Ecuador Road Trip | Baños

Mar 1

Baños de Agua Santa, commonly referred to as Baños, was the perfect place to rejuvenate and “clean myself up” after four days in the jungle. While staying at the Sangay Spa Hotel right next to a beautiful waterfall, I was able to send my clothes out to actually be laundered in something other than dirty sink water; took a long, hot shower with clean water; and got a much needed mani/pedi to dig out the remainder of the jungle mud. All that followed by an awesome Ayurvedic massage (the prices are very cheap here for massages) and I felt like a new person! It was so relaxing to take leisurely walks around the peaceful, tranquil city.

Baños, in central Ecuador, is located on the northern foothills of the Tungurahua volcano which actually erupted just a few days before we arrived. The eruption did not cause the city to be evacuated as it had been in 1999, but we were able to see a dusting of ash on the leaves of trees and bushes. There were also occasional tremors while we were there. Unfortunately, it was too overcast, or there was still too much ash in the air, for us to be able to actually see the volcano.

The waterfalls around Baños are spectacular. We took a drive to the road of the waterfalls and hiked to the base of the legendary Pailon del Diablo’s fall (Devil’s Caldron).

From there we drove a little further to another beautiful location and a ride across the Pastaza river canyon on a cable car, 900 ft. on top of the river and 1200 ft. across.

I had heard Baños is a great city for adventure and really wanted to try zip lining while I was there. However when I saw it next to us on the cable car, I decided maybe to wait for something a little “milder” for my first zip lining experience. Yes, in other words, I totally chickened out.

Once I made my final decision not to zip line, we drove outside of town a little ways and fought our way past a very persistent little bull to Casa de Arbol or “The Treehouse”.

David held this guy back so I could cross

Attached to the ladder of the tree house is a plastic bucket where you drop in a few coins and get the thrill of swinging 2600 meters above sea level. It wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it would be – maybe it just seemed mild in comparison to the zip lining?

The highlight of my day was the conversation I had with Carlos. I loved the wonderful conversation in a mix of English and Spanish with this interesting, charismatic man. Carlos works for the Military Geographical Institute and his job is to monitor activity of the Tungurahua volcano from this viewpoint. The story goes that during some slow times he and his buddies got bored waiting for something to happen and built this treehouse with the swing. It has become such a popular tourist attraction Carlos now has constant visitors and company. He shared his log book where visitors have written stories and drawn pictures of their time at Casa del Arbol. He was such a joyful man and obviously loves having visitors! It was the perfect end to another wonderful day in Ecuador.