Banos

Banos is well known as Ecuador’s adventure capital as well as thermal pools. It is set in a valley, under a volcano which destroyed the town after each of the three major eruptions it had in recent history. The town is pleasant enough- set up for tourism. For a strange reason you can also buy jungle trips here. Why is it strange- well because the packages are for lodges in the north east of the country- at least 17 hours travel from here?

A few hours after my arrival it started raining- and remained as such until late the next day! I booked a Chiva (truck) trip for the next day to do the Rutas de la Cascadas. It was the oddest trip that I have ever done. The trucks are fitted with benches, painted with colourful motifs and have super loud music blaring from huge speakers in the back- one even had disco lights?! The rain persisted the whole morning and thus we got somewhat wet as the sides of the truck were not covered.

The first sight is the hydro dam- which has some gates open to impressive volumes of water flowing out downstream. The waterfalls look good with the rain and many start from the mountain tops –which are cloud covered.

We also stop at a few zipline activities- which are good value if you are into that sort of thing. 500m zipline was only 10USD.

Later we stop at a sweet factory. The region is also known for artisanal hard candies.

We finally reach the cherry on top of the cake- Pailon del Diablo – the best waterfall near town. When walking alongside the river-or white waters that feed this waterfall, you already get an eery sense of the sheer volume and power held here! One crosses down two suspension bridges and down a series of stairs to be right behind the water- it is surreal! Loud and extraordinary volumes of water pass a narrow neck above. Every now and then a small rock shoots out into the ether as the force of the water dislodges it.

This has not been the largest waterfall I have seen; however, it was mighty impressive! The videos do the best of capturing the power!

The next day the weather was looking hopeful, but still with low cloud. I waited for the sun to try and burn off the low clouds for a while and then grabbed the 13h00 bus to Casa del Arbol (The Treehouse) which has huge swings with great views. As we gained altitude though the views disappeared with cloud cover. Much of the scenery was only visible for a quick time. I then caught the bus back to the cross lookout above Banos and walked the rest of the way back into town.

It was of course very ironic that on the day I was leaving the weather was clear, beautiful and sunny!