Baños...that still means bathroom right??

View from the bus on the way to Baños

Waterfall view from our hostel terrace

Although we had been hoping for colder climates, the thought of a town full of hot springs was also very appealing after a few days in our chilly mountain retreat. So, we headed out to the highway with our packs to flag down a bus on its way to Baños. Now, we were always taught that baños meant the toilet, but we learned here that people also use it when talking about bathing or hot springs. The town Baños is known for its various hot springs, and has become somewhat of a mountain spa retreat. You can get basically any spa treatment from almost every hotel or hostel, and there are four different hot springs around town to enjoy. So, we flagged down the big, yellow Baños bus on the Pan-American Highway and three hours later we found ourselves surrounded by lush green mountains at the base of another volcano, called Tungurahua. The hostel where we stayed was located fairly close to one of the main waterfalls in town as well as one of the most popular hot springs.

Not my picture (thanks i-net), but a good view of the pools!

 After checking out the downtown eateries our first day, we decided we wouldn't waste any time by heading to our first hot springs in the evening. The Piscinas de la Virgen are located right under a waterfall, and include multiple pools of different temperatures. Luke was still feeling pretty burned, and shedding skin like it was his job, so he stuck to the bathwater-temp pool for most of the night. Kyra and I designed a system where we started in the lukewarm pool, cooled ourselves off under the frigid waterfall water for a few rounds, then headed to the hottest pool, which reaches a whopping 48 degrees Celsius, or around 118 degrees Fahrenheit. They don't lie when they say hot springs...it was hot! At first we could barely get in, and wondered how all the old Ecuadorians had been sitting in there for so long. Eventually we committed to the numb, burning feeling of our skin and just went for it. Luckily they had a small, very cold pool next to the hot one. So, when you got to the point of feeling like you might pass out, you could go take a refreshing dunk. As one older Ecuadorian gentleman explained to me, you MUST go all the way under in the cold pool otherwise you don't get the full benefits of the hot or the cold. Everyone seemed to have their own ideas about how it should be done. I was also told by some Europeans that you are supposed to stay completely still in each pool because the hot feels less hot and the cold feels less cold. I'm not sure if there's a ¨right¨ way, but we figured out what worked for us and had a great time switching from pool to pool.

Log-what?! LOGGERS! At the viewpoint...

Some good lookin' caballos on the trail

Aside from being a spa location, Baños is also a jump-off town for many hikes, mountain bike routes,
and other adventure sports. We didn't have a lot of time to take advantage of these things, but we did manage to go on a great hike up to see a few points of interest. First we walked up to a viewpoint over the city called Bellavista. On our way we saw both the police force and a group of kids in uniform, obviously in gym class. What a workout for school gym! From the viewpoint we headed up a jungle-like trail toward the little town of RunTun. There wasn't much to see there, but it was a good place to buy some water.                  



From RunTun we headed back downhill, and stopped at the luxury resort Luna Runtun to scope it out. It is definitely a hotel with a view! Then we traversed our way over to a statue of the Virgin Mary. Made out of marble, the statue looks over the town from the hillside. What we had decided was going to be a short hike had rapidly turned into an all day affair, so we headed down the hundreds of stairs from the statue back into town to make some lunch! After sitting in buses and lounging on the beach, it was nice to get out and move around.

View from Luna Runtun, not too shabby!

Statue of the Virgin Mary

Emily wanted to join us for pie!

Because Baños is such a tourist destination, there are no shortages of good restaurants or places to shop. We tried out quite a few of the restaurants, having food including Swiss fare, French fondue, as well as some Ecuadorian delights. However, one of our favorite finds was a little shop called D'vine Pies. This coffee/pie shop is owned by a Minnesotan! We haven't been able to find good pie since we got to South America, so it was great to have a little treat from the homeland! Minnesota pride goes a long way, apparently. As we were sitting at a restaurant for dinner, the owner walked by in a MN Twins jersey. When he realized who we were through the window he came back, holding his shirt up, grinning. We never saw him without a MN shirt on.

Artisan market

A real rasta puppy!

