The Banos Treatment

When we left off last, the three amigos (James, Jordan, and I) were just wrapping up our time in the fun jungle town of Mindos where we were jumping, swimming, and swinging away in the humid forest. All 3 of us agree that the Tarzan Swing in Mindo was easily the best $5 we’ve ever spent. We then enjoyed 2.5 hours of white-knuckle Ecuadorian bus riding back to the capital city of Quito, and another 3 to the resort town of Banos.

James overlooking the town of Banos

Banos rests on a cliff overlooking a rapid river on the one side, and an active volcano on the other. Our hostel here, called El Chimenea is easily the best one we’ve stayed at on the trip so far. We have a private room, balcony overlooking a pool and hot tub, and we wake up to delicious homemade bread and fresh squeezed juices. I don’t want to leave this place!

There are lots of fun outdoor activities to do, including mountain biking down the “Rutas de Cascadas” (which translates to Route of Waterfalls). The Rutas de Cascadas is a narrow, windy, shoulder-less highway built into the sides of the mountains high above the river. It also appears to be a major trucking and bus route. It felt like I was training for the downhill portion of the Tour de France as we sped down the highway, dodging cars and catching glances at the vista surrounding us. Here are a few pictures of the waterfalls we saw.

My favourite part of the ride was when a pick-up truck drove by with a family sitting in the back seat. One of the kids leaned over the side, and passed me a piece of sugar cane to chew on while I was riding. We rode for probably around 20-30 kms downhill, and thankfully there were pickup trucks waiting at the end to drive us back up to Banos!

While the best $5 I ever spent was on the Tarzan swing in Mindo, I’d also have to say that the best $3.50 I have ever spent was on the Ecuadorian Steam Bath in our hostel here in Banos. Today, after a full day of rafting down the cool river, the three amigos were eager to try out this unusual spa treatment.

First, you step into personal wooden boxes with seats inside and a little slit for you to stick your neck out of. Then the staff closes the box around you, leaving only your head on the outside of the box. The box quickly fills with steam and heats up, and the natural scent of an unknown local plant saturates the air. After a few minutes you are let out of the box and you wipe yourself down with a cool rag before being led back to the box again. You repeat this process 3 times, and then the staff leads you to a curvy chair where you splash yourself with cold water. Then back to the box again. The grand finale comes when the staff takes you to a stall and hoses you down. The whole process sounds very unusual, but my skin has never felt so good before as it did after that!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to rent some all terrain vehicles and race them around a dirt track, and afterwards complete our Banos spa treatment with massages. We’ve also booked our flights to Galapagos Islands, so we’ll be heading back to Quito to catch out flights on Monday. I’m really looking forward to seeing some Blue Footed Boobies on Galapagos!

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A quick note on the photos: As James reminded me, under Canadian Copyright law, it is required that credit on all photographs be given to the appropriate photographer. The beautiful photographs you saw in the last post "First Taste of S.A." were all taken by none other than Mr. James Cavanaugh.