After a couple of days in Quito we decided to make our way down south to Baños. In between Baños and quito there were places like Coto...

Baños

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After a couple of days in Quito we decided to make our way down south to Baños. In between Baños and quito there were places like Cotopaxi and Quilotoa that we could have stopped at but with the rainy weather and foggy skies, plus my bad back and not being able to hike, we decided to skip it and go straight to Baños.
Viva Baños!
A Chiva right under Jesus' face!


Baños, Baths in english, is a small town up in the mountains with many natural mineral rich hot springs that are supposed to be healing and what not. The ride there took a couple of hours of impressive views of Ecuadorian landscape full of mountains and valleys. 





Baños sits at the base of an active volcano but due to the fog and rainy weather we were never able to see it.

Once we arrived in Baños we set out to find a Hostel and then walked to the small and charming town.

 As we walked with no direction we ended up in a pedestrian street with with lots of shops selling souvenirs.
 

The town is perfectly located in between mountains, it felt so fresh and 



Then we got to the main plaza with the church, of course!





Baños was actually smaller than we expected it, which turned out to be great because it was mostly rainy and foggy. 

There are many excursions and things to do around Baños so Anna and I went around town looking at what it had to offer and what activities we could do.
I wanted to go see a big waterfall so as we walked we stopped at a tour agency that sold packages to take us to the waterfalls. 

The tour consisted of a chiva (like an open bus) that for $3 would take us on a tour for a couple of hours. We first passed the dam.



And then we started the touristy route.


 The first stop was by a rock that apparently looked like Jesus' face! I do not know I buy this whole thing of "it's a natural phenomenon that this rock magically shows Jesus' face" but people were going crazy, taking many pictures and really believing whatever the guide was telling us.

Do you see Jesus?
You could do it with a partner!
Anna in the middle of the wilderness!!!
Walking back to the bus, isn't it beautiful?
My snack after the walk! This fruit in el Salvador is called Jocote, in Ecuador is Ovo!

 The second stop was actually fun... Ziplining! 
I didn't do it because my back was still not feeling 100% so I decided to skip it but Anna got on it... 




The third stop was at el "Manto de la novia" or the "bride's veil." Pretty much a small waterfall that looks like a veil. In order to go closer people could pay an extra dollar to go on a "tararita"... looked fun but unnecessary!


The third and final stop was at "Pailon del Diablo", the one stop that I actually wanted to do and why I took the tour. Getting to Pailon del Diablo on our own would have been more expensive and complicated than going on the chiva so I was happy with our choice. 
The whole morning had been foggy but not rainy but when we arrived it started pouring, of course. Anna had to buy a poncho and I managed with just my rain jacket but we got soaked! The terrain was slippery, the wind was strong, we had to cross bridges, but we made it to see the waterfall.



The pailon del diablo waterfall is 80 meters high and it was very impressive, the current was super strong and it looked a little bit scary!







Back in town it was time for lunch so we stopped at the local market to see what they offered.

As always, the vegetarian menu wasn't very exciting:

But Anna went for the "yahuarlocro", a soup made with potatoes, tripe, vegetables and...  a side of blood!!! eek!


 As I said before, Baños is well known for its thermal baths and although I am not a fan of those things it was highly recommended for my back. After thinking about it a lot I decided to go. I picked the one hot spring that changes the water of the pools daily and got there at exactly 6pm when they re open after emptying the pool.

 For $3 I was able to use all the pools at the old "Termas de la Virgen", not to be confused with the new one next door that is 3 times the price and looks more like a Wet'nWild than hot springs. 

The view from the hot springs was amazing, they had a water fall right next to it, a pretty nice view of the town, and was within walking distance from the hostel.


 


The termas de la virgen had 3 pools, one was hot but not too hot, one was freezing cold, and the other one was EXTREMELY hot! A guy from my hostel told me that the pools were amazing for the sciatic nerve that was causing my back pain and that the recommendation was to go from cold to hot pools to get the best result. Well... I was the ONLY ONE that ever got to cold pool (apart from two 7 year old girls) because it was cold!!!!! It was hard to move my body, I was shaking, it was so cold but I talked myself into it and managed to stay every time for about 5 minutes. 
The hot hot one was.. very hot! plus, they wouldn't allow people to stay more than 15 minutes because it is not recommended health wise. I did also power through it and managed to stay at the pools for at least an hour and my back did feel a lot better!




Our stay in Baños was short due to weather. Anna and I decided that it was better to leave than to stay in a hostel while it rained all the time. So... now off to Cuenca!!





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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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About me




Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com