Carnival in Baños

No, we did not spend our Carnival praying to the porcelain God in a bathroom. While ‘baños’ does indicate bathroom, it actually translates to ‘bath’, which is exactly what Baños, Ecuador is named after.

Baños is nestled in a valley between high Andean peaks, and is known for it’s hot springs, which attracts locals and foreigners alike. In fact, tourism is all Baños has going for itself. The streets are packed with hostels and tourism agencies offering treks into the Amazon, visits to the many waterfalls, river-rafting, and buggy and motorcycle renting. You could call it the outdoor capital of Ecuador, just like Merida is for Venezuela, and San Gil is for Colombia.

Competition brought hostel prices down to $3/person/room, and we settled into Hostel CharVic for the night. We would be here for Carnival, though we didn’t realize the price of the room would jump to $18/night as all of Ecuador descended on this tiny mountain town.

What's up?! It's cold here. I love it!

Dinner!

We arrived in Baños at around 4pm, and had little to do besides walk around the small town. As we walked passed the San Francisco Bridge we saw a few people jumping off… and immediately my bucket list popped up in my head. I knew I had to do it. I thought I would be bungee jumping, but in fact it was a pendulum. Instead of a stretchy bungee, the rope had little give, and I would be swinging from under the bridge. But at 325 feet up, jumping off is easier said than done. And it’s not easily said.

Instead of waiting for the next day, when the anticipation would be higher, I decided to do it right then and their. I emphatically told the guy to buckle me up (and push me off if needed), though inside I was terrified. As I climbed up the railing and onto my plank, serious thoughts of turning around entered my mind. I stood up there for a few minutes, starting then stopping, and joking as I tried to get comfortable… an impossible task. The instructor told me to pretend 2 black men had just stolen my wallet and I had to chase after them. I guess if 2 black men had robbed me, they would get away just fine...

But finally, I sucked it up and ran. A second later (though it felt like an eternity of “WHAT THE F&%@ AM I DOING?!?”), I had a yank at my groin and I was swinging 50 meters below the bridge. A minute later and I was safely on the ground.

My triumph must have convinced a spectator to give it a go, and I sympathized with him as he lingered before taking the plunge. As I watched him, I knew it would be just as impossible to get me out there again. After several false starts, and what seemed like an eternity, he finally walked the plank. But as he got to the end, he made an awkward twist, and made a desperate reach for the end of the ledge, nearly clipping his chin as he went down. Instead of jumping outwards, reaching the end of the rope and ‘gently’ swinging back and forth, he dropped straight down, and was yanked by an unforgiving rope as it reached it’s length. I felt for him, though won a sliver of my pride back.

The next day we decided to rent bikes, cruise down the valley and visit all the waterfalls along the way. It was a 60km ride, but with a full day ahead of us, and assurances that it was mostly downhill, we decided to give it a go.

Thrilling, right?

What we didn’t account for was the wind, which was so strong, it was slowing us down as we cruised down a 15-20 degree hill. As we crossed a bridge we had fears of it blowing us off. We made it to the first waterfall, and the second, but by the third we were bored with them.

Instead, we decided to make a stop off at Ecuador’s longest zipline. At 1km long, it would sweep us down into the valley above the rushing Rio Negro. We both opted for superman, which meant attaching the harness to our backs with our feet held up behind us, and gliding down head first. The instructor said it would be faster, and sitting may not get us to the end. It wasn’t as fast as I thought, and because of the wind, wasn’t even fast enough to get either of us to the end. Nevertheless, it was pretty cool, and we’re both glad we did it.

 

Walking back up the hill... my legs are sore!

We stopped at the last, and most impressive (supposedly) waterfall, and hiked a half hour to see it. We weren’t impressed. Once we were back to our bikes we decided no more stops until the end city of Puyo.

What we had failed to account for was rain. While the wind slowed us down, and the hills sucked up our energy, we weren’t prepared to fight the ultimate element of water. Halfway there, in the tiny pueblito of Rio Negro we decided to turn around, and were ecstatic to find a pickup truck willing to haul us back to Baños. Once inside, we were slightly less ecstatic to find we were crouching in chicken shit.  

