!BAÑOS!

I think, easily, that this past, weeked has been the BEST part of the summer so far. First, it was EXTREMELY nice to get out of the city. Second, my teachers were nice to not assign piles of homework. So. Baños. Lots to tell...so hold on tight!


I was worried a little bit about getting there. Nobody was one hundred percent sure what they were doing. Many thanks to my classmate Juan, who researched hotels and, more importantly, bus routes. We all stopped to eat at this place, though I didn't eat there. A man with a poodle performed outside on the sidewalk. The dog did tricks, the man wanted money. It was slightly entertaining. But seeing so many people in need is really hard sometimes, it makes me feel like I don't need half the stuff I have. I mean, I always knew there were people out there, but seeing all this makes we want to do more about it. 


I needn't have worried about the traveling. We all (some people from the group, silly them-I jest-didn't go with us) made it to the bus station just fine. A three dollar, three hour, nicer-than-the-greyhound bus ride? What could be wrong with that? The heat, for one thing. So I had to close the curtains against the view (which I still peeked at, it was SPECTACULAR) and the sun, which helped. The loud speakers were also a bit unpleasant. But nobody smelled, and I had plaintain chips, or chifles, with which to snack. 


Once we arrived in Baños, it was dark. Night time can do that here. Back home a little less so. Anyway. We all asked directions to the hotel. I had already reserved my rooms. No way I am going anywhere without having secured a bed, a ceiling, and maybe a shower. Upon getting there we discovered how they didn't have enough beds for all of us, so they took us to a different building, same operation hotel. At least I am pretty sure that's what went down. At no extra cost to me, I might add. 


Guess how long it takes thirteen young adults to be divided into groups for one, two, and three person rooms, including a tour of each? About half an hour. Not kidding. Finally I just grabbed a bed in a room to share with two other girls, A.J. and Felicia. Who knows what the others did, but everything worked out. Then some activity agent found us out. That took even longer, deciding what everyone wanted to do the following two days. Oh, I forgot, we arrived around 7 Friday night. 


I opted for biking, and....drumroll please...horseback riding! I also wanted to hike, but I figured I didn't need to pay for that. The grand total came to 25 bucks, with five in advance. 


Next came dinner. All of us had looked into one restaurant with a world theme, but they didn't have room for all of us, so I went with friends Brandon, Juan, Felicia, Rachel, and Alex Rae to a different place. Stray Dogs Brewery. There was some mildly comic confusion over whether the neon sign read ''stray'' or ''straw'' but the food was good. My burger came with mustard and the waiter didn't understand what medium-rare meant, but I was too hungry to care. The fries were delicious, as was my pineapple juice. I had to wait a while for my meal, but the place was understaffed.


I went home (to the hotel) afterwards. It had been a long day, with a busy one to follow. Plus I wanted to try and be productive and knock out at least one of my assignments before putting it all off until I finished my weekly blog. I succeeded, my writing assignment was DONE. Don't know what time the other girls got in, but I was still awake to let them in. 


Using my iPhone as an alarm, I was out and about the town of Baños by 6:15 the next morning. I couldn't sleep any more, I wanted to EXPLORE. What I found. A very pretty church (not so elaborate as what's built in Quito, but fancy nonetheless. Had a room with all the candles, many lit. I hope that is a good thing? Not proud of my ignorance here, I would like to learn a little more about such customs, and what a good place to do it. I spoke briefly with someone inside. He wanted to know where I was from, what I was doing, how long, that sort of thing. Somebody practiced a religious speech or prayer in a back room. I didn't understand much.


Oh, before I went into the church, I walked through the plaza space in front. Nobody was around, except a flock (?) of pidgeons eating something. I have always wanted those birds to fly around me like in the movies, so I decided to run through them. It was silly, ridiculous, and SO,SO much fun. A lady with some kids ended up seeing me. I think we were both amused. One of her kids decided to do the same thing. 


Later I walked around town some more, bought myself a juice, looked at a park. 'Twas a nice park. Lots of sayings were posted on signs, like how Baños is a gift to the world, to be nice to the plants, stuff like that. There was a little bridge thing with a sign that read Puente del Amor, or Bridge of Love. This amused me. Saw an adorable little dirty dog, wanted to take it home. There was a weird building, tan colored, with a narrow base and a weird circular shape up top, with many windows. Similar to the Space Needle, but way smaller. I don't know how people would get up there, I saw no door.


Ooh, this was cool! I went to this waterfall down the hillside and there were stairs going up next to it that led up to this little overview thing of the city. I could also see the hot springs, which were like a public pool. There were many tourists there, people not from Ecuador, though it was so early. 


Eventually I meandered back to the hotel, where various members of my group were trying to unlock the front gate. I was no help to them as I had left the keys in the room. Eventually someone got it and I went to breakfast with Felicia and A.J. Small it was, but filling, and my favorite as it included bread and chocolate. 


First activity of the day, biking! I was a bit nervous as it had been a while since I biked and I didn't want to be super slow (or walking my bike). I needn't have worried. My bike had it's parts in order (unlike Brandon, whose first bike had disfunctional breaks and second lost a pedal...poor him) and I was able to follow behind the guide, sin problemas. It was so much fun, and beautiful out. Plus it was not too hot. 


Baños really is pretty. It kind of reminded me of Whittier, back home. There the mountians have a little less green, more rock, but the waterfalls are similar. The sky was white and cloudy. Of course, Baños is not near the ocean. But I liked it, a lot.


