I feel like my blog posts are beginning to start repetitively, but if you can find a creative way to start each new blog post, let me know. This one is kind of late as it is, I went to Baños this past weekend and it was a blast. It was one of the places I was most looking forward to visiting in Ecuador.
Baños is not made for the light-hearted, nor is it made for those who are not up for an adrenaline rush or some type of adventure. I say that sincerely and from experience. I can remember as a little kid, talking to my sister, Caitlin, about bungee jumping. She was always the one that was like I want to do that some time, and I argued and told her how stupid she was; but oh how the tables have turned. We'll get to that later though. We got to Baños Friday afternoon and immediately checked into the hostel and went to lunch. After enjoying lunch, we returned for a short nap that turned into a nap that lasted for more than two hours. We got up and slowly got ready, then headed out for dinner and to explore the town. We went to a nice Italian restaurant and then headed to a bar called Leprechaun bar per recommendation of a German-Ecuadorean man we met in Juan Valdez Cafe (South American Starbucks, too good) the night before back in Quito. Anyway, Leprechaun was fun. We met a Swiss girl at the bar named Elin and she was super great, but knew no Spanish, so she hung out with us most of the night. Leprechaun is famous for their flaming Bob Marley shot, so of course we had to try that. It was disgusting, so I thought maybe I would get a nice mixed drink to sip on. Naturally, I ordered Pailon del Diablo because it sounded like something good, which it was, but it was an actual drink that they fix in a shaker, then light on fire, and then pour it into a class and you have to chug it. Safe to say, I stuck to the mojitos and beer after that. Clara took me over to the Salsatheque half of the bar, where the dance floor is strictly for salsa dancing. As you can imagine, I had no idea what I was doing so I just let Clara, mi puertorriqueña teach me. As she was teaching me, some random Colombian guy took over and it was a ton of fun. Following the Colombian came an Ecuadorean named Gabriel. Gabriel spun me around so much that I felt like I was on a ride at the fair, but things started to get a little weird and he started to hit on me, so I walked off to "take a break" aka run away. After that, things started winding down so we headed back to the hostel for a good night's rest.
We got started the next morning around 8 or so, had breakfast, then headed to Pailon del Diablo to do a little bit of exploring and hiking. Pailon del Diablo translates to the Cauldron of the Devil and it definitely lived up to it's name; the falls were beautiful, the hike wasn't terrible but there were a large number of steps to climb as well. It was well worth the hike and it was beautiful at the top, but it was definitely tiring.
After the hike, we had some lunch, found some wifi (hostel had none) and decided we were going to go bungee jumping. Sarah and I had a beer before we headed back into town to go plunge 150+ feet off of a bridge (it was 400 feet to the water, but the drop was about 150, then another 50 to where the platform was to walk back) strapped to a bungee cord. We met a guy from Chile on the bus back who promised to show us the jumping point. He had gone the day before, so when I asked "How was it?" I was pretty surprised to hear the following:
"It was terrible, scary as shit. It's cool but not something I'd ever do again. It's too high for me."
Oh, okay, thanks for the...kind words...I guess...anyway, he was sweet and helpful, and showed us the bridge. As excited (and blinded by the excitement) as I was, I have never whipped a $20 bill out so fast in all my life. The old man working said "En serio, quieres saltar?" Seriously, YOU want to jump?
Why yes, old man, I do want to jump. He immediately began strapping me into my harnesses and psyching me up. The whole ordeal took maybe 5 minutes to pay and get strapped in and crawl onto the platform. Now...I stood up on the platform and was doing fine until I realized how high up I was--panic set in. With many bystanders (everyone in Ecuador stares as it is, so you can imagine how it is when a red headed gringa gets up on a platform to go headfirst off of a bridge...) watching, I started to doubt myself. Sarah was cheering me on and Clara was ready to snap some pictures, meanwhile I'm wondering if maybe I should run to the bathroom one more time to make sure no accidents happen midair. I finally decided to just let myself fall and oh my GOSH it was so worth it. Scary? Yeah, the jump is obviously the worst part. Your platform isn't even bouncy like a diving board. Anyway, it happened and it was the best adrenaline rush I have ever experienced. Not to mention, I got to mark something else off my bucket list. Climbing back up the side of the hill afterwards, I was still smiling from ear to ear when I got back up to the bridge. Suddenly, I hear "RAQUELITA, RAQUELITA!!!" Guess who? Remember I told you about Gabriel, the little Ecuadorean guy who taught me how to salsa the night before? Yeah...yeah, he works on the bridge that I had just taken a dive off of. He's like REMEMBER ME?! Of course Gabriel...how could I forget you....lolz. It took about 45 mins to convince Sarah to actually stand up on the platform before Gabriel finally pushed her, hahaha. What a way to go down.
We followed that trip up with a trip to la Casa de Arbol where you can pay a dollar to sit on a swing that swings out over "the end of the world". The pictures didn't turn out well those because of how cloudy it was. Not fog, clouds. Here in Ecuador, you are at such a high altitude as is that clouds are just at eye level at all times. We headed back into town and ate dinner, before heading back to get ready for the night ahead, full of Pilsener and Salsa dancing. We started at some really weird bar that I don't even know the name of, needless to say it was dead with old people and no dancing. We headed to the next one, Volcan, where the bartender brought me a drink because I was a red headed gringa, hahaha. Both a blessing and a curse I guess. We headed downstairs, where some other married old man, with his wife, wanted to teach me to dance. I figured what was the harm, am I right? They were fun though! They thought I was funny and we were having fun, but I moved along, continued dancing...that is, dancing my way back to Leprechaun. The bartenders recognized me from the night before (again, red headed gringa..) and immediately began talking with me. Suddenly, someone was behind me at the bar trying to get his drink ordered (the bar was starting to fill) and when I turned around to move over, he had on a Texas longhorns shirt! Rivalries all the way down in Ecuador. I asked him if he spoke English and he said yeah, he was here from Texas and asked if that's where I went to school. Would you have expected anything less than "HELL NO, BOOMER!" from me? Because that's what happened. Turns out he lives in Quito only half a mile away from me and works for an oil (go figure) company here. Needless to say, a couple of Southerners bonded over a Budweiser and we're now friends. I made my way back to the Salsa dance floor with Clara where we were having a blast; suddenly, someone was behind me dancing that I didn't know. Or so I thought I didn't know...guess who? Gabriel. Goodness. I guess I can admire his perseverance, hahaha. The night ended an hour or so later and we headed back to get some sleep. We took a bus back from Baños the next day and that was an interesting ride. A VERY drunk indigenous woman (11:45 in the morning) got on our bus and was quite the hassle for the passengers and the man working to collect money on the bus; Sarah had the biggest problem with her, but I couldn't help but giggle. Soon, the bus came to a jolting stop and the lady fell. The entire bus was giggling--it was a Sunday morning and she was too drunk to stand. We made it back to Quitumbe in one piece though and she got off long before that, luckily.
I'm so lucky to be having all of these adventures and I hope that you all are enjoying reading about them and watching them through pictures and Facebook and this blog as much as I am enjoying posting about them.
Until next time, y'all!
People won't behave if they have nothing to lose.
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