That night, as we were sitting in out hostel, to our surprise, Garrett from San Gil walked in. He had just arrived in Baños, and needed a place for the night. That night we went out on the town, and for a small city, Baños does pretty well.

Garrett just had a day in the city, so we spent Saturday walking around the market, and watching him jump off the San Francisco Bridge. When he left on the 2pm bus, Abra and I decided to hike up to the city’s mirador Bellavista. As we scrambled up the peak that towered over the city we realized we had started our hike too late in the day. Undeterred, we hiked on.

Smiles... just like Mamba! This dog was so excited to see us!

We passed a forest fire half-way up, and reached the lookout by 3:30pm. We then continued up the hill to reach the secluded farming town of Runtun. We found a crate of tomatoes, which we ate as a snack as we got lost in the mountains. Fortunately, we met old man Adan, who directed us down the hill, and assured us it was just 40 minutes back to town. A half our later (it was 6pm by now), and as it started to grow dark, we were lucky enough to catch a ride back to the bus station. I’m starting to grow fond of pickup beds.

The bed of this truck was smeared in blood... or was it berry juice? And, Hans was having snot issues.

The next day was Sunday, and we decided to check out what Baños is known for: hot spring baths. As we hiked in, we were passed by several cars and busses hauling swimmers to our destination. All of Ecuador was in Baños for Carnival, and all were bored during the day, waiting for the night to fall for the real party to start. So all of them went to one of Baños’s many baths.

When we finally reached the baths, it turned out to be nothing more than a swimming pool with dirty river water, and on top of that, it was chalked full of people.

 

Needless to say, we decided to skip the baths, and instead hiked into the hills behind them. There, we met Justin, from Oregon, who was hiking as well. He was in Ecuador doing WOOFING, which stands for something, I’m sure, but means that he donates his labor to a farm for 2 weeks (working Mon-Fri roughly 8-4), in exchange for room and board. He invited us to his tea farm, and afterwards we walked into town for a late lunch.

Market in Baños

Market in Baños

After visiting the cemetery (which was closed), and a few Spanish schools to gather some info, we went back to the hotel to meet Amanda, from the Quilotoa Loop, who had just arrived in Baños. We went out to dinner with her, and caught some live music in the city center. By this point Carnival was in full swing, and anyone on the streets was liable to get pelted with water balloons, eggs, flour, and foam spray. We decided to take a break from the action and hide, secluded in the hotel playing cards until the wee-hours of the morning.

We got it much worse, but by that point the camera was locked and stowed

Monday morning we decided to take a daytrip to Guaranda, known for having the best Carnival parade in Ecuador. While it was no Rio or Cologne, it was definitely worth the 3-hour-each-way bus ride. The costumes were pretty awesome, and the music and dance was fantastic. After 4 hours of parade watching, we went for Chinese food before heading back to Baños.

Our bus trying to squeeze through the tiny streets of Guaranda

 

Didn't quite get what they were doing in the parade with dead animals...any help??

Charlie in the tree!! (AKA foam thrower on the roof)

 

Listening to podcasts on the Power of Poop as we drove home. Apparently trans-poo-sions can help some illnesses

Tuesday was get-out-of-town day, and we caught a 10:30 bus to Ambato, where we switched busses to get to Cuenca in southern Ecuador.

Thanks to a ridiculously slow driver (we drove 305km in 7.5 hrs. Do the math, that means we averaged 24mph), we arrived after nightfall, and all we had time to do was find a hotel for the night. Cuenca was just a stop-over on the way to Peru, so the next morning we just had a couple hours to walk around the city before catching a 2pm bus to Loja on our way to the border. The countryside is gorgeous though, so it's been nice driving during the day for a change. It's unfortunate we can't stay longer and get pictures of all the green rolling hills, with patches of various shades of green covering the steep hillsides.

Some fake ice cream everyone seems to love...

Waiting in line to be 'ashed' on Ash Wednesday. Is that what they call it?

Hotel in Cuenca

Hotel in Cuenca

So now we sit, in Loja, waiting for our midnight bus to Zumba, where we’ll surely find another bus in a long series of busses that will bring us to Yurimagaus, Peru.

 
Posted by Hans, Photos by Abra