You´re Always Right: Route of the Waterfalls

Brendon's Perspective:

The night sleep wasn´t to great, the place we decided to stay just happens to be right on the main street as well as across from the bus terminal. Luckily they were doing constructions on the bus terminal so we were able to hear cement grinding all night... :/ When we woke up we decided to find a new Hostal but discovered this weekend happens to be a holiday and EVERYWHERE is packed full. We went through several new ones but found a great Hostal who is going to let us stay for all 4 days.

There is so much to do here but we decided to bike riding this first day. They have a 24 km route called the ruta de las cascades. Along this route there are dozens of waterfalls and amazing views. The bike ride wasn´t to hard but the views were amazing. We had a great time, went on several hikes to waterfalls and took tons of pictures. They have these carts that take you across the canyon and are quite fun. They are all run off of old engines and the first one we went on seemed to be just an old tractor without wheels.

The best part for me was Pailon de Diablo. It was a short hike down but the waterfall was powerful. I couldn´t believe how much water was coming down, and somehow they constructed a bunch of viewing areas out of cement on the rock below the waterfall. It´s hard to explain but there are pictures below. There was also a small entry way to let you go behind the waterfall. It was fantastic!!

This whole day we hadn´t eaten a single thing and were dead tired afterwards. We found a bus and it took us back to baños where we got a bite to eat and walked around the town.

Christina's Perspective:

The next morning, we were awoken to beautiful, musical sounds of hammering and drilling going on outside. It was splendid.
We woke up and stopped at this cafe to eat some breakfast- it was a really cool place. The decorations were pretty awesome. We drank a smoothie and shared a muffin and then went in search for a new hostal. Everyone was PACKKKED because apparently this weekend is a holiday (oh joy) and almost lost hope until we looked at this hostal and the man said he'd let us stay if we made a deal right then. So we did. It's not the cheapest, but it's safer than the other place, and QUIETER! (I don't know if that's a word).

The hostel is gorgeous by the way, with lots of art and paintings hanging up EVERYWHERE. I'm in heaven. It's the kind of art I adore.

Oh, as a little side note, Ecuador is full of stray dogs, and most of them are mean, but some are nice. Ever since we got to Baños, this little black dog decided to follow us. He followed us all last night and somehow managed to find us today and follow us around. He's so cute! I want to take him home.

So, we decided we wanted to rent bikes and bike through the city. BEST IDEA EVER. We took this
24 km route that ran along stops for people to view the different water falls in the area. The bike ride was mostly down hill, but had several up hill parts to it. It was a great ride. We made several different stops. The first most memorable one was the cage one. We were put into this metal cage and it took us from one point to the next, while passing over this big waterfall. We took some pictures and then went back to our bikes.

After that, we found several other stops for waterfall viewings and spent some time there.

The best one though was Pailon de Diablo. It's apparently the main waterfall attraction in Baños. According to Brendon, the hike ¨was a short one¨ to the waterfall. It may have been short, but it WAS SO NOT EASY. So steep, so many stairs. The steepness made me think of hiking the Y.
Well finally when we got to the waterfall, it was soooooo huge! Very magestic.
There was so much water! I was soaked when we left. There was this little balcony to view the waterfall, and you're being sprayed the entire time.
There was this other trail through this cave-like structure, and I was so tired and didn't wanna go. So Brendon went without me and I felt alone :(

After awhile, I decided to man up and went under the cave thing - thank goodness. That was the best part! Different views of the water fall and we even got to stand behind it! It was awesome.

After that, we finished our bike route and managed to find a bus to take us back to the main city area.

We returned our bikes and to our dismay, the doggy was no where. I hope he finds us again.
We were starving because we hadn't eaten since the morning, and it was already almost 6, so we searched for a good place to eat.

Now, we're walking around town, enjoying the comfort of watching people and listening to chatter and music from the streets.

Picture timeeee