We took a 45-minute walk to the outskirts of town to visit this park and observe the many animals living in the mountainside refuge. We saw many birds, monkeys, ROUS’s (we’re serious, these are the biggest rodents in the world, evidently, and we think they are the ROUS’s! – for those who don’t know what that means, you must immediately watch The Princess Bride!), and even Galápagos Turtles (which was a pleasant surprise since we cannot afford to actually visit the Galápagos!). We spent a couple hours there, then walked further on to find the sendero to a cascada that seems to have been closed. We spent the rest of the day back in town.
animals and views from the refuge; the sign on bottom right refers to a Condor
Trekking the mountain south of Baños
On Thursday, we set out early and walked up the mountain that curves around the south of Baños and once high enough, provides views of the top of Volcán Tungurahua. We anticipated the 5-6 hour trek and were eager to accomplish the climb. We walked up to the statue of the Virgin via 700 stairs on a steep mountain slope (1.3km) then walked across the mountain face for another 1.5 km to a resort called Luna Runtún where we turned to head further upward into the town of Runtún and onward to a Mirador del Volcán. The signs for the mirador were extremely inaccurate since they would show a set number of meters and then after 30 minutes of walking would increase or decrease by varying amounts. So, we estimate by the time it took that we walked upward another 1.5 km at least. This climb brought us through farmland (lots of tomatoes and cows) as well as through some jungle where the mosquitoes were hungry and bit us up! Eventually, despite the sudden discontinuation of signs (do you see a theme with these treks?) we came to a wide open area atop the mountain that opened up to the view of Tungurahua. In much need of a rest after 3.5 hours of walking, we had some snacks and water and watched the clouds drift to give a little clearer view, but never enough to see the smoke that continually blows out the top of this active volcano. Our return trip added another 2km (depending on estimates) as we continued further along the mountainside to the town of Runtún and then down a paved, winding road to the Mirador La Cruz Bellavista (which is a large cross on the opposite end of the mountain from the Virgin Statue). From there, we completed the trek by descending through a gravelly and dry-sand steep slope for another 1.2 km. That was the most challenging part of the entire day since we had very little friction between our shoes and the gravel and had to sidestep and try to balance without sliding down. Several locals passed us and we learned their method is to simply run, but that could turn into disaster quickly, so we kept at our slow pace! We had great weather for our 7-hour walk up and down the mountain and rewarded ourselves with the best meal we have had on the entire trip at a small little place called El Paisano where the cook makes the best pizza and vegetarian dishes – huge plates for low prices and all healthy and delicious. We’ll probably return before leaving town!
La Ruta de Cascadas
Along the route between Baños and Puyo are several large waterfalls that many of the numerous tour agencies take Chivas to view. A Chiva is an open air vehicle that has rows of seats basically at the back of a truck. Ours was extremely rickety, we heard the wood and bolts move every time we hit a bump or rounded a curve (which was frequent). We stopped at some of the falls along the road to Puyo, but definitely would have preferred to stop more often since there are so many waterfalls on this road…this is why we both hate taking tours, but sometimes you just get trapped. We did get some time at two of the falls, one of which involved a small trek via a bit of a steep and rocky slope (a pretty tough climb for many people, we were worried about some of the struggling folks being able to get back up).
The falls we visited were nice, but we expected to spend more time at El Pailón del Diablo (Ecuador’s biggest and most impressive falls due to the whirlpool they generate when they hit the river below) and El Manto de la Novia, another famous fall. Either way, we at least took advantage of the gorgeous day on Saturday by spending it outdoors. It just would have been more enjoyable had we not spent so much time waiting for people to do this lame bridge fall (they call it a jump, but we watched – it’s a fall) or for them to return from crossing the river in a Tarabita (which is a suspended steel cage rigged to a line operated by a man in a little booth – looked a bit unstable!). (FYI: We bought our $5 trip through Casahurco, but it was run by Transinfinitours – so we suggest avoiding both).
Sendero Sauces
After two days during which most of our time was spent in motorized transport, we were feeling the need for some physical activity, so we planned a trek for today. During breakfast, we looked at our Baños map and chose the 4.0 km walk between Baños, Sauces, Illuchi and back to Baños. The fitness level was rated as a 1 – meaning anyone with “normal fitness” can make the trek. Being lower than the ratings of our previous trek, it seemed like the perfect final day in Baños and gave us the opportunity to walk along the mountain on the north side of town (with this walk, we’ve walked a loop around the mountains of Baños!).
ginnie's pointing to the mountain we walked along on Thursday and the volcano behind it
We walked to the end of the town and found the Puente Sauces by asking locals along the way which direction to follow. It was down a hillside and brought us close to the Río Pastaza where we passed along the swing bridge to the northern mountain. Our “easy” trek turned out to be pretty steep and rocky and took nearly 4 hours, but it was a good journey as it led to a magnificent view of Volcán Tungurahua. At one of the highest points, we stopped to rest and stayed for nearly 45 minutes to watch as the clouds lifted and passed by the top of the volcano providing remarkable views. Sometimes, we we’re suddenly struck by how incredible it is to get to have this experience and see such beauty in nature and throughout the world.
The walk continued along the mountainside and to the town of Illuchi where we crossed a stream to a paved road along which we followed the mountain back toward Baños where we crossed the large Puente San Francisco to return to town where we picked up another amazing eggplant pizza from our favorite place, El Paisano before relaxing for the evening.
Baños Town
One thing the town is famous for is its plethora of hot springs. We checked out the one said to the be the best, but decided not to go in since we were spoiled by the really fancy set up of those by Volcán Arenal in Costa Rica. Had we been more sore after the mountain trek, we may have gone in. Many people come for the baths, especially on the weekends. We also just enjoyed relaxing with the incredible mountain view just out our window and taking time to practice our Spanish.
Another specialty of the area is toffee; neither of us likes toffee, but it was interesting to see it being made (reminded ginnie of seeing people make taffy on the boardwalk in Ocean City, MD). There is also a LOT of sugar cane around here and all sorts of sugar cane products. All sold at little stands that are identical and set up side-by-side. Neither of us has quite figured out how vendors in Latin America do it since everywhere we've been from Belize on south is similar in that the same items are sold right next door to one another. We passed through a town called Salcedo on our way here and every shop was a heladeria; sometimes there were 3 in a row and 3 across the street! How do people decide where to buy? Fascinating phenomena for sure.
From here we return to Quito for our remaining time in Ecuador and, sadly, the culmination of the Latin America portion of our world tour. We love Latin America and feel so at home here that we are reluctant to say farewell, but we know we will return. Besides, we are excited for the new adventures that await as we explore new continents, new countries, and completely new cultures – this will be the first time we travel to a place where we have no knowledge of the local language, so it’s a bit intimidating, but exciting nonetheless! Due to the exorbitant cost of flights in and out of South America to anywhere other than the US, we had to book our ticket as a return to Boston. We decided to take advantage of that return and rather then head right out, will take a two-week break to restock, repack, and get our plans set for our first few locations. We’ll keep you posted!
Paz y Amor!
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