BANOS, ECUADOR

The rooftop café of our hostal was a pleasant surprise that first morning. In all seriousness, we didn’t see the sun our entire 2 weeks in Montanita. And when we climbed to the top floor, we were literally basking in sunlight. Our eyes adjusted to find we were flanked on all sides by magnificent mountains. Being in Banos is what I imagine it is like to be in the Swiss Alps. The setting is simply beautiful. After breakfast, we rented mountain bikes for the day and took the road to Puyo. It’s a dramatic descent from the mountains to the mouth of the jungle. I am not a mountain biker (or any kind of biker for that matter). It was painful and terrifying 65% of the time. But it was well worth it. We didn’t make it all the way to Puyo. We took too many stops and stayed too long looking at the amazing waterfalls along the way. I think I would be without legs if we had gone any farther. To get to the waterfalls, you usually had a 25 minute walk down the side of a very steep mountain. And a 25 minute walk down is about a 40 minute feel-the-burn-I-can’t-breathe-my-heart-is-stopping walk back up. Couple that with thighs already tingling from biking uphill and continued digestive problems and I think we did really good to get over halfway to Puyo! It was a beautiful day and the physical challenge was therapeutic after nearly the entire day before spent sitting in a bus. We caught an open air bus and road back to Banos as the sun set (Ahhh…..). Our second day in Banos was spent checking out the town and hiking the small trails that surround. We were quite sore and took it easy. That evening we tried out the “best baths” in town, Las Pinscinas del Virgen. The natural hot springs are just below the waterfall inside town. The walk to the pools was nice but the pools themselves were small and crowded with screaming children and old men in bikinis. In Costa Rica, Diana and Andy took us to an amazing hot springs complex with loads of natural pools. So I think we’d been spoiled because the two little hot pools they had just didn’t impress. They may be famous for their baths. But I think Banos has much more impressive things to offer. Though the experience did give us plenty of fodder and some good giggles. Bobby was finally able to satisfy his urge to be on a 4 wheeler our last day there. We drove up to Run Tun and checked out beautiful views of the Volcano Tungawhatchamacalit. I’m sorry, but there is just no way I’m ever going to remember it’s name. Earlier that day we toured the local church, gazed at its’ many paintings of local miracles and toured its’ museum complete with bizarre taxidermy collection. Overall, the people were as friendly as they were in Montanita. I noticed they used more formal language. We ate well and enjoyed the city but neither the architecture or the food impress like the grandeur of the natural setting. For me, this is what makes Banos so special and my favorite second stop on our journey.

-------------------K