Banos

Ever since I first heard of Banos I always laugh when I saw it. I find it kind of astonishing and ever so delightful that there is a major tourist destination in the middle of Ecuador that is literally called the toilet.

I believe Banos actually gets it´s name as it is known for it´s thermal springs. Based on what I´ve read in the guide books and talked with others, the hot springs water gets changed daily at best. This means the best time to go is at like 5 am when they open. While highly recommended by others, it gets the big thanks but no thanks for me. Luckily Banos is also known for white water rafting, hiking, biking, and a wide variety of other activities.

The day I got into Quito from the Galapagos I went straight to the bus station and caught a bus to Banos. I´ve found the buses in Ecuador to be a bit more challenging than the rest of Latin America as you really have to pay attention for your stop. Banos was no exception and I almost missed my stop but then quickly hustled off and headed for the Blancos y Plantas hostel recommended to me.

Banos is an adorable little town. The main area is not too large and it feels very safe and comfortable to walk around at night. I found a lovely little Mexican restaurant and promptly went to sleep after dinner.

The next day I had planned to do some hiking but it was pouring. A few of the locals thought that it might clear up later in the day, but there was no way to know. After 8 days without internet, I had a lot of email to catch up on, so I spent some qt in the Internet cafe and then tried to walk around some more. The umbrella I bought in Quito came in handy today!
I had met a women at breakfast who worked at one of the spa´s down the road, Chakra. Based on her recommendation I had a lovely one hour hot stone massage for a mere $20. Yes, I was liking Banos quite a bit.

I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with one of the guys in my room and then reading in the cafe upstairs. There was no rest for the weary with the rain, so rather reluctantly I headed to dinner and then sleep to dream of warmer days tomorrow.

The next day my wish was granted. The sky wasn´t exactly clear, but it would do. I headed over to la officina de turismo and got a free map of the area. The agent recommended a walk up to the virgin mary (the latin american´s sure do love to put the virgin mary up a really big hill) and then from there a walk to the farming town of Rutun.

The walk up to the virgin was mostly paved stairs - but over 650 of them! From there it was up, up, up for about another hour and a half of single track rather muddy path. There was a slightly disarming moment when the path let out into a huge cow pasture and several cows stared straight at me. I somewhat timidly continued on, trying to also plan some strategy should a cow try and come close. It was a long way up with many false hopes of being there, but the view of banos was totally worth it. From there it was more single muddy track to Rutun, when it eventually opened onto a road. I took the road down and back towards banos. After about another 30 minutes a farmer stopped to chat with me. We exchanged a few sentences and then he offered to show me his house. He explained that he had cows and chickens His house was a little two room adobe house. One room had the kitchen and a fire. The other served as his bedroom and living room. He had some herb that he just picked and made tea with. We sat and chatted for about 20 minutes. We covered a wide range of topics from our mutual love of Obama, me describing my life in San Francisco, and both of us talking about our travels. It was really very special and so nice of him to share his home and stories with me.

From there it was down, down, down to Banos. I decided to take the paved road over slipping and sliding my way down the huge hill. It took another couple of hours before my very weary self showed back up in the hostel, but it had been an amazing day.

My last day in Banos was spent white water rafting. I was a bit intimidated when I signed up and was told that the trip included the cost of a wet suit. I had never been white water rafting before where it was so cold you needed to wear a wet suit. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the water wasn´t too bad and the trip itself was a blast. There were 6 of us in our raft total including the guide and we flew through the water. I would definitely recommend booking with Geotours if you find yourself in Banos. After lunch with the group, I came back to the hostel, took a quick shower and checked out. I was off to Montinita!