Baños de Agua Santa

Alrighty folks, I finished up my eight weeks of school in Ecuador and have time to update ya on my crazy but amazing adventures. For our final weekend in Cuenca, Caitlin and I decided to go to Baños de Agua Santa (also known as Baños). Baños is famous for its thermal mineral pools and tons of outdoor adventure activities. It's located south of Quito and is near an active volcano, Tungurahua.

Caitlin and I didn't want to travel at night, so we decided to meet at the bus station at 7:30 am on Saturday, June 29. We didn't have any reservations or tickets, but had been told we could just catch a bus at the terminal and head over. We left at 8:30 am, stopped for lunch, got off the bus in a different town, took a taxi to a different bus terminal, boarded a different bus, and then finally made it to Baños at about 5 pm. We went straight to our hotel, Hotel Transilvania, to check in. Afterwards, we wandered over the small town to take pictures and eat supper.

A clock tower that didn't work

 

At about 9 pm we went back to the hotel to be picked up for a trip to the nearby volcano. A guide walked us over to a nearby party bus, complete with lights, music, and benches without seatbelts. We rode for about fifteen minutes with about twenty other people to the nearby volcano. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the volcano wasn't spewing hot lava, so it wasn't too exciting. The guide offered us some alcohol-free canelazos and allowed us to explore the touristy area, complete with cheap food and entertainers. As Caitlin and I looked around, we realized that there were only about three other people there that could have been from the U.S. or Europe. At that point, we truly realized how popular Baños was with the Ecuadorians and that it wasn't just for foreigners.

Baños at night

When Caitlin and I got back to our hotel, it was about 11 pm and we were exhausted. Traveling all day and scrambling to make everything work out was extremely tiring. On Sunday, Caitlin and I left the hotel around 7 and walked over to Baños de la Virgen, which was about 10 minutes away from the hotel. After paying, we found out that we needed to wear plastic shower caps in order to prevent hair from getting into the pools. Baños de la Virgen had three baths, one extremely hot bath, one mild bath, and one cool bath. The baths were a dirty yellow color due to the minerals found in the water, not because the water wasn't clean. Although it was about 7:30 am on a Sunday morning, the place was incredibly busy. A bunch of kids and their families were playing in the mild pool and many adults were soaking in the hot bath. I could not have imagined what it would have been like at a later time or on a different day.

Cascada de la Virgen

 

Caitlin and I spent our time relaxing in the hot bath and had a beautiful view of the nearby waterfall, Cascada de la Virgen. It was so relaxing to just sit in the hot bath and take in the beautiful mountain views around us. We soaked for about an hour, chatted (in Spanish!) with a guy from Loja, and then went back to the hotel for our free breakfast of eggs, fruit, and bread. After breakfast, we got a taxi and went to Canopy, which is Ecuador's version of zip lining.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked I wanted to do this. For as long as I can remember, I have had a fear of heights and haven't particularly enjoyed being extremely high above things. With ziplining, it was just me, a harness, and a cable suspended hundreds of feet in the air. Regardless, I was excited as Caitlin and I arrived at Puntzan Canopy and met our two guides. We suited up in our harnesses and traveled the 6 circuit course that had over 2000 meters (about 1.25 miles) of wire.

The view

 

As the female guide hooked me up to the wire and pushed me off into the canopy, waves of excitement and anxiety washed over me. I saw the treetops flying by me as I traveled toward the platform where Catilin and the male guide were waiting. When I landed at the platform, I couldn't wait to try it again. On the second circuit, Caitlin and I had the option of ziplining in the Superman position. This was my favorite as I truly felt like I was flying over the green trees and mountains below me. The rush of adrenaline combined with the beautiful views was something I'll never forget.

While we were ziplining, two of the female guide's kids joined us. The little boy was two years old and the girl was eleven. The girl knew how to do everything and the little boy didn't see to be afraid at all. This was also reassuring, because if a two year old could fly through the trees, then I was certain that I would be able to as well.

Like all fun things, our time at Canopy came to an end. After we paid, we waited a bit, and then rode back into town with some of the people who lived near Canopy. At the hotel, Caitlin and I threw our stuff into our bags, paid our whopping $7.40/person/night bill, grabbed some travel food, and just barely made it on a noon bus. We traveled for a while, got off in a different town, and then boarded a different bus for Cuenca. After several hours of traveling, we made it back to Cuenca at about 8:15 pm.