After awaking not too early
the next morning, we took the bus down to Quitumbe, Quito’s Southern bus
terminal. Another bus brought us from there to Baños, the action capital of the
country. But not much action for us on the first night: Finding a hostel wasn’t
too tiring, but the bus ride had been – Julez was the only one who decided to
jump off a bridge that afternoon, confiding his life in nothing else than two
bare ropes. But hey, they did their job. :) Carina, an American guy called Adam
we had met together with a Swiss dude and two Peruvian ladies and me cheered as
much as we could.
Together with three of our new
acquaintances (well, they weren’t that new: Julez already knew the Swiss guy,
who left us after the bridge jump, and the two Peruvian ladies from his time in
Montañita) we spent the rest of the night in the hot springs, relaxing. They
are awesome! And the setting is no less spectacular! (Well, and – our company
wasn’t that bad, either… *g*)
In fact, they were that fun
and energetic, that they even convinced us to go out for a kicker and salsa
session in one of Baños’ nightclubs. (Baños isn’t much more than hostels,
travel agencies, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.)
The night wasn’t too long,
though, as for the next day we had great plans again: After we had been to the
bridge again, but decided against a jump due to a cloudy sky which would have
ruined the pictures, we left for rafting the Pastaza River. Pretty fun action,
except for the fact that the sun never came out to burn our skin.
Carina got bored after a
while, so when we were practicing a “wheely” (trying to lift the nos of the
boat as high as possible by putting as much weight as possible into the back of
the boat, then pulling on a rope that is tied to the nose), she decided to jump
into the river and float down the next rapid ahead of us. Unluckily, no one had
told her that the water would be supershallow – she ended up bumping into tons
of stones, her back ached that much she wouldn’t join the mountain bike tour
the next day. Poor her. But hey – she didn’t whine at all! Maybe because
there’s a five-dollar-fee for whining. We don’t know. ;)
Maybe also because there was
no time for whining: After a quick lunch (Julez annihilated three bowls of
rice) we found ourselves putting on the next set of gear and listening to the
next instructions. Ready for canyoning!
Five waterfalls with
increasing height had to be defeated. We started with eight meters for
practicing purposes and ended up roping and jumping down some 30m! The final
five meter natural waterslide appeared to be a bit boring after that…
We were pretty exhausted once
we came back to Baños, but our friends weren’t: The Peruvian ladies,
professional dancers, had been booked for a performance at some club in the
city and needed photographers. Guess who they thought of? And guess why we
agreed? ;)
Again, we didn’t stay out
until ultimo. Bikes were rented the next morning; we started cruising along the
scenic waterfall route. Destination: El Pailon del diablo. The devil’s
whirlpool. In-between: Absolutely lovely landscape – and the opportunity to try
canopying: It feels like flying. For a minute or so. It is brilliant. Can you
spot Julez and me holding hands in the heart of nature? :)
The only thing that could be
improved: Those yellow straps somehow don’t feel right down there…
Fun fact: As we finally
reached the devil’s whirlpool, we didn’t get to see it – some funny wardens had
decided to set up an additional cover charge for getting there! So the guys sat
down and had some sandwich for lunch, while the ladies paid the entrance fee
and took some pictures for us. ^^
By the time we returned to our
bikes, it was raining cats and dogs. We crammed our bikes into the back of a
truck in order to not catch a cold on our way back. For further prevention,
Julez and I wanted to dip into the hot springs again, but as we saw a long line
of people waiting on front of the entrance, we quickly changed plans and had
dinner instead, before visiting the Peruvian ladies in their hostels for a
chilled out movie night. By the time they had to go dancing again, I indulged
in a banana split, before Carina, Julez and I went home.
On Sunday, our last day, we
finally judged the weather situation good enough to jump down that bridge: 100m
nothing than air between the bridges steel and the water down below. But we got
cheated – they only gave us 45m of rope. Boring. At least we were allowed to
jump down backwards, alternating a little the bungee jump experience I had
already had in Chang Mai, Thailand, once upon a time.
We expected our final
adrenalin kick by renting out four quad bikes and cruised straight towards the
volcano next to the city. After only two minutes, the first quad broke down.
Lucky enough we were still close enough to the rental shop to change it.
15 minutes later, the next
quad broke down. No point in heading back to change it now. So I became
Carina’s co-driver. As only five minutes after that Adam’s quad wouldn’t start
again again, we decided to call it quits, returned on the remaining two quads,
retrieved at least some of our money and left town.
Baños – those were four
action-packed, amazing days! Thanks for that!
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