a few more waterfall adventures

Baños. Amazing. This weekend I went to the adventurer tourist’s dreamland with a few friends (the usual crowd plus our friend from Ireland: Jenny, Andrea, Lisa, Laura, Colleen, Ayla, Phillip, Claire, and Meadhbh) for our last group trip…or at least the last one planned by Jenny. It’s so nice to have someone who knows the ropes figure stuff out for you. It was a real vacation; all I had to do was show up.

Alright, so down to the nitty gritty. Friday night we wound our way through the mountain roads, 4 hours outside of Quito to Baños (I swear, with all the traffic, it seemed like 1 whole hour was just getting out of Quito). Our local guide, Paolo, met us off the bus, showed us to our hostel (wicked sweet place...comfiest bed I’ve had yet, I wish I could’ve taken it all back with me, except for the tiny ants) and then we grabbed a quick bite around 11:30 before heading to bed. We would need all the energy we could muster the next day.

Since we entered the city under the cover of darkness, it wasn’t until I arose Saturday morning that I beheld the majestic mountains and volcano surrounding the city. And not mountains like those around Quito—beautiful, green mountains.

view from our hostel

I miss greenery. After engorging myself at breakfast, our zigzagging car ride brought us up, over, through and around some mountains, clinging to steep ledges overlooking the river below on the way to our destination: Cashuarco. This region/location is named after the specific type of sand found there. This was also the location for our day on canyoning: trekking through the river, repelling down waterfalls and jumping off of stuff into the deep pools. Our three guides (José, Fabian, and Paolo) taught us the basics in repelling and safety for the day. We suited up in wetsuits and harnesses and started over to the first waterfall.

all geared up and ready to go

After climbing down the embankment, our first task was to jump the 8 meters down the first drop off to reach the first repelling line. No sweat. I’ve found that I really like jumping off of things. And this was totally safe. Since we had 2 life jackets with us, we jumped 2 at a time and then threw the jackets back up for the next recruits. The first repel was shorter, to get us used to this new skill and also was on dry surface. However, once you reached the bottom of this line, you had to stand on a ledge smaller than my feet until you were hooked up to the next line and cleared to continue. Yikes. I loved the repelling, but having to wait here, only hooked onto the rock with my safety line was nerve wracking. Especially when the next person was descending closer and closer to your head and there was definitely not room for more than 2 on that small, slimy surface area. The next repel was a zipline, starting out next to the rocks but then you give a lot more slack as you fly through the air to the calm river bed below. Lots of fun. During this ziplining, I felt I had much more control than the previous ziplining experience I had. It was cool.

Then we trekked through the river a bit to reach the next activity. The mission, if you chose to accept it, was to scale the side of the river bank to reach a small ledge and jump into the water below. Obviously I accepted the challenge. Fun, as usual. A short jump, probably only 4 meters or so, but nice. And since the water’s not all that deep, you really shouldn’t jump from higher. And you’ve got to be careful to aim for the exact deep pocket in the river, because there are rocks everywhere.

a nice, chilly bath

The next repel was alongside a waterfall, wet and slimy rocks. At the bottom there were 3 choices: swim around the waterfall tumbling into the pool (easy), swim through it (hard), or swim along the outskirts (medium). I’ll give you one guess as to my decision. Yup, and the water felt great and it was nice to have a real current to get through. After this repel, since I was one of the first, I was able to lay out on the rocks and take in some sun until the others finished. This was also lovely. The sun felt so good—and the water was pretty cold, especially after being in it for so many hours.

After some more aquatic trekking, and a baby hop down another 2 meters, we reached a dramatic drop off. We hooked onto safety lines while we waited for our turn to repel down alongside, and sometimes through, this waterfall. The twist on this leg of repelling was that you only repelled ¾ of the way down, then you unhooked from the lines and jumped the rest of way, about 5 meters.

repelling down the rock face

From here, the end was in sight. A tiny jump down into the final pool where the water drains—I have no clue what happens to the water from here, but there is a river just down the way, so maybe there’s a way it joins back to that. Crazy though. There was only one small pocket of depth in this pool—and it got shallow really fast. But that didn’t stop us from climbing up the rock overlooking the pool and getting a last jump in.

