Banos – scrambling, rafting and waterfalls

8/2/23

Today I was meant to cycle to the waterfalls. It was meant to take a few hours, but I woke up exhausted and really didn’t fancy it. Instead, after I enjoyed a slow breakfast of avocado on fresh bread from the bakery and my coffee that I still had left from Galapagos, I headed to my coffee shop from the night before to do some Spanish. After I did my Spanish and had finished my flat white and cookie, I went for a wander, first mooching round the town, before deciding to go to a nearby viewpoint on the way to a popular tourist destination, a tree house.

The beginning of the trail was mainly paved with bits being dried dirt path but nothing dramatic. The view looking back over Banos, with a waterfall in the background was beautiful. I continued onwards to the tree house. My first choice should’ve been telling. The route it wanted me to go was a very steep and very muddy track, which looked very slidey, particularly in my poorly chosen shoes. I had done lots of outdoor stuff recently and just wanted a day off hiking boots/trainers. So of course, I chose my pale grey Toms with absolutely no grip. I waited for a couple to carefully pick their way down the path before deciding to go a slightly longer (hopefully better) route. I made it a fair way over mild mud, poop and up some steep slopes with only mild difficulty.

The next difficulty came the dogs. I had watched a guy on a motorbike carefully navigate a steep windy hill, only to be met by dogs barking. I was aware, but nothing came. Later two huskies came out of nowhere at the top of a hill, looking down at me – one was wagging, one dead pan. Thankfully, they kept going. I moved quickly, not wanting to stop to drink in case I was on one or another dogs’ territories!! I carried on, navigating a few more boggy bits and then bumped into an American guy who asked what I was looking for. (I wasn’t looking for anything, I was just carrying a stick for safety, so I could be ready to fend off any dogs). He said he also worried about dogs and that even though he had lived on his finca (a small house with farmland) for six years, the local dogs still did not accept him! Once I left him, I headed up a veryuddy path, only for it to get steeper and muddier!

Eventually, I made it to the entrance to the tree house where the was a Mancunian girl posing in the road with a large wooden stick. They had walked some of the way up and were also worried about the dogs! When we got into the grounds of the tree house and it’s gardens, it was pretty but was sadly lacking a view. All that could be seen was white cloud. I bumped into Maga, an Argentinian girl in my room and sat with her a little, after swinging on the swing, before I headed down to ensure I had a seat on the only bus back. I sure as hell wasn’t walking down!! The ride down took a surprisingly long time! As soon as I got off the bus, I got a meal from the market, because I was starving. Then I went back and chilled in the hostel and chatted with Nadja. Later she went to get food and I went for the mooch. My card was declined in KFC so I took that as a sign not to get an orea ice cream sundae 😂😂.

9/2/23

Today was rafting day. After a breakfast of avocado on bread, with my (still going) coffee bought for Galapagos, over half of the hostel set off for rafting. We were kitted out with dapps, a wetsuit and a helmet before we got a minibus to the start. We had quite a serious briefing and by the end, a fair few of us were wondering if we wanted to raft at all!! We were put into groups and we practiced paddling to the different commands. Then we carried the boat down to the water and we were let loose!

It was pretty fun!! We did a few different rapids and I got a chance to sit on the very front of the boat! This meant I was tipped up the highest and then had the furthest to fall! It was bouncy but very fun and if I was going to fall, it would be backwards and into the boat, so it wasn’t too bad. We did a category five rapids which is apparently fairly high – that one was super fun and I wished there was more of those! At the end, I was sad it was over. Time had flown! We changed and then had lunch on the way back in a roadside restaurant. We sat with a young German couple that were also in our boat, Sophie and her boyfriend.

Once lunch was over, and we arrived back at our hostel, I arranged with Sophie to go to the hot springs later, for the evening session. We swapped numbers and then I showered. After showering, Nadja and I went to check bus times to Latacunga for the next day. Then we headed to the chocolate factory. On the way there, we had to turn back. I needed to use the loo – my bowels were not happy!!

