Baños: Not just for Poop

To backtrack a little on my most recent adventures in Ecuador, last weekend I took a trip to Baños with the rest of my crowd. It wasn’t sponsored by the program, so it was a little less organized than usual, considering all the planning was done by a bunch of college kids. As one can imagine, we are a group with short pockets but a deep imagination. Besides the fourteen of us in the BU program, twenty-two of our friends from Wisconsin also joined, and we managed to successfully take over the hostel, and most of Baños itself.

Despite the meaning of the word, Baños is not just a place full of toilets. The name actually refers to the hot springs located there, similar to those in Papallacta, where people flock to enjoy nature’s own hot tubs. In addition to these natural spas, the town has tons of waterfalls, and is located at the base of a fairly large volcano. Nearby is a long river that eventually leads to the Amazon, flanked on either side by gorgeous cloud forests. With all of this located in a fairly small city, there was tons to do, from zip lining to hiking to mountain biking. However, we only had two full days, so we had to make the most of it.

Since we are all broke college kids, money was a bit of an issue. However, Baños is the perfect place for lots of adventure on a tiny budget. For less than $100, I managed:

• A 2 night stay in a hostel, complete with towels and our own bathroom
• A private bus ride for the four hour trip to and from Quito
• An hour and a half white water rafting experience, which included the trip to the river, all the gear we needed, and a delicious lunch in a restaurant on the way back
• About an hour in the hot springs (which was all I needed, especially considering the claustrophobia from so many people there, and how unbearably hot the water was)
• A morning of zip lining, with six different lines through cloud forest mountains, over white water rivers, and whizzing by waterfalls
• 2 delicious meals at the Stray Dog Brew Pub, which had amazing sandwiches and locally made beer; 1 great falafel dinner at Casa Hood, a local restaurant/library with a fun hippie vibe; 2 morning breakfasts of delicious freshly made bread; and finally, 2 fun nights out on the town in the center of Baños with other visitors from all over the world

I would say that’s a pretty good deal for another fantastic weekend of adventure in Ecuador!

P.S. Check out the video below for some firsthand zip lining footage