We hiked up the path, overlooking the river and gorgeous green mountains and passing the trout pools (they grow/raise their own). Most of my peers had this trout for lunch—they are very proud of their trout, and I’m told it was delicious. I was completely satisfied with my omelet, rice, tomato &onion salad, and patacones. I LOVE patacones. Many times before coming to Ecuador I had the Puerto Rican version, tostones, thanks to some good Puerto Rican friends of mine in town. So I eagerly devour these delicious, meaty fried plantains. So good. Chifles, banana chips, are another of my favorite banana snacks here. Delicious and rich in potassium—everybody wins.

Back in the van, we sang along to a diverse collection of late 80s, early 90s hits from the states, got some techno in there, and also some latin flavor too.

Once back in town, we got cleaned up, walked around a bit and relaxed before the evening activities. This month in Baños is the celebration of their virgin, the local icon Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa. Yes—month. Every night for the whole month of October there is a celebration, on a new street corner every night. This morning we saw a marching band leading a procession of churchgoers carrying pedestals and statues of the virgin and other religious icons around town, to and from the church.

By this point in time, I was in love with Baños. I was looking forward to this trip long before I came, having read about this city in multiple travel guides. I was right. This is my kind of city. Manageable size and tons to do. Beautiful mountains and greenery in every direction; even a snow capped volcano (Tungurahua) that erupted earlier this year. I could totally live here. I love city and nature together. Okay, so it’s not really city, but enough for my liking. And it is quite touristy, not my favorite, but I love it nonetheless. Just to be outside, have so much available: hiking, rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, adventure sports, spas…the list goes on.

Now that I’ve sung enough praises, I’ll continue in my account of the weekend. Saturday night included a delicious meal out and then out and about on the town. My friend Camy was also in Baños this weekend and we just so happened to run into her on the street and made plans to meet up later. We also hung out with our guide Paolo and some of his friends. Playing games, conversing, and of course dancing. Always dancing. Such a warm culture, and patient too. I do think I improved my dancing quite a bit that night and maybe some language too. I love hanging out with the locals because then I get to practice my Spanish a whole lot more than when I’m with my English speaking friends. It was awesome to have such a diverse group of people out that night and by the time I reached my bed, I was exhausted. Luckily the soft bed and comforter enveloped me immediately and I was sound asleep in moments.

Sunday morning I again ate way too much at breakfast (it’s so hard when there’s so much, and it’s so good) and then we were off. First stop, puenting—or swing jumping. This is where you get in a harness hooked up to some rope apparatus on a bridge, stand on the ledge and jump, swinging like a pendulum. It looks like so much fun. Unfortunately, my morning eating and then zigzagging car ride made my stomach a little queasy and I didn’t feel it could take such a leap. Boo. I was really looking forward to doing this. Next time. But Phil’s stomach was strong enough and he took the leap of faith and said it was awesome. I’m jealous.

After this we went to the Pailón del Diablo, a spectacular waterfall destination. Seriously, it’s a crazy waterfall. We hiked down, up and around to get there and see this intense waterfall. Then, creeping through the cramped crawl space between rock ledges, almost cave like, we wound our way up to the top viewing balcony, directly behind the water crashing down. There was no way to experience this and stay dry. So I got my second shower for the day.

We had a lot of fun here at the waterfall, in the water, scraping through the rock caverns, and viewing the tumultuous water at the base of the waterfall. Apparently someone was once crazy enough to try to kayak in this water…I don’t know the specifics, but the kayak is still wrapped around some of the rocks in the water below the falls, so I wouldn’t guess it ended too well.

On our way back into town we stopped to have a quick ride on the tarabita. This is a cable car that zips across the open air space over the river. Like a roller coaster, but slower. However the sudden stops and starts keep you on your toes and holding on to keep from falling over or out of the small, not quite secure car. Lovely, really.

After a quick stop at the hostel and lunch we were back on the road to Quito. Now it’s raining sheets outside and I’m here in my cozy/cool 58 degree Fahrenheit room. Houses in Ecuador rarely have heat. Luckily, having a bedroom for the past year in a converted porch, I’m quite used to this.

written by

Theresa on October 5, 2008 from Banos, Ecuador

from the travel blog: Adventures in Teaching and Living in Ecuador

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