Baños

After almost four hours on a bumpy bus, I arrived in Baños Wednesday evening.  I checked into a hostel and ended up getting my own room with a private bathroom and cable TV for only $6 per night.  I may have been able to find somewhere $1 or so cheaper without a bathroom, but I didn't feel like walking all over town with my backpack.

The river near Banos

Baños is a small town filled with Ecuadorian and foreign tourists.  It's known mostly for it's natural hot springs which other travelers have warned me to avoid unless I enjoy murky, dirty water that's supposedly changed weekly and screaming Ecuadorian children running all over the place.  There are other hot springs further south that are supposed to be much, much nicer.  Baños is also considered a gateway city to the jungle since it's located between the highlands and the jungle.  There are a lot of waterfalls nearby (I've seen three while walking around town) and the city is surrounded by mountains and a volcano, which is still somewhat active.  A lot of people use Baños as a staging place to go horseback riding, mountain biking, and white water rafting.  So far, I've been using it mostly to relax, read, and not do much of anything.  It's nice being at the slower pace than the busy city life in Quito.  Plus there are a couple of restaurants here that have really good English book exchanges - many more options than anything I found in Quito.

Banos

Yesterday I spent some time talking to the different tour agencies around town - just about every other store front is a tour agency of some sort - about tours to the jungle.  I ended up choosing one of the companies that was highly recommended by South American Explorers and both of my guidebooks.  I leave tomorrow morning to spend three days in the outer edges of the jungle.  As of this morning, there are 5 people in the group plus the guide whose English is pretty good.  Where I'm going is only about 3 or 4 hours from Baños.  While it's part of the Amazon, it's not so deep in that you have to travel everywhere by canoe and the malaria risk is very, very, very low.  I've also been warned that we probably won't see many animals or birds since they tend to be more populous further into the jungle.  I'm more interested in the plants and waterfalls anyway.  If you're curious, I'm taking the Extreme Jungle Tour from this company (although I'm only paying $30/night instead of the $45 they advertise).

How the locals wash their clothes

A waterfall above town