Baños

So the weekend of January 29th and 30th a giant group decided to go to Baños, a town known for the healing thermal baths that are naturally heated.

We got there at around midday on friday, and immediately after finding an awesome hostel, we signed up to go "puenting" (Which literally means bridge-ing) It's a form of bungee jumping, but the cord isn't stretchy, so you don't bounce back up, you end up swinging. It was so much fun!! The bridge we jumped off was 90 meters tall, and it was an awesome experience. I don't know if I've ever felt so alive as I did those few seconds in free fall haha. I was so proud of everyone in our group! Everyone went, even though we have two girls that are absolutely terrified of heights. One of the girls, Shanshan, ended up jumping incorrectly which was so scary!! You're supposed to dive head first off the bridge so that your body will automatically make an arc in the air, which minimizes the shock of hitting the end of the rope. But Shanshan was so scared about jumping, that her body wouldn't let her jump correctly and she ended up pencil diving off the platform. Thank goodness she was ok except for some minor pain in her neck! honestly I was far more scared watching Shanshan try to jump than I was to jump.

After the bridge jumping, we all went to the thermal baths, which were kind of a disappointment really. Even though the water was all naturally heated, it ended up being in these man-made pools, not exactly the esthetic that we were expecting.

The next day, we got up early to go Canyoning. We ended repelling down five different waterfalls with a guide far more legitimate than in Mindo. We had wetsuits and helmets and we actually signed something for the first time here in Ecuador (crazy!) It was a really fun experience, and we all were exhausted by the end. However, we managed to rent atvs when we got back to town (after a short lunch intermission). We took these atvs the the top of the surrounding mountains, to a cafe called Cafe del Cielo (cafe of the sky). There I believe I had the best mocha I've ever tried in my life, and enjoyed it with a view of all of Baños. It was so beautiful! The scary part was going back down the mountain and realized the brakes on the atv I was riding weren't exactly up to stopping me while going down hill. I don't think I've ever been more terrified haha. Those were some of the fastest curves I've ever taken, all while riding an atv for the first time.

After the adventures of the day, we all went out and had dinner and enjoyed the night life of Baños. It was a really fun weekend!