Baños de Agua Santa - Ecuador

Baños de Agua Santa (or short Baños) is the adrenaline sport capital of Ecuador and is located in a valley surrounded by lush green hills and the active vulcano Tungurahua. After two months of constant travelling and hostel/hotel stays, we were very happy to stay in an appartment with a fully equipped kitchen for more than a week. We could get up when we wanted to, fix our own breakfast (allthough every place we stayed at so far served great breakfast) and most importantly: spent a lot of time preparing homecooked dinners and share a bottle of wine. 

During our stay in Baños we tried to get a good look at the vulcano by walking to the view points at Los Antennas and la Casa del Arbol, but it was always hidden in the clouds. On the day of our departure however, there was a clear sky and we finally saw it out of the bus window. Nevertheless, the walk up the green hills was quite fun.

Baños is also famous for its many waterfalls and we rented a bike to explore the la Ruta de las Cascadas, which ended at the waterfall Pailon de Diablo (Devil's Cauldron). This one was quite impressive, since massive amounts of water were dropping down there and the great thing was that you could get really, really close to the waterfall. Either at the bottom pool, where we got completely soaked, or about mid-height of the drop, where we could appreciate the massive force of the water.

 

 

 

 

Since there were many adventure sports available, we chose to go rafting. About 10 minutes into the raft, our boat came too close to a waterfall and we fell out. While Claudi was rescued quickly, Domi had to negogiate a rocky shallow part while being in the water and got some bruises. Even worse, another couple was taken up by the next rapids while still in the water and ended up with substantial bruises. After this first shock, the rest of the ride was fun and uneventfull.

 

 

On our second last day in Baños we went rock climbing. It was only the two of us and our guide and we had a lot of fun climbing two routes up an awesome and impressive lavarock wall. Even though these routes were still for beginners, they left us so exhausted, that neither of us managed to climb up a third time (allthough Domi attempted a more difficult one and Claudi went for the easiest). For the next two days, we definitely suffered from the most pronounced sore muscles of this holiday. Still, this activity was the most fun one and we wished that we could have done it a second time.