Taking a Break and Riding Bikes in Baños, Ecuador

After the ordeal that was planning my trip the the Galapagos, I knew there was no way I was waiting around in Quito until my flight. That city just had the connotation of stressfulness. But I had a few days to kill, so after browsing all possible destinations within a half day’s bus ride of the city, I decided on Baños, Ecuador. A backpacker favorite, it’s a town devoted to tourism and adventure sports situated at the foot of the mountains and surrounded by waterfalls. I didn’t think I’d be into it really, but I ended up having a great time and wishing I could’ve stayed longer.


Not bad looking either

At the recommendation of a girl I’d hung out with in Colombia, I stayed at a very cool hostel where I ran into some friends I’d also met earlier on my trip. And as luck would have it, a couple of Norwegian girls also joined up with me for the duration of my stay in Baños. One of them really looked like a friend from back home and I could not stop laughing when she also kind of acted like her too.

Hot Springs

The first night, a crew of us headed to a favorite local spot – the thermal baths. There are a few in the area (thus the name of the city), but Las Piscinas de la Virgin was a quick walk from the hostel.

Set at the bottom of an illuminated waterfall, there was a warm bath, a super hot bath, and a very cold dipping pool for a quick refresher in between. The water was a bit murky, but I just convinced myself that’s because it was au natural, you know, from all the great minerals and earthy things in there. For $3, plus a mandatory $0.50 swim cap – super attractive, by the way – we could stay as long as we pleased in the hot springs. It was truly a family affair for some of the Ecuadorians there, with old folks soaking and little kids even swimming around in the baths.

I do not want that first thing on the list, please

A Spa Day to Remember

The next day, I had one of the strangest experiences of my trip thus far. I’d heard that Baños was a hotspot for spa treatments, and so after some Dutch girls sung its praises, I headed to El Refugio Spa for a massage and mud bath. The treatment started out with an “included” barefoot walk through the spa garden, which involved a lot of inspirational quotes in Spanish, views of the river, traversing sharp volcanic rocks with no shoes, and climbing steep stone steps to la casa de los gritos (roughly translated, by me, as “the house of screams”… I assume because you’re barefooted during all of this). Still, I did find it all oddly soothing.

The really weird part came during the mud bath. The masseuse warmed up the mud for me and brought it into the spacious mud room so that I could cover myself with it. She helped me cover my back and told me to look in the mirror to make sure I coated myself everywhere, including my face. (Meanwhile, just to set the scene for you, the walls of the room are painted with a mural of voluptuous naked women dancing; some of them have penises though. I have no idea.)

A few moments later, I saw the masseuse turning on a large flatscreen TV in the corner of the room, flipping through episodes of people dancing, everything from Zumba to tango lessons. At this point, I was totally clueless as to what she was doing. Entertainment?

Well, then she turned to me and told me to start dancing. And then she started dancing. Seriously, I thought she was joking! But she proceeded to explain that dancing helps to dry the mud. Well, duh Rachel, that makes perfect sense!

Fortunately there are no photos of the dancing

So yes, to answer your question, I danced. Alone with this lady. Wearing my bikini and covered in mud. A now-brown, white girl with little to no rhythm dancing to Latin beats.

But then she left me alone in the room with the music videos still playing. Already embarrassed, my thoughts were as follows:

Do I keep dancing? This has to be a prank. Is there a hidden camera in here and a room somewhere nearby where people are watching me and laughing hysterically while yelling, “Look at the gringa dancing! Oh, she’s so bad!” But then I also thought, Well what if she comes in and I’m not dry yet and she makes me dance more, in front of her?!

And so, I danced more. Alone…

The end result was a hot shower and nice, smooth skin. Or at least I like to think so after all that.

Oh yeah, and the massage afterwards was fabulous. But in comparison to the mud bath, there really isn’t anything noteworthy to write about it. Plus, I needed to relax after being traumatized by dance.

