Baños, Ecuador

After Quito I headed south to Baños, Ecuador. Baños is famous for its volcanically heated hot springs and its beautiful surroundings. It is surrounded by giant, lush green mountains that seem to spring out of the edges of the city. I arrived on a Friday night during a 3 day weekend for Ecuadorians so it was packed solid with vacationing Quiteños (people from Quito). Had a bit of a hard time finding a hotel room and when I did find one it was less than ideal ( tiny with a crappy mattress, shared bathroom and no hot water). Oh well.

Baños was a bit touristy for me, and the main leisure activity seemed to be driving around the block blasting music. As I would sit at outdoor cafes, the same cars would drive by several times, all blasting their favorite music. Fun, fun.

Hiked to the top of one of the mountains surrounding Baños to La Virgen de Baños. It seems like every city in Ecuador has a virgen perched on a site overlooking the city. On the way up, I spotted the Volcán Tungurahua which is still a very active volcano, last erupting in August of 2006. In fact, it still shoots ash out of the top, which was pretty cool to see (so long as there wasn´t a full scale eruption while I was there). Continuing on to the top, the view over Baños got better and better. Really glad I went up as it was also an opportunity to get away from the mobs of people in Baños.

Last thing of note for Baños is the pools/hot springs. I went to the Termas de la Virgen, which has 3 pools, one of which is scalding hot, one of which is pleasantly warm, and one of which is freezing cold. The pools all sit at the base of a huge waterfall pouring out of one of the mountains. Really great spot, but too many loud screaming children to really enjoy the experience.

Off to Cuenca.


To see more pictures from my trip, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/jmellgren