The biking stopped near this waterfall (after we had taken an old fashioned AWESOME road that went under a small one, it was FUN) and the sun came out. We went across the river to see the waterfall in this basket thing, pulled acroos the chasm on a cord, machine propelled. It was super scary and a way worth it. Yep, I took photos. 


From there most of the group continuted on in a van to go river rafting. I decided to stay back as did my friend Alex Rae (she had gotten a tattoo recently and couldn't get wet). She headed back to Baños on a bike, I went in the go kart someone from my group had used instead of a bike. It was loud, but super fast. The dude who drove to the river was very nice to drive me back. But Rae and I made a stop before returning to the town.


Aye, another waterfall. This one was called Devil's...somethiyng. It was aptly named. Rae and I, and the guide from the biking part, went to see it. It cost two dollars, a VERY good deal. These dogs, four or five of them, followed us the whole way to the top of the trail. There was a bit of a walk to get close to the falls. Then there were pathways that went from the very bottom of the falls to the top. The climb to the top went through the mountain, so we had to crawl. The side was open and fenced, so it was possible to see out. I was a little bit claustrophobic, but it was completely worth it. Under the waterfall it was very wet (naturally) and those dogs were still with us. 


Man it was fun. That guide we had was awesome. Or maybe just normal or human. Some guides can be really bad, so normal ones seem amazing. He took us to this place to eat empanadas (similar to a calzone or pita, bread on the outside, chicken, veggies, or meat on the inside) which were made right in front of us and were delicious. I think empanadas are on my favorite food list. The rain started once we were already wet from the waterfall. 


Rode back to Baños in the covered back of this truck, on benches on the floor. With all the bikes. Those were secured, thankfully there were no casualties. Once back, Alex Rae and I decided to check out the hot springs. It was set up like a public pool. It was only two dollars to get in. The water was warm but not extremely hot, we stayed near the hot water spigot thing. There was a lot of hair in the water, that was kind of gross. I met a family from south Ecuador, near Guayaquil. The little girl sang a song in a language I didn't know, and I sang a kids song in English. She didn't exactly seem thrilled. There was sulfur and other minerals in the water. They stuck to my sunscreened skin, effectively turning me orange. No, it didn't occur to me to take pictures. I should have...


Dinner later that night was delicious. It was girls night out, we went back to the world food place. I had pasta, Italian style. YUM. With garlic bread of course. Once the tab was paid, we went back to the brewery place. I didn't stay long, I went back to the hotel to work on some stuff a while. Others in the group rented a party bus. It wasn't what any of us, I think, expected.


We all were led to a place a bit away from the hotel to get on it. That was the first strange thing. Oh, this was about nine at night. The bus had benches in rows, and other people in it, so we couldn't all sit together. Loud latin music was playing. It was really more of a truck than a bus, with no doors or walls, all open like. It was painted all fancy and there were red and while lights. I convinced Jason to trade places with me so I could be on the end. It took us up Volcan Tungurahua. At the top was a large lit up cross, LOTS of people, shops and cooking stands. They had us all walking in the dark down these stairs where someone started talking to us about the volcano. It was really odd and as for myself I was extremely amused. Many other guides nearby were all talking at the same time. The whole thing was really funny. Odd, odd, odd. I kept myself amused eating crappy chocolate ice cream and thinking what various people I knew would do in such a situation.


Finally all of us decided to go find our bus. We knew we were group six. After stumbling through the dark down the road we found it. Once we had all clambered in we waited a while for the rest of the people. The music pounded back on, the lights flashed on also. I dozed on the way back. Bus dropped us of at a discoteca close to our hotel. I headed there in a hurry, it had been a long but swell day.


Sunday came up fast. My alarm didn't go off on my phone. It was already raining. Our group had to make our horse riding date later, as it took a few of us a while to be ready. I ate a chocolate crepe for breakfast. I've had better...but it was good. Then, finally, it was time to get riding!


Yes, it was wet. Yes, my horse, name of Chocolate, was silly, and behind us our guides were crazy. But I got to canter some, saw some beautiful mountains, got soaked, and had a great time. As did the others. Sore a bit today, it has been a while since I was in the saddle. It was totally worth it.


Made the bus after the ride, got home okay, with two cents left in my pocket. I met a girl from San Diego on the trolebus. She was traveling with a group of American med students, from around the country. Her name was Mickey, her friend Amber. There were others with her but I don't remember their names. Turns out they all lived on my streel, Villalengua and Mickey agreed to show me a better way to get home. I talked to her a bit and she was super nice. She said they were here for a month, taking Spanish classes and volunteering in a hospital, taking trips around Ecuador when they good. Unfortunately, their trip is almost over. SO COOL to meet people that way though!


Today's reflection, not about Baños: interesting how in the states you can always find some coins on the ground, even if they are just pennies. Here, there are very, very few. Are people here extremely cautious with their money, or are there so many in need that benefit much from such scavenging? I think it must be a combination of both. Just interesting. Food for thought, you know? 


My dinner is getting cold, my favorite juice waiting, and I have been typing for far too  long. Check maybe once a week, around this time, for new entries? I don't know that Facebook nor email are the best ways to make these known...not sure what better to do...suggestions? Have a great night, share smiles, chin up. More soon. Love to everyone!


Juls