Too hot. Sweating. Too cold. Shivering. Too paranoid about my bag. Can't sleep. Lights keep turning on every 45 minutes at a stop. People constantly funnel off the bus and new people scramble for the free seats. My 6.5 hour bus left me in Baños at 4:30am with about an hour worth of sleep broken up in several intervals. Cool. A man tried to get me to stay at his hostel but I told him I had reservations elsewere and he was nice enough to give me directions and sent me off. However his directions turned out to be a few blocks short of my destination leaving me thoroughly lost in the sleepy city. Backtracking to the bus terminal with a drunken and also lost Dutch man, I pulled out my screenshotted directions on my phone and groggily make my way to the hostel at about 5am now. Quick kick in the pants there.
Turns out there was no space for me in a bed, but there would be tommorow night and the couch would suffice until the morning. Two hours later and I was wide awake eating breakfast and drinking my way to a caffiene overdose. A bunch of people were going canyoning and there wasn't much hestitation in quickly signing up to join them. Rappelling down slippery waterfalls is absolutely epic and having a solid group to do it with made it all the better. One quick dry for wet boxer change later and I was off to hike up to Casa del Arbol, sometimes touted as the "Swing at The End of The World". Unfortunately it was a touch of a letdown as there's a new support beam to prop up the falling tree against the slight hill that it rests on. Nonetheless, the hike, the people and the laughs made it all worth it.
Manaña. White water rafting first thing in the morning is a wonderful thing. Inside out wetsuits, rain, an international bus full of gringos and class 3/4 rapids awaited our morning trip. Cowboy riding the front of the raft, paddle high fives and capsized boats were some of the best moments on the river. A quick rock climbing trip afterwards held down the afternoon and early evening. This was the first time I've ever been climbing outside on natural rocks and also the first climb since leaving Vancity. The difference between outdoor and an indoor bouldering gym are staggering, not to mention my soft climbing muscles being pushed to their limits attempting the few routes we were permitted to climb. Although I was slightly disappointed with how far I've let my health slip, it felt simply amazing to get going again and to feel that loving burn in the forearms.
Later that night we just started playing pool, lots and lots of pool. A bunch of the boys in the hostel got involved. Game after game started, finished, and started up again. Conversations went on and on and on. Near the end of the night most people went to bed or slipped off and it was just myself playing with my new Aussy mate Jono. We played at least a dozen games after everyone had left and just ended up talking about anything and everything. We called it a night and got into a quick chat with a couple sleeping on the couch about going to the hot springs in the morning. Cue a 3 hour nap and 4:50am alarm clock.
Waking Jono up in the morning was a bit of a challenge, it's similar to shaking a dead body with a bushy beard that grunts when you touch it (love you). Soon enough though we were off to our morning bath. Walking with my three amigos we quickly ditched our stroll in favour of a 3 dollar taxi. Donning our rented swim caps, we must have layed around in these natural hot springs for close to two hours. Situated at the side of a mountain with a river next door, my muscles quickly and thoroughly relaxed into dreamland.
When everyone was awake we decided to make our way to Cascada del Diablo, a massive and powerful waterfall roughly 30 minutes out of town. Renting an armada of moterized vehicles consisting of two motorcycles, two quads, a 4x4 jeep like car and a barebones dune buggy, we took to the roads, racing and winding through the Ecuadorian mountainsides. Riding a motorcycle is one of the stupidest things I've ever started doing, however at the same time it's one of the best things. Risk for reward eh. We arrived at the Cascada and well.. Take a look of the view from the waterfall.. And not of it.. Because obviously.
Pool, beer, laughs and exclamations of "oh wow you're from Vancouver too?!" anchored the night down. One of the livelier nights in Baños, it seemed that everyone was having a good time and soon enough we had a pool tournament going. Being terrible at pool I was knocked out in the first round however my opponent ended up going on to win the whole thing (including the 8 dollar prize pool) so there's no shame in that.
Baños is easily one of my favourite places in this continent. To be able to rafting in the morning and go climbing in the afternoon for 50$ is unbeatable.
Currently I'm in Cali, Colombia. It took me four different cities and about two weeks to get this post up.. So finally!
Channy
Instagram - itsnathanchan
November 25, David's Penthouse, Cali, Colombia
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