When we weren't eating or hiking, we spent our time shopping for things around town. Baños is known for its taffy, which you can see being stretched and molded on wooden pegs in the doorways of all the candy shops. Most of them even give you samples of the warm taffy when you walk by! We also shopped around to find the perfect ¨Cuzco pants¨ (I'll post pictures later, but you see them everywhere!) and gifts for Luke's family. Time flew by before we had to head back to Guayaquil (meh) for Luke to catch his flight back to the states.   

Our ride back to Guayaquil?

Caca de la Vaca...or was it Casa de la Vaca?

Well, Luke's wish came true in stages. First, we were awoken on the bus at 4:30am, having arrived in Quito, and sent out to the cold streets to find our next bus headed south. (Colder climates...check.) The problem was that we weren't quite sure where in Quito we were...or where we needed to go for our next bus.  Eventually we took a trusty taxi across town to the main bus terminal, where we all bundled up a bit more before running (literally) to our next bus.

The rest of Luke's wish came true as we took a bus about 45 minutes south of Quito to Machachi, where we then flagged down another bus to drop us at the turn off for our hostel in the country. Surrounding us were beautiful, green rolling hills and volcanoes in the distance. (Mountains...check.) We proceeded to walk up the somewhat steep dirt road until a friendly guy offered us a spot in the back of his pick up truck. We happily agreed and rode the rest of the way to Papagay bouncing in the back.

Hosteria Papagayo used to be owned by the grandson of Simon Bolivar and therefore still often hosts famous military and government officials. The day before we arrived there was a party for some governor and they still had the birthday banner and balloons scattered around the main house. But, once finally arriving at the hosteria we were so tired that we didn't really care what shape it was in, just that it had beds for us to sleep in. We ended up sleeping most of the day and being grateful for our quiet little mountain retreat.



 Over the next few days we took full advantage of the in- house restaurant, trying every kind of breakfast they had and rotating who got what to eat. Although it looked as though the hosteria had a lot to offer besides breakfast (there were horse stables, a volleyball net, a mini soccer field, a game room, a jacuzzi, and a travel agency), we must have come at a bad time because we weren't able to use most things or there was no one around to help us with them. We still enjoyed the quietness of our surroundings and a hot breakfast in the morning (with coffee!).

View inside Cotopaxi National Park

 Besides the beautiful views and peaceful surroundings, we also stopped here because of its close proximity to Cotopaxi National Park, which contains the world's highest continually active volcano at 19,347 ft. It is also home to wild horses, some llamas and foxes, various species of birds, and the rare spectacled bear. Like always, we didn't do much research on getting in and around the park, so we headed out on a bus going toward the park entrance and hoped for the best. We had asked at the hosteria, but their tour was full for the day and our guide book said it might be difficult to find something else in the off-season.

Looking down on the valley from the hike up to base camp

Refugio Jose Rivas (base camp) at 15,748 ft.

Thankfully right as we got off the bus there were taxis eagerly waiting at the road to the park, competing for our business. We had a bit of a mix-up while discussing prices and what the tour included with each of the taxis, but in the end settled into a 4 wheel drive vehicle with a young American couple and Luke happily in the trunk. The taxi driver ended up being a great guide for us and actually spoke understandable English. He proudly told us all about the Quechua names of rivers and volcanoes and what they meant in English as we passed them on our way to the base of Cotopaxi.
                                                  Once making our way up the winding road the taxi driver told us we had 2 hours to hike up and down the steep trail another 1000 ft. to base camp, and that he would wait for us with the vehicle. Ooftah! Coming from beach lounging as our daily activity, it was a bit of a shock to the body to hike straight up hill with the cold air constantly whipping around you. Kyra's lungs started to burn shortly after, but got some good encouragement from Liz and they finally caught up to Luke at the base camp in time to share some hot chocolate and take a few pictures. The taxi driver told us it would only take 5 minutes to get back down, but we were not convinced so we started down with 30 minutes to spare. And what do you know? Five minutes later we were back in the warmth of the car strapping on our seat belts. 

Liz enjoying the fresh mountain air breeze (aka, insane arctic force wind), while Kyra concentrates on her feet

We made it to the base camp!

As we made our way out of the Park we also stopped at Laguna Limpiopungo, a shallow lake at the base of another volcano named Ruminahui, to see waterfowl and take some last pictures.




