Day Thirty Two - Waterfalls in Banos

We had a bit of a lie in this morning and headed for breakfast around 9ish. I treated myself this morning and had some bacon with my eggs, not bad at all!

After breakfast we got ready and got all our stuff ready to go to the waterfalls. We dropped off our kilos and kilos of washing at the laundrette and then tried to find a bike hire place. The first place we went in wanted to take our passports as a deposit (absolutely not!) so we made up some excuse and went elsewhere. In the end we went back to GeoTours and got some decent bikes from there. We had our route ready and off we went!

The weather was bright and warm and a lot of the ride was downhill which was great. We went through a big car tunnel which was a bit daunting at first, but after that we came off the road and onto a cycle path which gave incredible views of the waterfalls. The wind picked up a bit and started working against us, which was particularly annoying when we were freewheeling downhill and it was trying to blow us uphill!! We stopped along the way at numerous waterfalls but didn't go down to any until the last one.

We arrived in this little village where the big waterfall XXXXXXXX was. We chained up our pushbikes to a pylon and walked down to it. We paid $1.50 and started walking along this track. The track then opened up to show us the whole waterfalls, it was pretty magnificent. Opposite us where lots of trails around the waterfall on cliff faces, and in front of us were two high rickety wooden rope bridges which we had to cross. I gripped Brendan's hand so hard as we crossed these that I'm surprised he had any blood left in it! We got as far as we could this way but couldn't figure out how to get to the other side! At this point we were right under the waterfall and the noise was unbelievable!!

Back over the bridges (worse going up!!) and up the track, we heard that we had to go to the other side of the village to get to the other side of the waterfall. We got a 'choco banana' on the way out - literally frozen banana covered in chocolate and sprinkles!!

We paid another $2 to access the otherside! It was about a 15 minute downhill walk to the bottom of this side, and they you walk up steps to get closer to it. We emerged out of the side of the waterfall and it was even more impressive than the previous views!! You could walk down some steps and be facing the bottom of the waterfall (getting drenched!!) You could also go upwards to this tiny ledge. We had to literally crawl through this tiny claustrophobic little cave to another landing, and then you climb up inside another little cave to get to the top ledge. This ledge is quite literally underneath the waterfall and the water was rushing down behind us. Safe to say we were absolutely soaked!! However it was absolutely incredible and such a beautiful place!!

Back up at the car park where we'd left our bikes, we caught a pickup truck that took us back to Banos of $2 each which definitely beat biking back uphill, especially as it was starting to rain a little!

On the way back to the hostel, Brendan bought some Taffy from one of the many shops selling it on the street. Our intentions of having a rest before going to the thermal baths tonight were crushed by the sugar rush that we both suddenly experienced!!

We met with Marie-Claire in the bar to head to the baths, and picked up a couple of other backpackers on the way. The baths were pretty cool, one was really nice and warm, so sadly filled to the brim with locals. The water was very brown (as it's a natural spring!!) and as it was so full it wasn't too appealing but really nice once in it!! You had an amazing view of the waterfall all lit up with green lights opposite.

We had a couple of rounds of sitting in the warm one and then jumping into the freezing cold one which was fun, but literally so unbelievably cold!! A couple of the others braved the boiling hot one on the ground floor, but for me and Brendan, it was just too hot! Like getting into a boiling hot bath and home and you have to wait for it to cool... except these ones never cooled!!

Back at the hostel, we showered and then headed out for dinner with our Aussie friends to The Stray Dog brewery. Brendan was psyched that they had an ale which was really similar to Guinness and we had really good Philly cheese steak/chicken sandwiches with fries! Damn it was good!!

We were leaving the next morning so packed up tonight before bed, ready to head back to Quito in the morning!