Baños

After a good buffet breakfast in our hotel, we headed out for a morning of canyoning! We drove to a waterfall where we climbed up beside the waterfall and then descended down two separate waterfalls (one 15m and one 20m) before heading across to another two waterfalls. We were lowered down sliding down the first one together by the guide and enjoyed a few refreshing moments in the water before then being propelled down a 45m waterfall where the guide was able to lower us as slow or as fast as he liked - he opted for the latter! Such an amazing experience and way to start the day!

We then headed off for a short "easy" hike up to La Cruz de Bellavista which was a stunning viewpoint where you can see all of Baños and how the city sits completely within mountains. We made a slight detour on the way up but overall ascended approx 300m from the city level of 1800m to the viewpoint of 2100m - incredible! It was classified as an easy hike on the town map but we would not consider it to be so! Worth it though!

We then had a short walk around the town before heading to the hot springs/spa with some of the group. The water comes directly from the natural waterfalls and then heated to various different temperatures in different pools throughout the complex. We started in a 38 degree pool and then progressed to a 42 degree which was quite hot but nice! We then went to the hottest pool (which not many people were in!) and apparently was 60 degrees! Daniel managed to submerge from his shoulders down for about a minute (he came out very red!) whereas everyone else only last a few seconds! Thankfully there was a cold water pool right next to it to cool down in!

We then went back to the hotel before heading out to dinner at a pub where we enjoyed burgers and then went dancing and clubbing with the group :) There was lots of spanish music but they did play the macerna quite a few times (I think for us tourists) and Gab started a congo line! It was quite a late night dancing but we have a lot of time to sleep on the bus tomorrow!Weiterlesen