Cute Little Town in the Mountains

Trip Start Jul 14, 2010

Trip End May 18, 2011

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Flag of Ecuador Baños, Tungurahua, Ecuador
Saturday, December 18, 2010

After fleeing to Ba�os and finding a cheap hostel (the place was crawling with them!), we slept for most of the morning. Later, we walked around in the quaint and cute streets of Ba�os, which is set in a high valley with waterfalls, a river, and mountains, including the nearby Volcan Tungurahua, which had errupted while we were in Ibarra in the north of Ecuador, and had continually been spitting smoke weekly. Unfortunately, the cloud cover at the altitude of the volcano made it so we could only tell it was there because of an out of place vertical cloud in a sea of horizontal ones.

Wandering through the streets, we found multiple shops selling and stretching taffy in the doorways (the local specialty which tasted really goooood!), and happened upon a military band putting on a disciplined performance for hours on a stage constructed in the middle of a major street

Waterfall Near Some Climbing

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Logan found out that there was rock climbing nearby next to the river, so we walked down a hill to find a few people already leading a few routes. After speaking briefly with them, we found out that there was a spot just up the road with some easier routes, so we went there to check it out. We walked slightly out of town, past the hot springs that give Ba�os its name, past our �view� of the volcano, and past a zoo where a tapir was tied to a post near the entrance. Sweet! We didn�t have to pay and we got to see a tapir! Just past the zoo, we saw a sign indicating that the climbing spot was near. We spoke with a man, whose property the climbing was apparently on, and he indicated to us the direction of the climbing and told us we had 10 minutes to check out the area. It was a beautiful spot with towering walls climbing straight up about 150 feet on either side of the river, which had carved out a few caves on its way downhill. However, after Logan had inspected the place for our ability to climb it, he decided it might be a little too difficult, so we headed back up the hill, thanked the owner, and took a bus back into town.

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