banos

the kids and i spent an action packed four days in banos.  todd actually flew back to the states in order to attend his brother's wedding.  this was a very last minute decision and he only booked it last week. when we first considered this option before leaving on this adventure neither of us felt comfortable leaving me with the kids by myself......but now we are accustomed to travel and feel safe so it seemed reasonable.  thus we parted ways four days ago with todd going to quito to catch his flight, while the kids and i headed to banos (i cannot figure out how to write spanish characters but there should be a little squiggle above the 'n')

banos is a very popular backpackers destination and for this reason alone i was thinking of skipping it. but we kept hearing from folks how much fun they had here...plus we needed somewhere to land while todd was gone.  there are loads of adventure activities here for pretty low prices......hence its popularity with backpackers.   there is white water rafting, canyoning (which here means rappelling off of waterfalls), zip-lining, mountain biking, bridge jumping, etc. and the most i saw that anything cost was $30, typically things were in the $10-$20 range.

the town itself isn't particularly charming but the setting is lovely with lush green mountains, waterfalls, and hot springs all nestled in to the valley at the bottom of an active volcano.  volcan tungurahua last erupted in 2006 (with lava flows and everything!) and since then has 'burped' a couple times but it is monitored and nobody in town seems particularly worried.

the first day we took a waterfall tour.  you can actually rent bikes and do the same tour but after seeing bikers on the same very narrow winding roads as the tour buses i am so glad i dismissed this option!   on this tour the kids did their first zip-line.  it was from one side of a river canyon to the other....and they of course loved it!

we rode back from the other side in this yellow cage gondola like thing

post-zip with the river canyon they traversed in the background

there were of course waterfalls on the tour as well. the biggest of which has suspension walking bridges and walkways down to the waterfall....it was quite beautiful.

in the afternoon we went to check out one of the hot springs in town. this one called the tempas de la virgen was just around the corner from our hostel.  it turns out that wearing bathing caps is obligatory....which riley was a huge fan of!!  it had a waterfall in the background, and the water was lovely (it didn't smell like sulphur!!)  there was a big pool with bathtub-like temperatures and another smaller pool which was pretty hot...maybe 105? we all missed todd as he loves a good hot soak!

the kids enjoyed the zip-line so much that the next day we signed up for a canopy tour which included a 6 zip-line course.  again the kids loved loved loved it!

one of the zips had a double line so the kids got to go superman style together......

this is the self-video they took of their superman style flight...

....and the last line of the day was upside down.

riley would like you to know that he was also upside down but flipped over right before i took the picture

in the afternoon post-zipping we ventured to the other hot springs called tempas de salado, which are a little bit out of town...though not super far as we walked there.  these pools were set in a nice canyon, with several pools of different temps and another good hot one!  the kids had so much fun playing for hours!!

and yesterday we hiked up to the casa del arbol.  you can take a tour there or a taxi but we had heard that the hike was about two to three hours.......it took us four hours!! i am pretty sure we got lost as there is no such thing as a marked trail in ecuador, plus it was straight uphill for those four hours.....much more than we bargained for!!  but once we got there we enjoyed the swings that have you looking down a mountain side, with the volcano in the background!  even i braved a swing!

we also had some great food while in banos.  as all good travelers we headed to the mercado for lunch where we discovered llapingachos, which are fried mashed potato patties served with avocado, salad, and rice (it is actually traditionally also served with chorizo and a fried egg, but we liked ours vegetarian style)...super yummy and costs all of $2.

and we also had dinner at this middle eastern place where you removed your shoes and the sat on the floor.  we had hummus and baba ganoush with pita bread!  i don't normally take pictures of restaurants but this one was so unusual and so good we were just giddy (we ate there a couple times!)

so that is about it for our banos adventure.  all said we had a super fun time here.  we missed todd but we are glad he is able to be with family at his brother's wedding (and we are a little bit sad that we can't be there as well, but we have happy wedding wishes in our hearts).

next we head to the town of latagunca and then into the rural areas of the cotopaxi province.  we are set up to volunteer at a school for a week. todd will meet us there in a couple days.
hasta luego!