Second time lucky, we made it to the chocolate factory. It was a big space with only a small section for making chocolate. Most of it was a cafe and photo place. We did the tour and tried some chocolate – the praline sauce was incredible! We got ice-cream and headed back. I had chocolate and almond with chocolate sauce and hazelnut fresh cream – it was glorious!

I went to meet Sophie and boyf later, along with another girl Sophia, who was from the US. Then we went to the hot springs together and went between two hot pools, one icy pool and one boiling pool! I got chatting to another Londonder while we were there and saw another guy from our raft. After the hot springs, I went to cook something simple at home but told Sophie, we’d meet her for drinks after dinner.

After my dinners of scrambled eggs on bread, Nadja and I dressed up and headed for cocktails at a rooftop bar. You could see the waterfall from the bar and it was quite lovely. Sophie and her boyf came to join us for one drink after dinner and then we headed home.

10/2/23

Today was waterfall day. I had been meaning to go to the waterfalls since I had arrived but hadn’t got round to hiring the bike and frankly I didn’t fancy cycling. Sophia, from the hot springs messaged me to see if I’d fancy going on the bus, which seemed like a much more appealing idea, so we did that. I chilled in the morning, packed, went for lunch, and then checked out and then headed out to meet Sophia and the bus around 13.30.

The bus was a colourful, wooden thing, which made me think of India. We got on and the party songs were blasting! We stopped at various waterfalls on the way, each of the stops with something to sell us. At the first one, we paid to cross a bridge but this bridge was the only way to see the waterfall well. We did it while the rest of the group waited (oops!). At the next stop, we went across a canyon to see the waterfall on the other side on some kind of pully system. Thankfully the whole group did this. Then, finally, we made it to the most epic waterfall. It was huuuge, with loads of steps going from near the top of it to near the bottom. At the bottom, some rapids quickly twisted into a wide, calm river.. How strange. It didn’t look natural! Afterwards, we caught the party bus back to Banos.

After saying bye to Sophia, Nadja and I went to buy our bus tickets to Latacunga. As we were there, a lady said the bus was leaving on three minutes! We asked her to wait five minutes so we could get our bags! She said she would and we raced to get out bags! When we returned to the bus station, the bus was pulling out into the road! We called and someone waved us over to the bus, despite the fact that the bus was still moving! Reluctantly, the bus stopped just long enough for us to scramble on and for the ticket guy to throw our backpacks into the store under the bus. Then we were on our way. Weirdly, the ticket collector waved for two people to move so we could sit down. This felt awkward, but we hoped that they were getting a free ride..

Three or so hours later, we were dropped at the side of a dual carriageway, without a moments warning! A taxi was waiting for us and ran to get our bags from the roadside. Since it was dark and the road was big and busy, we were fairly glad the taxi man was there. Sadly, the taxi driver was also happy he had landed the tourist offload and charged us too much for the drop. Thankfully, it wasn’t loads too much, just not the regular price! I drops Nadja at her central hostel and then headed to mine, via many a dark and quiet street.

On arrival I was in a bad mood. I’m not a fan of bus rides and navigating the taxi to the correct place had been tiring. I decided I was going to go out for nice food. Supposedly, there were nice restaurants nearby, but I didn’t really find them. I went to one where you had to send a message to a random WhatsApp number to see the menu, but it didn’t work and all the staff were to wary to try and speak Spanish to me. I left and headed to a burger place playing bachata music. The inside looked like a shitty diner, but the garden was cute. I ordered a burger and fries and shortly afterwards, a group of police came to order their fancy kebabs on sticks. Afterwards, I headed back.

It turned out I was sharing my room with a German guy who I had met in Banos. He was wondering about doing the Quilotoa loop (traditionally a three day hike) over two days. That seemed too hardcore for me and I wasn’t in a rush. I repacked my bags so I only had what I needed for hiking in my big rucksack and then headed to bed.