Baños

This past weekend our group planned our own mini-field trip to the tiny town of Baños, about four hours outside of Quito. Baños is known (within Ecuador, at least) for its beautiful mountains, waterfalls, and hot springs. It’s a fairly touristy city (we saw lots of other ‘gringos’ while we were there) but also has a very authentic and quirky feel. The whole town is maybe only 10 blocks in diameter, and is absolutely crammed with hostels, a million little hole-in-the-wall restaurants (mostly Italian places, ironically), little shops and stores, and a few clubs/bars.

In the interest of saving time, here are just a few bulleted highlights from our 3 days there:

• The delicious, CHEAP food! We discovered an amazing breakfast place on the rooftop of one of the hostels where we could get a huge omelette, fresh-baked bread, yogurt & granola, fresh-squeezed juice, and coffee all for about $4. Amazing.

• While the hot springs were...well, a bit grimy, to say the least (I have no idea why I subconsciously expected it to be like Steamboat Springs, my mistake!), once I got past the questionable color of the water I must say I really enjoyed relaxing in the different "baños" (hence the name of the town) – one was ice-cold, one hot-tub temperature, and one SUPER hot (118°!).

• Phoebe and I went on a lovely hike which felt refreshingly reminiscent of one of my favorite activities from home :) Once we got to the other side of the mountain, it was just green-covered hills for as far as you could see, and hardly any civilization in sight. And because we are at such high elevation, we were literally IN the clouds! It was beauuutiful.

• We ate lots of yummy pizza at various Italian restaurants and also tried some authentic Ecuadorian food – including a dish called “Churrasco” which includes meat, fried eggs, avocado, and rice. Potentially a strange combination, but all foods I love! On an unrelated note, I kept mixing up the word for milkshake ("batido") with the word for baptism ("bautizo"), which resulted in numerous embarrassing exchanges at multiple restaurants.

• We went dancing one night which was a blast and you don’t have to pay to get in anywhere! Score. It was also fun getting to meet some of the locals who were from the area.

• On our last morning, we went to a massive waterfall surrounded by a ravine, and we zip-lined across the canyon and over the waterfall in an open basket-type thing! Epic and terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time.

Overall, it was a great weekend. Good food, outdoorsy adventures, and plenty of time to rest and relax. Now I'm back in the big city, settling back into my class/gym/dinner/homework routine. Wonder where we'll end up next!