 After our tour we felt like we deserved a treat, so we headed to a restaurant along the Pan-American Highway that Lonely Planet said had, "straight-off-the farm cheese served with every order". Once arriving at Cafe de la Vaca and taking a look at the menu they certainly had a lot more than just cheese to offer. It was like a dream come true for us Minnesotans! We decided to settle on chocolate shakes to start and ended up getting a burger and potato soup to split.

Luke's meal: steak, eggs, fries, and more!

                                                                            Although we all would have liked another round of shakes, there just wasn't any room left after the delicious meal. It was just what we needed to warm us up and fill us up before making our way down to Baños for some more beautiful mountain views and hot springs.

 By the way, as you can see from the pictures, EVERYTHING was covered in cow print or had a cow on it- from the soap dispenser to the building we sat in.

Birthday Taxi!

View of our hostel, Bambu, from the beach

No drugs or guns at this place!

One of the great things about traveling without an itinerary is that when you find somewhere you really like, you can stay. Well, we stayed in Puerto Lopez for quite awhile, but eventually decided to move on to another recommended beach town named Canoa. We set out on Liz's birthday, not really knowing what a day of traveling we were getting ourselves into. We ended up taking a bus from Puerto Lopez to Manta, where we were informed the next bus we had planned to take wasn't leaving again until the next day. So, we decided to go from Manta to a different city, Bahia de Caráquez, where we would have to get off and take another bus (and possibly a ferry) up to Canoa. The bus (a pretty cheap one) we decided to take was also the vehicle of choice for a large group of surfers and all their boards. Because the under-bus storage wasn't big enough to hold their boards, they ended up putting gear on the bus (and a baby) through the window and stashing their boards in the aisles. Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable bus we have ridden. We eventually got to Bahia, where we hopped on a city bus to make our way to the ferry terminal. We sort of cause a scene by default when getting onto public transportation with our packs, which generally leads to conversations about where we're from and where we're going. Well, on this bus the man we were talking to strongly urged us not to take the ferry or the bus, but to take a taxi all the way to Canoa (still 30-40 minutes away). So, we hopped off the bus and stood on a seemingly abandoned corner until we eventually got a cab. Hoping for the best, we headed over the bridge toward Canoa. In the end the cab turned out to be a great idea, saving us some hassle and getting us to Canoa undoubtedly faster than a bus and ferry would have, even if it was a bit more expensive. We made it to our hostel on the beach, Bambu, right in time to get settled in, have some birthday happy hour, and eat some tasty fried fish and arroz chaufa (delicious rice). Although so much travel wasn't ideal for a fun birthday activity, Liz was happy to be safely back relaxing at the beach by sunset, eating good food with good company. Plus...She had achieved her birthday goal: eating pastries from every town we stopped at that day.

Beach time under the cabana

After our crazy travel day, we spent most of our time in Canoa just lounging on the beach or eating at the surf shack. Luke managed to fend off Juan (this hostel's sleezier version of Eduardo, trying to sell us surf lessons...or maybe just get our numbers), and we delighted in a few days of not doing organized tours. Unfortunately, it's easy to forget about the danger of the sun at the equator. One of our first days, although it was pretty overcast and not even that hot, Luke managed to scorch himself pretty well, from 45 minutes of no-sunscreen under the clouds. By nightfall what had looked like a pretty pink burn was rapidly turning into an obviously terrible third degree situation. So, the next few days our beach time became time under the cabanas, time looking for shade, and a quest for the cheapest and most aloe we could find. Eventually the novelty of the beach wore off, and the idea of cooler temperatures in the mountains was almost all that was keeping Luke going, so we decided it was time for the next chapter of our Ecuadorian tour.

$4 Pedicure with flair! Not too shabby!

Hammocks at Bambu

One of the many daily aloe applications

Some crazy blue drink...very tasty!

Rainbow cabanas on the beach

We do love our sunsets at the beach

Sand, sand everywhere...and no way to get it out.

 The last adventure Eduardo set up for us was to visit the most beautiful beach in all of Ecuador. Los Frailes is only a short mototaxi ride away from Puerto Lopez and when we first got there we had the whole white sandy beach to ourselves!

Private beach...love it



Liz surveying her kingdom

It was a picturesque view with a long stretch of white beach, no people, and blue water for miles. We decided to hike up to the mirador (viewpoint) to get a better view of our surroundings and work up a sweat before jumping into the big waves.

