Baños was our final destination for our time in Ecuador. What we thought would be a place overflowing with fellow tourists proved to be a lovely place for residents and tourist alike to vacation. We started off by selecting a hostel solely based on the fact that they had a hot tub. Coincidentally, we arrived to find a very waterless tub. Silly us. We weren’t going to let this towns’ namesake go to shame without getting in some water at every future opportunity from now on then though, right?! The week ahead had much in store for us as we enjoyed a much belated anniversary dinner before diving into times filled with pampering, thrills, and getting cultured in a cemetery with the locals.
TOP HITS
1
Spa Day. Thanks to the generosity of loved ones, we treated ourselves to a post trek relaxation day and kept the anniversary celebration going. We soaked up the bliss of a deep massage and then soaked our fresh bodies in the thermal baths at Termas de la Virgen. As Jack would say, life is all about getting hot and getting cold. The required swim caps here made everyone look like colorful little thumbs and we loved it.
2
Chasing Waterfalls (Bike Edition). We biked the route of waterfalls and ended at El Pailón del Diablo. This quite massive waterfall was definitely worth the trek, and we were lucky to get to climb up to and behind it. We made a (failed) attempt to bike all the way to the gateway of the Amazon: Puyo. This weather had other plans, and we were grateful to get our soaking wet bodies and bikes picked up a bus to take us back. Ya win some ya lose some.
3
Canyoning Down Waterfalls. We had the pleasure of sliding and rappelling down waterfalls together. This was a first for both of us! Our guides were lovely (although they maybe gave Kim more tips than Jack on how to avoid a face full of water). This concluded with some good intentioned trickery and a bit of a trust fall no longer having control over the brake. Honestly, we’re glad they didn’t tell us how this would end because there no time to be nervous or anticipate (& it was a blast).
4
Rafting. On the way to our starting point, the guides told everyone that the water is higher/faster than usual making the typical class III rapids class IV. Everyone was given the option to go for it or change locations. Unsurprisingly, everyone voted to give it a go. This was quite a bit more intense (& fun) than expected. Jack braved it in the front of the raft and created a wonderful wall catching all incoming water. There was only one instance of us both almost falling out of the raft, but we all made it safe & (appropriately not) dry.
5
Domes Via Drone. Jack’s new hobby paid off by letting us have a taste of luxury for two nights thanks to his photos/videos. The first dome was situated high up looking down over Baños, and the second was sneakily tucked away right outside of town. Shout out to Jack for giving us these experiences we wouldn’t have otherwise had.
EATS & DRINKS
We enjoyed delicious Mexican food at Restaurante México de mis Sabores “Taqueria”. Arepas To Go provided us with fresh and flavorful arepas (so good we had to go back again). Of course, we continued with enjoying the Menu of the Day with extra picante (for Jack’s liking). We closed out our Ecuador tasting adventures with trying pizza. It wasn’t a shock to us that it was not very good (5/10). However, it was such a welcomed switch up that we enjoyed it.
HASTA LUEGO ECUADOR
It’s pretty wild to think that our weeks in Ecuador have already come to a close. Although Ecuador is slightly smaller than the size of Nevada, there is so much going on. We barely scratched the surface only visiting one of the four regions of Ecuador (we see you coast, Amazon, & Galápagos Islands). There’s not enough time to see or experience it all, but wow are we grateful for what we did have the chance to experience so far.
In honor of wrapping up our Ecuador travels, here are some silly little lists nobody asked for:
- 5 favorite places we stayed: 1. Lllu llu llama Mountain Lodge (Isinliví) 2. Secret Garden Hostel (Quito) 3. Hostel Cloud Forest (Chugchilán) 4. Hostal D’Mathias (Baños) 5. Cuscungo Cotopaxi – Hostel & Lodge
- Items left behind: Kim’s headphones, a pair of Kim’s shorts, socks, & our broken nail clippers (gone but never forgotten)
- Best items we brought with us: Jack’s sandals (Jack and only about 5 other people on this continent seem to wear sandals here), Jack’s headphones, microfiber towels, Life Straw water bottles, iPad to keep watching Breaking Bad, & many others (we made great choices if we do say so ourselves)
- The most useless things we brought: Kim brought two dresses that have been completely untouched. The classic thinking you’re going to dress like a different version of yourself when you’re on vacation. Otherwise everything has gotten solid use.
