Baños de Agua Santa

I was seeking a scenery change to get me out of my “I miss Galápagos” funk, and that’s exactly what I got arriving in Baños. The journey from Puerto Lopez to Baños via Guyaquil is non eventful; I’m on an overnight bus from Guyaquil, and get what feels like no sleep, but, I arrive at the cutest little hostel in the morning, am treated to pancakes for brekkie and the sun is shining. I wander around town and end up on a local bus up the mountain to the Casa del Arbol, which is actually a treehouse that holds a seismic monitoring station to monitor the nearby volcano, Mt. Tungurahua.

Anyway it’s one of those totally overrated places that looks nothing like it’s instagram fame. Not only is the swing not over a steep cliff (but a grassy slope - so if you slipped out of the swing it’s not actually that dangerous.. I mean, depending on how you land you could break your neck, but it’s not the huge fall it is made out to be). Anyway I was in two minds about even getting on the swing, but when a German dude asked me to take his pic while he swung, he then asked to return the favour, so I thought, fuck it, why not succumb to the tourist trap…. When in Baños… It was surprisingly fun, nearly lost my sunnies, which I forgot were on my head, and got a sick view of the volcano to my left while I swung out.

Baños is beautiful, whether the sun is out, or it’s raining; it’s so green, and so lush, and the mountains seem to go on forever. So, I’ve heard from fellow travellers that an absolute ‘MUST DO’ while here is to hire a bike for $5 and ride the Ruta De Las Cascadas and check out the waterfalls along the way. I’m told by my hostel that it’s 17kms and ‘mostly downhill’ so I reckon I’m fit enough to give it a crack. The road winds through the mountains; about half the time you’re sharing the road with cars, trucks and buses (most of which give you a wide berth, with the exclusion of one BMW driver, who wasn’t doing anything to help the reputation of BMW drivers… surprise surprise). The rest of the time you take these cute little cobblestone or gravel roads that veer off from the main road, up and around bends, riding under cascades, through these absolutely gorgeous little villages spruiking a plethora of adventure activities, the mountains rising all around you, views abound… it’s pretty damn gorgeous.

Despite being told it’s mostly downhill (maybe 60% at a push LOL, so I guess technically that’s the truth) there are a lot of either flat or uphill sections so I take take full advantage of the fact that I am on a bike and can stop as often as I like to take photos and get some much needed rest.

I’m told not to bother stopping at the million and one waterfalls along the way, but to bike straight to one of the ones further along the route. Good advice, as you really don’t have to stop, because you can see most of them from the road, or across the canyon anyway. So I arrive at my first official stop of the day, at the ‘entrance’ to Cascada Pailon del Diablo - I’ve really done no research whatsoever prior to embarking on this adventure, and so discover that it’s actually a bit of a walk to get there… thankfully it’s downhill (at least on the way there).

Anyway, I figure it’ll be good training for the hikes I have coming up, and I’ve been at sea level for the past 8 weeks, so I crack on, despite my legs already starting to feel wobbly from the ride. The rock walls of the mountain are freakin deadly - they have this ripply formation that looks like a flowing river.. tried to capture it in one of the pics below but it never looks the way it actually looks in real life does it. On arrival to the waterfall base there’s a bit of a hike up to, and behind, the waterfall which sees you on your hands and knees crawling through a dark wet cave to get up behind the pummelling water. So much fun, got absolutely soaked, tore my waterproof backpack on the roof of the cave tunnel… #noragrets. There’s something really cool about this place; even the creepy ass clown bins that look like they’re from a horror film add to the atmosphere.

I jump back on my bike and, wow, my ass hurts already; my legs are feeling like jelly; I consider jumping on one of the buses and heading back, but decide I’ve already come this far and figure I’d regret not seeing the other waterfalls. Plus, I’m telling myself that the whole route is only 17kms one way so stop being a pussy. So I continue on to Machay where there is another beaut waterfall… only this one is like a fucking thousand stairs down to the viewing point; it’s like Florence Falls on crack… the stairs I mean. The waterfall is also beautiful (as you’d expect), and bonus, I had the place entirely to myself; maybe the rest of the tourists decided it was too whack to put themselves through this torture. Or, maybe my timing was just epic, because when I got back to the top to grab my bike there was some people arriving.

I stuff myself with empanadas for energy, or, just because they are delicious and when I see them I must eat them; one more waterfall to get to, to close out the route (Rio Negro). I’m a few kms into this leg (which is NOT mostly downhill by the way - it feels like equal parts up and down, and, since the brakes on this bike barely work, the downhill sections are a little bit hair raising - I notice the km marker on the side of the road reaching over 50kms… I think to myself, I’m pretty sure not long after I left Baños it was in the 20s. Thunder cracks, and it begins to rain which is my cue to bail. I see a bus shelter, take refuge, and flag down the first bus that comes into view. Fuck the last waterfall; fuck riding back; for the bargain price of $2 I’m quite happy to sit in an air conditioned bus back to Baños.

Turns out the route is not 17kms… it’s 32 LOL and I bailed at around 31kms. It’s probably a good thing the chick that rented me the bike told me it was only 17 as I reckon I would have thought twice about doing it had I known the truth, so, with dead ass legs I am silently thanking her for pushing me outside my comfort zone.

A rare shot of me… usually I prefer to be behind the lens but my legs were dead and I wanted an excuse to catch my breath.