Visiting the town of Banos:also known as "bathrooms"

A man with a short,trimmed mustache leads you toward the back of the hostel. All you have is a pair of trunks on, or for you females the newest and cutest bikini. In your right hand is a towel. In your left hand is a cerveca, extra chilled. Ricardo and I happened to be the subjects of this experiment. We got to where the man was elading us and there they were: the steam baths, Ecuadorian style. Ricardo and I put our stuff in a small,brick changing room. We grab a towel and a brew and are lead into the steam baths. There are 3 steam baths in all. Each one is about 4 and a half feet high and about 4 and a half feet across. A wooden bench is mounted inside the cement enclosure.The 3 walls surroundingyou are cement. You sit on the bench. The mystical Ecuadorian man pulls a wooden board up to your neck, with a hole cut out for your neck. Fresh euclypstic (aahhh, spelling?) leaves are at the floor of your enclosure. The man closes the wooden top and the steam is turned on. You go through about 7 rotations of sensual, euphoric, bliss of intense relaxation. Every 5 minutes the man would return to our stations. He would then take us out my the arm, one-by-one, in case we got dizzy. He would then give us wash cloths dipped in icy wate, sourced from the waterfall of the nearest mountain. We would rinse in cold waterfor about 3 minutes and then we would get back in the boxes. Steam would be let out again, the box would fill with steam, as your neck reted on the wooden board, and the only thing sticking out, your beat red face. After 35 minues of this the man led us to this other cement box. we had to stand facing him. He then proceeded to shoot us with a high powered hose. The water was cold as heck and the power of the water tore at the skin. YOu felt limp as a noodle. We dragged ourselves out of there like slugs.

Steam baths are quite popular in this regionof Ecuador. I don"t reckon its a historical practice. Banos is equipped with some natural hot springs, but I think the Steam baths we engaged in were some creation of a brilliant minded Ecuadorian Mystical Shaman.

written by

kipmaddog on August 24, 2009 from Banos, Ecuador

from the travel blog: adventures from down south

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