Biking to and through Waterfalls

The Ruta de las Cascadas – the bike route to several waterfalls – is the main attraction of Baños. There are several waterfalls close to town and they’re all reachable via a mostly downhill roads, some of them solely for bicycles created by the city. (Some of them not and full of traffic.) Many locals have capitalized on the popular route by selling snacks, offering ziplines, and building observation points near all of these waterfalls.

Post-massage and mud dance, the Norwegian girls and I met up and grabbed lunch before renting bikes – only $5 for the whole day, complete with bike lock and a map. Helmets, oddly enough, were not included at the place that we rented from. We followed our map out of town, barely having to peddle down the main road due to the incline.

Still, we managed to get off track by turning right at the first sign bearing the image of a waterfall. Just know that if you’re having to struggle uphill and out of breath for what seems like way too long, you are probably not going the right way…

Back on the correct road, we came to some viewpoints of waterfalls, some more impressive than others, but my favorite being the small waterfall on the road that you could ride your bike directly through. We had great warm, sunny weather – a welcome change from the chilly high altitude climate of Quito – and so it got a a little hot during our bike ride.

The biggest and most powerful waterfall, the Pailon del Diablo, or the Devil’s Cauldron, is the main attraction on the route and two local owners have built attractions on both sides of it, one suspension bridge up above, and one with balconies and paths behind the waterfall down below. Admission to each is $1.50, but if  you have to pick just one, pick the second. Walk the path through the woods, check out all the signs along the way, and crawl up the tunnels past the balconies to get behind the crazy powerful waterfall… and get soaked if you want.

My fave bikable mini-waterfall // a necessary selfie after running behind the Pailon del Diablo 

After the waterfalls, an absolute must-do is a visit to the empanada lady outside of the last Pailon del Diablo stop. While you wait for the trucks that will take you and your bike back to town (for $2), you can order empanadas made fresh to order. Really, she will roll out the dough, fill them with whatever you choose, and deep fry them right in front of you. And they are amazing.

Note: These were such a pleasant surprise! Empanadas throughout Colombia and Ecuador were really hit or miss… mostly miss – greasy and made of cornmeal. Which was so disappointing after having gorged myself on them in Argentina. 

Don’t worry if you order a big beer and aren’t able to finish it before it’s time to go. They’ll let you take it in the back of the bike truck with you. It’s Ecuador! Don’t ask how I know this…

Rafting and Fútbol

For $25, we arranged with the hostel to go rafting on the Pastaza River about 45 minutes outside of Baños. Shoes, helmets, wetsuits, and lunch were provided. Along with a little lecture on how to follow the guide’s instructions so that we didn’t capsize repeatedly. They were only Class III rapids, but it was still an exciting ride, with just enough adrenaline involved. And for the price, I thought the trip was a really good deal.

My plan was to leave Baños after rafting. But afterwards, the guides invited us out to watch Ecuador play Uruguay…

I had a flight from Quito to the Galapagos the next day at 1 PM. But this seemed like a fun, umm “cultural” event with new friends, and I couldn’t pass that up, right? When else am I going to get to watch a soccer match with locals? I headed to the bar – called Good Bar, simply enough – saying that I’d just drink beers until halftime and then get the bus back to Quito.

Unrelated, a surprisingly common site here: a dog on the roof

Well, obviously, that did not happen. Ecuador ended up winning, things got a little rowdy, and we all celebrated with painted faces, happy hour, and attempts at salsa dancing late into the night. I surrendered to fate, paid for another night in the hostel around midnight, and well, let’s just say the 5 AM wake-up call, early bus back to Quito, and taxi ride to the airport that followed were quite miserable.

But totally worth it.

Where I Stayed:Great Hostels Backpackers Los Pinos. I’d highly recommend this place as it seems to be the hostel were all the cool kids are staying. They have a pool table, lots of happy hour specials, music, free breakfast AND dinner (though it’s rather average), and tons of other made to order treats. Their laundry service is cheap and each of the rooms has its own bathroom. I stayed in a dorm room of five beds for $10/night.

Does Baños look like your kind of place? Ever make last minute travel decisions like this on a whim?