprinter van that was subcontracted by Wanderbus. I guess it makes sense that the bus itself can’t exactly go down some of the narrower streets in Old Town Quito. This was an extremely nice feature making it so we didn’t have to go somewhere else to meet the bus via taxi or some other means of transportation.
After picking up a few more riders from some of the other hostels we boarded the bus and were welcomed by our guide Darwin.
After a brief stop for a homemade breakfast, we headed to our first major stop on the tour: Cotopaxi. With a peak at just under 20,000 feet above sea level, Cotopaxi is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. We entered the Cotopaxi National Park which is still close to the base of the volcano. Unfortunately, like Pichincha, due to Cotopaxi’s high altitude it’s very prone to fog and cloud cover so we weren’t able to see the peak of the volcano. Two local guides joined us on the bus and led us on a brief hike around a small lagoon.
Our itinerary originally had us going to the tiny town of Pujili and eating lunch there but Darwin asked if we would all prefer going to straight to Quilotoa instead and having lunch there as it would afford us more time there. Everyone agreed and we were on our way.
Driving through the Andes mountain range in Ecuador can feel perilous at times with its winding roads and drop offs that are hundreds of feet deep, but it also offers some pretty spectacular views.
We made it to Quilotoa, had lunch, and were then free to roam around the area for about an hour and half. The Quilotoa lagoon formed roughly 600 years ago when the volcano of the same name erupted with such force that it collapsed in on itself forming a crater. The heat also caused the glacier surrounding the volcano to melt, flooding the crater and forming the lagoon you see today.
You are allowed to hike down to the water in the lagoon but we were warned that it is about a 1,000 foot difference in elevation from where we were to the bottom of the crater.
Although the hike down can be done in about 30-40 minutes, the hike back up can be extremely difficult at this elevation and can take upwards of two hours. Since we were on a schedule, Darwin strongly recommended that no one try climbing down and to my knowledge no one did.
Quilotoa is absolutely breathtaking and the view from the lip of the crater is one of the most picturesque landscapes I’ve ever seen. There are several artisan shops in the area obviously trying to cater to tourists visiting the lagoon. We looked around some of the shops and bought ourselves a hand knit alpaca sweater and hoodie.
We all met back at the bus at the time Darwin instructed and hit the road again for our last 3-hour leg of the trip to Baños, arriving into town shortly after 7 PM. As we were arriving, Darwin told us that he co-owns a touring company in Baños and gave us his card.
We made it to our hostel and called it a night after being awake since 5 AM with plans to go bike riding the next day.
After a good night’s rest, and after sleeping in past breakfast at our hostel, we headed into Baños to get some breakfast. The town of Baños is tiny, probably 20 square blocks at most so it’s pretty easy to get everywhere on foot.
We went to Honey Coffee & Tea, which is highly recommended on several travel websites. Our sandwiches were very good but a bit overpriced for the area. It was definitely catering to a foreign crowd used to dropping a decent amount of money at places like Starbucks.
Having finished our breakfast, we made our way to Darwin’s tour company where we met Carlos, his business partner who would kind of be our point of contact for our entire time in Baños. We rented two mountain bikes. The standard price for bikes around the entire town is $5 per bike for an all day rental. We also bought tickets to go ziplining with an operator that Carlos knew for $10 each.
Before setting off, Carlos gave us a map to follow along La Ruta de las Cascadas, or the route of the waterfalls, a nine mile bike ride towards the town of Rio Verde. This route follows the highway so it is paved the entire way but it is a very hilly trip so it’s not super easy but not impossible either.
If you don’t feel up to the task of biking the full distance you are able to rent a private taxi which will take you to all seven waterfall along the route. This option is significantly more expensive than just renting a bike though. Going on a bike also gives you a chance to truly appreciate the natural beauty of the area.
About ¾ths of the way along the route, we reached the zipline Carlos told us about. We strapped in, got my GoPro ready and flew over the valley below at speeds of roughly 40 miles per hour. When we got to the other side, we had to hike up the side of the mountain to get to a more elevated point to zipline back to where we started. This line was much steeper and I was able to go a lot faster on the way back.
We mounted our bikes once more and headed to our last stop on La Ruta de las Cascadas: El Pailon del Diablo (AKA The Devil’s Cauldron).
The route to El Pailon del Diablo is a 30 minute hike down a winding dirt path with some pretty spectacular views of the river and the waterfall that feeds it. Near the bottom of the trail is a small restaurant where we paid to continue our journey to the waterfall ($2 for adults, $1 for kids 5 - 11 years old, free for kids 4 and under).
At this point, the trek became a little bit more difficult as one is forced to crawl up naturally formed fissures along the side of a cliff. The space here is really tight and is pretty difficult if you are tall (like I am) or if you have bad knees (like I do).
Although the journey was challenging, the views made it all worth it.
