Adventure

My new girl status is finally beginning to wear off, and it seems like most of the employees are warming up to my presence at work. YESSSSSSSSSS! My job here is strongly related to ecotourism development. Keeping that in mind, and also out of pure curiosity, I always ask if they have an opinion of a location in Ecuador that has mastered their tourism sector. My love for travel makes me happy that each employee that I speak with has their own opinion a location that I simply must visit in Ecuador. This week Andrés, a tour guide, suggested I visit the city of Baños, (pronounced banios). Baños is a small city with a population if 18000 people. Located about 7 hours away from Guayaquil, a pillow for the travelling bus is a good idea. Baños is very picturesque and located in the middle of  valley surrounded by the Sierra, and next to the Tungarahua volcano that is 5015 meters tall. The active Volcano allows Baños to have several hydrothermo hotsprings ,or naturally heated outdoor pools that are amazing to relax in. It´s a city that´s not only known for being beautifully green, it´s also known for adventure and adrenaline filled sports such as: Rafting in class 4 rapids (the highest and most dangerous is class 6) Volcano climbing ( you can feel the heat from the lava at the top!), Canyoning/waterfall tours, Zip lining, Cascading (climbing down waterfalls) trekking (nature hikes up a mountain) or bungee jumping and much much more! Every single day was so very eventful, that I will tell you about just one. To choose which day, was not easy! With adventure on the brain, and a jam packed list of activities in my hand, I had 3 days to do as many things as I could! Accompanied by a few friends we arrived at 4am in the morning after taking the night bus from Guayaquil. When we arrived, we were just wandering through the streets under the starry night sky, very tired and quiet unsure of exactly where we were headed. Luckily, an employee at a hostel asked us if we needed some help. Unfortunately, the hostel that he worked in was booked solid. He quickly took us to another hostel that was nearby, and on the way, asked us if we were interested in doing a bike tour the next morning. We agreed without hesitation, and rested our heads for the night. 
Arriving when it was dark out, is like putting on a blindfold. It wasn’t until the sun lit up the streets and the sierra, that we realized that we have arrived to such a beautiful location! It was very picturesque, which made it hard for us to stop saying ¨WOW!¨ every few minutes. The only ¨Downside¨ was the weather. Compared to the heat and humidity of Guayaquil, Baños was cold and rainy. They had reverse seasons here, the rainy season Baños was from June – November. It wasn’t unbearable, just a bit chilly, luckily I brought a light jacket with me.
There must have been about 10 people making stretching what looked like toffee candy on the wall. Another specialty of Baños is their sugar cane, and the sweets they make from it. It was very interesting to see the people mixing and stretching this gooey and shiny candy then package it and sell it. I am not a fan of sweets, but my friends told me it was delicious.
During breakfast, we barely spoke to each other, ¨mmmmm´s¨, took over most of the conversations, because the warm freshly baked bread was unrealistically delicious. The other stuff was good too, but the bread stole the show by far. After a healthy balanced breakfast, we were off to find our bike tour guide. When we met with him, he took us to a bike renting shop, and we paid a small price to rent what looked like brand new mountain bikes. Then it was time to roll. We had a total of 40k to bike ahead of us, but the scenery makes you forget you’re even exercising. I finally understand my good friend Derek´s love for cycling! Everything about biking, from the breeze in your hair, the amount of things you see in such a short time, and the rush that you feel going downhill gave me chills. I risked breaking my neck and my camera taking this photo while riding the bike. But  I really wanted to remember that very moment. I was smiling even before the picture was taken. In fact, my teeth got dry from being exposed to so much wind.

One of the first stops we made, after about 25 minutes, was at a waterfall named Chamana. The water comes from a river named Ulba, and was about 50 feet tall.

We couldn’t help but notice the people zip lining high above the waterfall off the mountain side and towards the look out point right over the waterfall. Our tour guide spoke to a gentleman for a few moments, and the next thing you know, we were all getting ropes and harnesses tied up around us.

My heart was racing. Heights and me I are not enemies, but it has never made me want to jump off anything. The ground is my friend, and we get along great. But there I was, ropes tied up around my legs and core. I was satisfied with simply taking a picture with the gear on, to make it seem as if I did something brave. But apparently, no one else was pretending but me.Moments later, we found ourselves on a Gondola going over the gorge and high up above the waterfall to preparing to do the unthinkable. Ignore the smiles in the photos, I was mortified!