View from the mirador

A flock of pelicans!

We also walked to the other side of a hill where there was a black sand beach with tons of little crabs running around and waves crashing up onto a rocky plateau. It was very beautiful, but not the best spot to swim, as we were warned by one of the park rangers.

 
It was so hot by the time we got back! We definitely sweat away all our sunscreen and deserved a dip in the ocean. There were more people set up on the beach now with umbrellas, so we walked a bit farther down to find our own stretch of sand. The park ranger had also warned us about the undertow at this beach, telling us not to go out too far. During our travels we have been warned various times about the undertow, never really knowing exactly what it means or how worried we should be. So again we were unsure what to expect, but bravely (and a little cautiously) ventured out into the waves anyway. This time the park ranger was right. The waves were very strong and got quite large. We all had a good time playing around in the surf, only getting severely tossed a few times, but being knocked off our feet repeatedly. While we could only handle so much sand forced in our suits, Luke fit right in with the Ecuadorian crowd...loving every minute and body-checking every wave he could find.

Need to beat the heat?

Shadow at noon near the equator!

Being close to the equator at midday with no shade, Kyra spent most of the rest of the time cooling off in the (shallow) water, while Luke and Liz took a walk along the beach (Luke hid under Liz's sarong the whole time). It would have been smart of us to rent an umbrella like the rest of the people on the beach, but we figured we only had a short time before the mototaxi would take us back to Puerto Lopez. Surprisingly, none of us had severe burns from the long day at the beach and Luke's fair Scandanavian skin was starting to take on some color.

These Bamboos More Biggers

Luke came to Ecuador with only a few specific wants and needs. The top two on his list: touch or ride a caballo (horse) and see some monkeys in the jungle. So, when Eduardo turned up at breakfast one morning talking about a horseback riding excursion into Machalilla National Park to see howler monkeys...we obviously had to go. Parque Nacional Machalilla is about a 30 minute mototaxi ride outside of Puerto Lopez in a dry cloud forest. So although it wasn't the rainforest, we had high hopes to check jungle, monkeys, and caballos off the to-do list.

Kyra with her saucy yellow boots

When we arrived at the designated meeting spot to start the tour we were greeted by our trusty bird guide, Wilmar, once again! This time, however, he had some friends to help herd the horses along. The other people on the tour were ready to go, so we were promptly given mud boots and hoisted up onto the horses without further instruction. Once on her "horse" Kyra figured out it was actually a mule (mula) because of the smaller size and shorter hair. We later joked that she was "sitting on a lot of moolah" (probably funnier at the time). Before we headed into the forest, Wilmar and the other guides were talking quite seriously about something and motioning to the different horses. As it turned out, Liz got the feisty problem horse who didn't play nice with the other horses, and especially not with Luke's. So like always, Kyra played mediator, walking with her mula between the two horses to make sure nothing got out of hand.

Elephant leaves

A monkey!

We set out straight up the mountain with 7 of us on horses/mules, at least 5 other workers to help encourage the horses along the trail, and one machete to clear the way when looking for monkeys. During the 7 hour trek Wilmar explained the many uses of various plants, went into detail about the different types of bamboo (these bamboos more biggers...he said), and was eventually able to track down a group of howler monkeys for us. The horses definitely earned their keep climbing and descending tons of steep hills. Although we felt a little bad for the horses, it was fun to get to sit back and check out everything around us while covering some ground. 

 

Wilmar was somewhat facinated with the two of us



We even got to sample some jungle fruit along the way. Although we can't remember the name, we all really enjoyed the taste. It came with a yellow peel and looked similar to an orange divided in sections, but you were only able to suck off the spongy white outside before spitting out the huge seed. 

Explaining the uses of the Tagua nut

During the tour Wilmar explained about a special nut (the Tagua nut) found in the jungle that people use to make various things including buttons, jewelry, and figurines. Before hard plastic came along, the Tagua nut was used to produce most of these things commercially. Always working on his game, Wilmar offered the Tagua nut to whoever could give him the best pick-up line. In the end Kyra won him over wth some classics. We'll see if we can figure out how to make anything out of this nut!

Explaining the different plant species