My brave friends went first and second, then it was my turn. The way we had to zip down was kind of like ¨superman¨ style. Our legs were held up in a hoop shaped rope behind us, and our heads were facing the floor. We were hundreds of feet in the air, and looking all the way down at the water made me dizzy. After my legs got tied up, the man told me to let go of the rope, so that I can begin... but I refused. A few strangers behind me were encouraging me to be brave, and admitting that they were scared too. Finally after a few minutes of feeling panicked, I said my final words: ¨well, at least I was travelling and doing what I loved¨ and down I went. The rush was so scary, I couldn’t even scream. The initial drop was the steepest and fastest part. Then, after the initial shock, it began to slow down, as did my heart rate, and I began to smile. In fact, I was smiling so much, that I caught a few bugs in my teeth. (Protein anyone?) 

The orance dot at the top was where we jumped  from,
and that little white speck, is the reflecton of my helmet! 

We were told to stretch our arms out to our sides, as if we were flying, when we saw them wave a red flag. I saw the flag, brought out my arms, and when I arrived to the end of the line, I somehow got pulled back and ended up suspended in the air.

Suspended in the air, I remained calm,
and posed because I thought it was for a photo!

Luckily a little 10 year old boy saved me. He didn't even have a helmet on, moved quickly and looked extremely comfortable too. Everyone was laughing and taking pictures of this event.

Hey guys! 

My little hero

He was a natural

" You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.You must do the thing that you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

I faced my fear of heights in a big way, and I made it alive... despite my doubts at one point. Everything is so much more dramatic in my head, this taught me a lesson to not always overthink things. Especially scary things. If I can do what I thought I would NEVER do, then what can´t I do?
Whether I say I can, or I can´t I´ll be right.

Cascadas Jemelas

After a few more pictures, and a lot of gratitude, we were back on our bikes. Our guide made several stops at a few waterfalls so that he could tell us a bit about them, and so we could take pictures. After the seventh or eighth stop, I realized, wow there are so many waterfalls! When I asked him how many he said, over 65 different waterfalls are in Baños, which is quiet impressive judging on the small size of the city.

Cascada Manto de la Novia

Cascada de la Virgin

We then stopped at the beginning of El Pailon Del Diablo waterfall, ¨The Devils Cauldron¨. This waterfall was hidden, and we needed to take a walk on a trail. The area was known for their orchids, in the right time of year, you could see bursts of colours of very unique looking flowers throughout the trail. There were also wooden signs with inspirational and reflective quotes carved on them along the trail such as : ¨This world needs your help; We will become extinct as a species if things do not change; The best way to learn is to lead by example; Be smart, be kind, for nature needs you as you do it.¨ and many more.

During the whole entire hike we could hear the low rumble of the waterfall that had yet to come. The natural environment around us was very wet, and green. When we finally arrived to the waterfall, I was speechless at the beauty of it all. The pressure of the falls was very powerful and everyone got absolutely drenched by the mist. The sound of the water reminded me of that of Niagara Falls, except this was in a hidden corner surrounded by its natural environment. Being in such a beautiful place felt a bit like a dream, and if I didn’t have these pictures I would probably think that it was a dream.

Pailon del Diablo

After a long bike ride, our stomachs were aching for food. And we satisfied it with one of the many Baños specialty dishes, Trout with rice, salad and patacones (crispy refried green plantain bananas). That was accompanied by some delicious heart warming hot wine, another specialty of this wonderful city.

Delicious meal

We were exhausted after our full day workout on the bikes, and our big meals! Bed was around the corner, with plans to go the hydrothermo hotsprings at 4:30am to watch the sunrise.

In general, the people of Baños were very kind to the tourists. They were proud about their natural environment, and seemed very knowledgeable about details such as the many medicinal purposes of sugar cane. One thing that I did notice however, was the amount of european restaurants owned by european people that moved to Baños for work. I'm still not sure how that makes me feel.

All in all it was an experience that was out of this world! If you ever get the chance to visit Ecuador, Baños should be included on your list. It was a fantastic experience, and I hope to have the chance to return sometime in the future. One little weekend didn't even begin to scratch the surface on the amount of things you could do in Baños. I was in love by this enchanting green city, and leaving was a tragedy.